Posted on 06/20/2002 10:34:55 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
By Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and its subcommittee on seapower, emerging threats and personnel.
Seapower is among the most essential components of our national security posture and an important part of ensuring that the United States meets its global commitments. Currently, our naval forces are providing immediate access and forward deployed combat power, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Further, our naval forces are the United States’ only sovereign global warfighting capability. As Adm. Vernon Clark, chief of naval operations, so eloquently stated once, "Our naval forces do not need a permission slip to operate worldwide."These capabilities, and the fact that two-thirds of the world’s surface is covered by ocean, make a compelling case for a robust naval force. Forward presence, however, requires that ships are available and ready to deter, fight and win. The facts are clear: The U.S. Navy has shrunk from a fleet of 594 ships in 1987 to approximately 315 ships today. During this same period, ship deployments have increased more than 300 percent.
Navy officials repeatedly have warned that the fleet is stretched perilously thin and needs to be increased to at least 360 ships to meet its present mission requirements.
Clark has testified candidly that there is a strong and justifiable case to be made for increasing our naval force structure to around 375 ships. These factors, coupled with the global war on terrorism and defending America’s national security, demand that we recapitalize our Navy now. President George W. Bush and his administration have identified this global war on terrorism and home land security as our highest priorities. As we in Congress work with the Bush administration to defend freedom, I will continue to encourage the replenishment of our naval fleet as the cornerstone of this global defense.
The 2003 budget provides $48 billion in overall defense increases, yet the Navy’s budget calls for procuring fewer ships than last year. The Shipbuilding and Conversion Navy procurement numbers speak for themselves — $11.96 billion in 2001, $9.5 billion in 2002 and $8.19 billion in 2003. A written statement from Clark, presented to the full Senate Armed Services Committee in March, clearly states the problem. "Current aircraft and ship procurement rates will, if continued, result in a Navy numerically smaller than today’s, and significantly smaller than that needed to sustain the war. Such a fleet would be an invitation to greater operational risk and international instability."
The Congressional Research Service warns us that at the present rate of procurement, we are facing a 47-ship deficit and we will not be able to sustain the critical force levels called for in the Quadrennial Defense Review. The fact is, we must procure 8.9 Navy ships per year to maintain, not expand, a 310-ship Navy.
Current procurement rates, including only two DDG-51s in the 2003 budget, increase costs to the Navy and jeopardize our industrial base and its skilled work force. If we are not committed to reversing the decline in shipbuilding rates this year, a year when there is a $48 billion increase, then when?
As I have stated many times before in Armed Services seapower subcommittee hearings, numbers do matter. The number of new construction ships under contract 10 years ago was 110, while only 36 ships are under construction today, a 66 percent decline in ship construction. Furthermore, while the number of ships authorized to be built 10 years ago was 15, today the budget request before us authorizes a mere five ships, a continued decline during the last four years. In recent years, we have been consistently underfunding the naval shipbuilding and research and development accounts. As a result, the future force is at risk. I am convinced there will be a need for even greater reliance on our naval forces as joint operations emerge to provide sovereignty to our fighting forces.
Proof is in our current operations in Afghanistan. For these reasons and many others, we must recapitalize our fleet to ensure that America retains its maritime superiority in the 21st century.
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