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two building submarines, two build- and repair yards.

Value of a Strong Industrial Base ing LCS, and one building carriers and one building amphibs. Presumably There are just a few players who have The U.S. Navy had experience at the end of WW they could make adjustments and hire the pier space, cranes, dry docks and II to be building one class of ship, and embarking the workforce to dramatically step up shops to handles U.S. Navy ships. on the next improved iteration before the previous production. There are some commercial yards that design was complete. This was possible, in part, could start to take on Navy work, and because there was suf? cient industrial capacity to

But what about maintenance, there are some smaller companies that have multiple shipyards working at the same time.

modernization and repair? could bid on contracts and go to the big-

More ships means more maintenance. ger yards for the docking or other work Fletcher (DD 445) class destroyer

Any effort to grow the ? eet will also that requires the serious infrastructure 175 completed / 13 canceled / 11 yards include keeping useful ships around to accomplish. But like construction, longer. A ship with a 30-year expected this is not something light can be turned Gearing (DD 710) class destroyer service life usually has a planned mid- on with the ? ick of a switch. 152 planned / 98 compl. / 54 canceled / 9 Yards life modernization to bring it up to date.

An additional modernization availability Very few yards have dry docks big Allen M. Sumner (DD 692) class destroyer could keep her for another decade or enough for large naval vessels, and that 70 planned / 58 built / 6 yards more. The Navy now plans to extend includes Navy owned dry docks. There the service life of the entire class of is discussion on procuring a new dry Charles F. Adams (DDG 2) class guided missile

DDGs to 45 years, which means more dock for the Navy. Most large dry docks destroyer shipyard capacity is needed to accom- today are built in China. A Navy dock 23 built for the USN, plus three for Australia and plish those overhauls. would have to be made in America. But three for Germany / 6 yards most U.S. yards don’t have the ability

The Optimized Fleet Response Plan to build a large ? oating dry dock. And Spruance (DD 963) class destroyer (OFRP) was designed to align strike even if there is capacity, it must be 31 built / 1 yard group deployments with maintenance closely scheduled far in advance to fully availabilities training and workups and utilize the signi? cant investment. And Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) class guided missile to provide predictability and stability for while the Navy has strived to execute destroyer

Sailors and families, not to mention the the OFRP, in reality the maintenance is 68 so far / 82 planned / 2 yards training commands and maintenance contracted piecemeal.

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