Shortsighted shipbuilding

By By Trent Lott / u.s. senator
Sept. 19, 2004
Some folks in Washington are saying we can build only two big warships next year to satisfy our security needs. Some bureaucrats are actually flirting with asking foreign shipbuilders to construct America's future Navy, leaving our remaining handful of American shipbuilders out in the cold.
Needless to say, I strongly disagree with these people. America always has been a maritime nation, and we've got to make sure it stays that way. More than 90 percent of our foreign trade travels on the world's oceans. To lose our shipbuilding industry is to lose a bit of our national identity and our national security. We can't allow that to happen.
In Panama, the Gulf War, the Balkans, Afghanistan and in Iraq, America has projected power and protected its interests using the legacy of a 600-ship Navy championed by President Reagan and Mississippi's own Senator John C. Stennis.
Today, after a virtual ship acquisition hiatus in the 1990s, we've just about used up that investment, and the Department of Defense plans to curtail its spending by purchasing only two large warships in the next budget cycle. At that procurement rate, our fleet is poised to drop below 120 combat ships, the smallest it has been since 1917.
We're even decommissioning state-of-the-art ships like the groundbreaking USS Ticonderoga which I helped christen at Ingalls shipyard in 1983. The "Tico" remains the envy of every modern Navy, yet we're scrapping it.
Doesn't make sense
It makes about as much sense as me or you junking a two-year-old car that we've financed for five years. With these kind of cuts being pondered, America has to ask itself: Are we going to remain a maritime nation? Or, should we forsake a 218-year tradition of robust shipbuilding for short-term savings. Right now, the jury is still out.
I admit to being biased in favor of shipbuilding. My father was a shipyard worker. I've spent my life living in the shadow of shipyard cranes, and I've attended probably hundreds of ship christenings at Northrop Grumman Ingalls Ship Systems, just down the street from my neighborhood. But this is about more than Mississippi, Pascagoula, Ingalls Shipyard, Trent Lott, or even the Navy itself.
America only has six remaining shipyards that build large Navy ships, down dramatically from a few decades ago. Each yard specializes in certain types of ships, and the federal government is their only customer.
So, if we fail to plan and build ships, we're going to lose some of the six remaining shipyards. And, if we start buying or continue leasing ships from foreign yards, thousands of skilled shipyard workers from Bathe Maine; Groton, Connecticut; Norfolk, Virginia; Pascagoula, New Orleans and San Diego will lose their jobs.
These aren't like layoffs at a sock factory. Shipyards require lots of skilled folks and investment. They can't just close and then reopen later. That's why we've got to support our shipyards and the skilled workers that they employ.
Stop leasing ships
This is why I have sponsored legislation with several other senators requiring the Navy to have at least 375 warships and stopping the Navy from leasing any more foreign ships. That's also why Sen. Lindsey Graham and I sponsored an amendment to the 2005 National Defense Authorization Act calling for support of a National Shipbuilding Research Program.
The program specifically was chartered by the Navy and the industry to cultivate innovation, make our shipyards more competitive and reduce the cost of naval vessels, saving taxpayer dollars.
That's not to say our shipyards aren't efficient and cost-effective, because they are. However, America's shipbuilding industry, our national security and our maritime capability are just too important to neglect or farm out to foreign workers.
These proposed shipbuilding cutbacks aren't official policy yet, but just the whisper of something as foolish as gutting our Naval shipbuilding capacity or transferring skilled shipbuilding jobs overseas, is enough to get this senator riled up. If this shortsighted shipbuilding plan ever comes to Congress, your elected representatives will either ignore it or rewrite it, but we won't pass it.
Contact U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, 487 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510.