Commentary
The U.S. Navy has been struggling for years to maintain the production and maintenance throughput of its four government shipyards and approximately eight major private sector yards. The chief of naval operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, has established the clear, quantifiable shortfall.
Until the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), two Arleigh Burke destroyers and two Virginia submarines were being purchased a year, yet only 1.8 and 1.2 were being delivered a year. This means the destroyers and submarines were 10 percent and 40 percent behind schedule, respectively. With the 2023 NDAA, which increases the purchase of each to three a year (and doesn’t count the new Columbia ballistic missile submarine, which will be built in the same shipyards), the straight-line throughput at current delays will be only 2.7 destroyers and 1.8 submarines delivered for three of each purchased. Complications from increased orders will possibly drive up the existing delivery delays….