In late September lawmakers received a report detailing the need to address the problem. The Navy fell below 300 battle force ships in August of 2003, and has generally remained between 270 and 300 battle force ships since then. As of September 16, 2024, the Navy included 297 battle force ships.
In 2016 the Navy released a force structure goal to maintain a fleet of 355 ships of certain kinds and numbers.
Those ships will be vital to maintaining free trade.
Retired Navy Commander Kirk Lippold commanded the USS Cole when it was attacked by terrorists in 2000.
"The Navy is going to need more ships to face the threat that China is going to present to us over the next decade. They're building at a pace that is unprecedented, and just by virtue of sheer numbers, it is going to be more important than ever that we begin to prioritize what we need to do to ensure the South China Sea remains open to the commerce of the world."
Have to factor in the Middle East
Lippold says the urgency to build more ships is more acute because of the ongoing operations in the Middle East in recent weeks.
"You have to rotate ships for maintenance. You have to rotate ships for rearming, you have to rotate ships for personnel.”
Getting the fleet numbers up will require a change of attitude, Lippold says
“The entire US industrial base was ignored for decades under the quote peace dividend that started during the Clinton administration and has been squandered by not correctly perceiving the threats that our nation faces."
