" ... we don't build ships here anymore, just two (real) Shipyards left ..."
This is because, as Modernman stated in post # 201, a *political* (and military) decision was made, right or wrong, to maintain a 300-ship Navy rather than a 600-ship Navy. There simply isn't enough Navy shipbuilding to sustain more than two "real" shipyards, and it's likely that the two remaining ones will eventually merge. (They are already involved in alot of joint design and construction work for the next generation of nuclear subs.) So, the decline in shipbuilding infrastructure is a *result*, not a *cause", of our military resources being stretched thin.
Wrong the decline in shipbuilding in the USA (once the worlds leading ship builder) is free trade, we don't build ships anymore, we send shipbuilding to asia, years and years ago, now we can't maintain our own Navy any longer.