A couple budget years back, the Navy asked to cut nine LCS (among I forget how many other vessels...24, maybe?) The law Congress finally passed allowed only 4 LCS to be cut, and similar other small cuts to other types. You have to look for what actually ends up law, not follow all these games. Proposed ship cuts you see articles about are meaningless. When Congress does forbid the decommissioing of proposed ships, it is forced to provide a funding package to back that up. That is what the Navy gains. They aren't just told they have to keep ships without financial details. They get funds for that. That is why they play the game. Congress must put money where their mouth is.
Current law--passed decades back--requires the Navy to have 355 ships, including 11 aircraft carriers, 55 Small Surface Combatants, and about 104 Large Surface Combatants. Since that law was passed, the Columbia sub program kicked in, and Congress has never put enough money into actually getting those kinds of numbers, and the yards are not up to it. It was considered a "future goal" when passed (the law said something like 355 ships should be obtained "as soon as possible.") And the Navy then promptly began to submit drastic numbers of proposed annual decommissionings. Further still, since the previous administration--and continuing with the current one--the fleet structure outlined in the law (11 carriers, 55 Small Surface Combatants, etc.) has been done away with. The past two administrations have submitted structures of/budgets for fewer carriers, more smaller combatants, and unmanned vessels, all of which are not in the existing law mandating 355 ships. The new 30-year plans being submitted aim for numbers over the 355, of ship types not "enshrined in law." So...the law is kind of meaningless...
It is a money fight. It is politics. It is life. Stressing over it won't change it, but it might ruin your health. Not worth that. Build models. Watch the show. Swear a lot. Vote. Carry on.
Over and over I keep hearing that the Navy wants to expand to from 290 to 350 ships. Using a 35 year average lifespan, that requires 10 ships to be built in each year with no more than 8 decommisiions per year.
The 2025 budget request has been submitted and it builds 6 new ships and decommissions 19 ships. that's a 3 to 1 loss. Some of the ships are relatively new (2 LCS and 3 EFTs) and they are still building both.
How can you get from 290 to 350 by cutting the number of ships? Is this modern math?
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