US Navy Shipyards: What They Took From Us

the third-best plan is the only viable plan

Shipyards, or the lack of them, have been a “problem appreciation” topic for so long with no action, that I continue to temper any optimism I’ve had the last couple of years when I thought I sensed some traction.

Now, there are all sorts of flavors of shipyards, but for today’s post, let’s talk about the U.S. Navy’s public shipyards.

Where are we today?

The Navy's four public shipyards -- Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY), Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY), Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS&IMF), and Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PHNSY&IMF) -- perform a vital role in national defense by executing maintenance on submarines and aircraft carriers in order to provide combat-ready ships to the fleet.

Let’s take a look at that layout.

That is what the “Peace Dividend” era bequeathed to this generation. The subsequent results of maintenance backlogs and until-the-crack-of-doom shipbuilding times give testimony to the insufficiency of it all.

While we spent this century engaged and distracted by imperial policing and cultural experimentation in Central and Southwest Asia, the People’s Republic of China has built the world’s largest navy. For good measure, they are also closing the capability gap rapidly.

Also well documented is our inability to pull our pants off the floor and to rebuild our navy as we once again find a rising autocratic power challenging the American-led, Western-dominated international world order.

The last time this was seriously challenged was in the Cold War. In the 1980s, while Soviet SSBN prowled the waters off our east and west coasts, and Soviet fleets ventured even into the Gulf of America (née Gulf of Mexico). Yes, they really did that.

It was, truly, a great time to be in the Navy.

So, what kind of Navy Shipyard support did we have the last time we were challenged by a Communist Party led nation?

The last few days, I’ve immensely enjoyed skimming over the 2011 CNA report, U.S. Navy in the World (1981-1990). These two slides from that report give us the answer.

Four east coast. Four west coast. Twice the number we have today.

What did they take from us?

• Mare Island

• Long Beach

• Philadelphia

• Charleston

Are we serious about returning to our natural state as a maritime power, or do we want to continue to soak in a fetid vat of inadequacy?

We need to stop with the commissions. Stop with the problem appreciation. Stop with excuses. Stop with analysis paralysis.

Start here.

All it takes is will.

Remember the short and direct quote from Churchill about the Mulberry Harbours? Another hard but necessary problem too many people were content to offer excuses for inaction?

Let us take this attitude.

Reactivate the Long Beach, Mare Island, Philadelphia, and Charleston Navy Shipyards. The legal and regulatory problems must be mastered. Let me have the best solution worked out. Don’t argue the matter. The difficulties will argue for themselves.

A perfect plan? No, but it is a plan we can start now—not an exquisite plan that will be ready by 2038. We can do those too, but for now, act where we can.

If one or two are “too hard”, that is fine. Reclaiming only two or three will do in a pinch as we wait for the Plan 2038 to come to fruition in 2045.

If we are lucky, industry might have a better plan, but for now, they don’t. We have waited too long for a roast duck to fly into our mouths.

The hour is already late.

Act.

Will. That is all it takes.

Will.