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For example, when my parents were first married, the Navy was producing steel at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (and, I assume, at other shipbuilding locations around the country). This is the steel that built the USS Iowa and USS Missouri, among others.

Suppose the first two Ford class aircraft carriers are sunk on the first day of the upcoming war with China? Where is the steel produced to replace them?

In 1942-43, from a standing start, we launched over 50 aircraft carriers. They didn't take 14 years each to build.

GREAT points about steel availability, and in that same vein, during World War II, by the time Liberty ship construction was up and running full time, average time for completion was 42 days per ship. And while it was done for publicity (to promote war bonds), the SS Robert E. Peary was launched 4 days and 15 hours after the keel was laid. The key was building the ships assembly line style with prefabricated sections and while that might not be the best way to construct warships, it does prove that at one time, America's ship building industry was second to none.

I wonder how much wartime (i.e., emergency) ship- and aircraft-production ability we really have any more.

I fear the answer is "ZERO" and we will rue the day that occurred.