Maritime Statecraft and its Future, with Hunter Stires - on Midrats
people, policy, history, possibility
How are naval shipbuilding, commercial shipbuilding, and commercial shipping linked together to create a healthy and effective national seapower ecosystem?
What did the 1990s “Last Supper” get wrong, and what can be done to correct the error?
Our guest this week is Hunter Stires, founder and CEO of The Maritime Strategy Group, returning to Midrats to discuss this and more.
We will be using as a starting point for our discussion the recent article that he co-wrote with Steve Brock at CIMSEC, Maritime Statecraft and its Future.
You can listen live at this link, or at the Spotify widget below.
Summary
In this conversation with Sal and Mark, Hunter Stires discusses the interconnectedness of naval shipbuilding, commercial shipping, and the broader maritime strategy of the United States. He emphasizes the historical context of U.S. maritime power, the importance of bipartisan support for revitalizing the shipbuilding industry, and the role of allies like South Korea in enhancing U.S. capabilities. The discussion also touches on workforce challenges, the need for competition in the shipbuilding sector, and the strategic imperative of maintaining a robust maritime ecosystem.
Showlinks
Maritime Statecraft and its Future, by Steve Brock and Hunter Stires
The Neptune Factor: Alfred Thayer Mahan and the Concept of Sea Power, by Nicholas A. Lambert
The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, by Alfred Thayer Mahan
Shipbuilding, Shareholders, and National Asynchronization, by CDR Salamander
Shareholder Interests Are at Odds with Navy Needs, by Martin Bollinger
Episode 736: Anduril and the Promise of Autonomous Systems - with Chris Brose, by CDR Salamander & Mark Tempest
Takeaways
The U.S. maritime ecosystem is interconnected and requires a holistic approach.
Bipartisan support is crucial for revitalizing the shipbuilding industry.
Historical lessons from figures like Mahan are relevant today.
South Korea’s investment in U.S. shipbuilding symbolizes a strong partnership.
Workforce challenges in shipbuilding can be addressed through better pay and training.
Outsourcing shipbuilding undermines U.S. strategic interests.
Competition in the shipbuilding sector leads to innovation and efficiency.
The U.S. must leverage its allies for technological advancements in shipbuilding.
A maritime revival is possible with the right political will and strategy.
Investment in shipbuilding is essential for national security.
Chapters
00:00: Introduction to Maritime Strategy and Ecosystem
02:05: The Interconnection of Naval and Commercial Shipbuilding
07:06: Historical Context: Lessons from Mahan and the Past
14:40: Bipartisan Support for Maritime Revival
18:16: The Role of South Korea in U.S. Shipbuilding
31:00: Challenges in U.S. Shipbuilding and Workforce
41:50: Future Directions and Strategic Partnerships
Hunter Stires served as the Maritime Strategist to the 78th Secretary of the Navy, completing his term in June 2025. He has been recognized for his work as one of the principal architects of the Maritime Statecraft strategy put into action by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro to rebuild America’s comprehensive maritime power, both commercial and naval. Mr. Stires serves as a Non-Resident Fellow with the Navy League’s Center for Maritime Strategy and as the Project Director of the U.S. Naval Institute’s Maritime Counterinsurgency Project. A graduate of Columbia University, Mr. Stires previously served in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and in several positions on the Navy Staff, including in OPNAV N96 Surface Warfare Directorate, OPNAV N95 Expeditionary Warfare Directorate, and OPNAV N522 Navy Irregular Warfare Group. Since departing government, Mr. Stires founded and now serves as CEO of The Maritime Strategy Group.
Mr. Stires has been recognized twice with the U.S. Naval Institute’s General Prize, the premier writing award of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, judged in the blind by active duty Sea Service professionals each year since its inception in 1879. He was awarded 1st Prize for “The South China Sea Needs a ‘COIN’ Toss,” published in Proceedings in May 2019; he was awarded 2nd Prize for “Win Without Fighting,” published in June 2020. His article in the Summer 2019 issue of the Naval War College Review, “‘They Were Playing Chicken:’ The U.S. Asiatic Fleet’s Gray-Zone Deterrence Campaign against Japan, 1937-40,” was selected for inclusion in the Newport Papers monograph Deterrence. Mr. Stires’s published work has been cited in a wide range of outlets, including Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, War on the Rocks, The National Interest, 19FortyFive, the Liberty Times, Rappler, and the South China Morning Post —as well as the Chinese language edition of the Global Times.
If you ask my - outsider - opinion, it was a perfect storm of three main factors:
* The overreliance on "free market" economy - too optimistic assumption, that private contractors could do everything better than government-owned facilities, and there would ALWAYS be private contractors capable & interested in taking the job;
* The traditional priority of internal politics over external in US power struggle - all external interests are always viewed through the prism of "what would the voters think about it?" During Cold War, the stable external - existential - threat temporarely wrestled US politics of its fully introverted worldview. But as soon as Cold War ended, there weren't any factors to hold American politics from becoming totally populistic.
* The "end of the history" worldview - the assumption that USA dominance in post Cold War world would not be challenged in foreseeable future, and no peer opponent would arise, so any possible inefficiences in American war machine simply don't matter;
Another outstanding column sir.