It also hopes to acquire a new large surface combatant (LSC) starting at the end of the decade, even though the planning for this procurement has just begun. The Navy is counting on acquiring a large number of smaller combatants, such as the Constellation-class frigate and unmanned surface ships, to solve its numbers problem, although neither of these will enter service for years. Of these, around 100 at best will be surface combatants. While Congress has mandated a fleet size of 355 ships, the Navy will be lucky to have 300 by the end of the decade if it stays on its current path. It even wants to retire four nearly brand new Littoral Combat Ships and seven Ticonderoga-class missile cruisers. Navy is struggling to put enough warships to sea to meet all its obligations. It is building multiple classes of destroyers, frigates, and submarines simultaneously. The People’s Liberation Army Navy is on track to have 425 combatants by 2030. This would help shore up the Navy’s fleet, deter China and other competitors, and mitigate the risk of a delay or cancellation of a planned new ship class. This will allow both of the two shipyards that can build the DDG-51, Bath Iron Works in Maine and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi, to deliver a brand new Arleigh Burke, the world’s best destroyer, every six months. If the Biden administration and Congress want to help the Navy build up the fleet while mitigating the risk of a delay in planned new shipbuilding programs, they need to fund a new multi-year procurement for the advanced DDG-51 Flight III Arleigh Burke destroyer, beginning in FY 2023.Ī procurement of at least fifteen destroyers over five years would make best use of the available shipbuilding capacity. Furthermore, in terms of overall capacity, it is falling behind China, which is building warships and submarines at a prodigious rate. Navy is facing a crisis: it is too small to meet the operational requirements being imposed on it.

Destroyer magazine pdf