“But the difference is that S Korea is the second largest civilian ship constructor in the world. ...”US civilian ship construction is basically zero (less than 10 per year).”
Yes. So the question is WHY??? Has/did U.S. commercial ship building sink so low. Is any federal legislation/regulation regarding shipping responsible for that, or did East Asia (first Japan, then South Korea, now China) with cheaper labor and newly built modern shipyards and less expensive steal merely out-compete agaisnt U.S. shipyards for the world’s commercial shipping fleets??? If so, and if the cost is most important of all (to make our defense dolars go further), then maybe the U.S. military just has to contract with Japan and South Korea for our ships.
Japan is not a low wage and low energy-cost shipbuilder, yet they maintain a major shipbuilding share.
Even the EU still has some, and they are certainly not a low wage/low cost area.
Meanwhile the Anglosphere has outsourced everything, while being surrounded by oceans. 🙃