It’s not likely this has happened often, if ever, in the annals of haggles over U.S. military budgets: Congress is demanding the Navy float more boats than it wants to.
But that’s the case with the House Armed Services Committee’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee approving a proposed spending plan that calls for construction of nine battle-force ships, which the Navy asked for, but extends the service of five of 11 ships it wanted to mothball.
“It is critical that we continue to grow the Navy’s capabilities. The president’s budget, however, proposed to build only nine ships in [fiscal year] 2024, only seven ships in 2025. The administration also chose to divest eight ships before their expected service life,” subcommittee chair Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) said. “This is not the right signal to send China as they continue on their trajectory to build a 500-ship fleet by 2030.”…