US shipbuilding in a ‘perpetual state of triage,’ watchdog says

The U.S. Navy is hoping to nearly double the amount of battle force ships in oceans around the world within the next three decades — a jump from 296 ships, including submarines, aircraft carriers and destroyers, to 381.

The current state of American shipbuilding, however, is sorely in need of a complete overhaul if that plan is to be achieved, according to recent testimony and a new government watchdog report.

“It is way past time that we get after it,” Dr. Brett A. Seidle, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.

“Simply put, we need more ships delivered on time and on budget and we are challenged in both of these arenas. Costs are rising faster than inflation and schedules on multiple programs are delayed one to three years late.”

The same day as Seidle’s testimony, the Government Accountability Office released a report detailing 20 years’ of lackluster progress in U.S. shipbuilding. Not enough ships are being built, newly constructed ships are failing to function as expected and ships are being delivered up to three years later than ordered, the report said.

While the Navy nearly doubled its shipbuilding budget during the last two decades, it failed to reach its planned ship count, according to GAO.

Seidle offered ideas for solutions during his testimony Tuesday, including “increased modernization, infrastructure investment, better workforce hiring and retention, and improved supply chain performance.”

In a statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Shelby S. Oakley, a director at GAO, said that unrealistic expectations of costs and timing has diverted resources and introduced delays in shipbuilding, with the result that Navy programs and shipbuilders have been “effectively made to operate in a perpetual state of triage.”

“We found that Navy ships cost billions more and take years longer to build than planned while often falling short of quality and performance expectations,” Oakley said.

Since 2015, GAO has made 90 recommendations to the Navy to improve shipbuilding. Only 30 of those have been partially or fully addressed to date.

Shipbuilding is a complex process. To build a ship takes eight phases on average, from the award of a contract to design and construction phases, and eventually ending in launch and delivery of the vessel. The Navy currently has 92 ships under contract with 56 actively undergoing construction, according to the Defense Department.

The GAO’s grim report comes at a time when the current administration has announced plans to create a new White House Office of Shipbuilding, and the DOD has prioritized a focus on the Indo-Pacific region across all branches.

In February, the cruiser San Diego made a historic visit to the Japanese port of Ishigaki to strengthen ties, while throughout March and April, the U.S. Army’s Project Capstone 5 exercise is expanding its focus to include scenarios about the Indo-Pacific region.

The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain also hosted Vigilant Resolve, a “first-of-its-kind” exercise involving mass casualty, a shelter-in-place order and the evacuation of noncombatants — preparing naval personnel and U.S. partners for a large-scale international emergency response.

“I fervently believe our Navy has never been more important than it is right now,” Seidle told lawmakers this week. “The United States projects its presence around the globe via our blue-water Navy, impacting geopolitical decisions on a daily basis and helping to maintain our way of life.”