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The US Navy is plagued with delays and failed [br]projects.

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While China, now boasts the largest navy in the world.

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Can Trump turn things [br]around and make US naval power great again?

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Welcome to America Uncovered. I’m Chris Chappell.

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I’ve been warning for years that the US Navy is [br]in serious dire straits.

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It’s like watching a ship slowly sink ,

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except since this is the [br]Navy, it’s not <i>like</i> that, it <i>is</i> that.

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It needs to get its act together,

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especially with China beefing up its navy.

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According to a leaked 2023 US Navy analysis,

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“China’s Shipbuilding Capacity is 232 Times [br]Greater Than That of the United States”.

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In other words, China can make a whole lot more [br]ships than America.

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Now I know what you might be thinking, sure,

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but what about the quality?

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Well [br]first of all, quantity is its own type of quality,

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and as you’ll see in a bit,

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the US [br]quality isn’t so hot anymore either.

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Right now, China has 370 ships,

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while the US only has 296.

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And [br]that number is actually shrinking.

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But China is growing.

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In 5 [br]years China will have 425 ships,

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absolutely dwarfing the number of US ships.

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The scope of this problem has just been revealed [br]thanks to this new report

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by the Government Accountability Office.

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“U.S. Navy Shipbuilding [br]Is Consistently Over Budget and Delayed”

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Oh. That doesn’t sound very good.

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Especially [br]with a war with China looming on the horizon.

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The report says, “Despite nearly [br]doubling its shipbuilding budget

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over the last 2 decades, the U.S. Navy [br]hasn’t increased its number of ships.”

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Spending more money for less?

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Who’s running the Navy? California?

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There are a few reasons this has happened.

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For one, some shipyards don’t have enough room [br]to do what the Navy wants in time.

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Some also have just really, really old infrastructure

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that can delay construction and repair.

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It’s like asking someone to bake you [br]the world’s largest black forest cake,

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but they only have an easy bake oven… from 1963 .

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There’s also the fact that shipbuilders [br]just don’t have enough workers

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to meet the Navy’s demands

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. It’s surprisingly not [br]a lucrative job.

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And even with the workers

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already in the industry, a majority of [br]them just don’t have enough experience

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So it takes more time and money to [br]just maintain what the US already has,

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let alone building more ships to counter China.

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Because, as it turns out, building ships is [br]hard.

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Even when they’re not in a bottle .

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So despite billions of dollars of investment [br]into getting the US to crank out more ships,

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there’s still not enough shipyards or workers.

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And that’s because, according to the new report,

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the US Navy and the Office of the Secretary [br]of Defense

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aren’t “fully coordinating their shipbuilding investments

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to prevent [br]duplication or overlap in spending”.

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Communication problems.

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I don’t know if they [br]need budget management or couples counseling.

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Another problem is that the Navy hasn’t even set goals

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or measurable targets for [br]what to do with all that money.

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Unfortunately, this poor communication [br]is considered a feature, not a bug.

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A very expensive, naive bug [br]with poor communication skills.

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Navy leadership discourages using quality [br]control tools such as monetary penalties

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if contractors submit late [br]and/or poor-quality work.

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In other words if they screw up, they still [br]get the money.

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You wouldn’t handle your money like that.

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But the government, [br]will handle your money like that.

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The Navy has also actually reduced [br]inspections by almost 50 percent,

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all for the sake of maintaining “strong [br]working relations” with contractors.

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That’d be like hiring a guy to redo [br]your bathroom,

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he reworks the plumbing to make the contents of your septic tank

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shoot out of your shower head, you say,

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“Great job!” because you want to make sure

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he [br]wants to work with you on other future projects.

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To make matters worse, the Navy doesn’t even [br]have a strategy

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for managing the US’s ship industrial base—

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that’s the system [br]of shipyards, suppliers, workers,

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and infrastructure that supports [br]building and maintaining ships.

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The Navy’s theme song should be changed [br]from “In the Navy” to “Living on a Prayer.

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And the Navy is sending so many [br]mixed messages to shipyards,

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they have no idea what to expect [br]from one year to the next.

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“The Navy's plans for building and [br]repairing ships vary from year to year.”

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So that’s like asking someone to bake you [br]the world’s largest black forest cake,

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but they only have an easy bake oven… from [br]1963 .

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And then halfway through you say,

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“Nevermind. I actually want a beef wellington.

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Priorities are screwed up as well.

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Take the very expensive, new USS Gerald Ford.

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“the Navy ditched battle-tested features [br]found on previous carriers

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and instead went with more expensive technology

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that [br]hasn’t always worked out as expected.”

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Yeah that’s a good way to spend [br]more money and not have more ships.

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Probably one of the worst [br]examples in recent history of Navy mismanagement

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was only [br]publicly reported last December.

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The Navy wanted to modernize 7 guided-missile [br]cruisers

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.Upgrade them so they could get a few

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more years of service out of them.

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5 years. Okay. Fine. Makes sense.

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Only 3 were completed.

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And none of them will [br]get the full 5 extra years of service life.

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The Navy wasted $1.8 billion dollars on that.

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This was such a brutal blow to the [br]US I’m surprised the remnants of

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ISIS didn’t try to claim responsibility for it.

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Clearly, something needs fixing.

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But apparently [br]the Navy isn’t taking those recommendations seriously

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. Because to them, if it ain’t broke…

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actually it is broke, but still don’t fix it.

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In another recent report, the Government [br]Accountability Office said it had made

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90 recommendations to the Navy since [br]2015.

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The Navy agreed with many of them,

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but “has only fully or partially addressed [br]30,

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with 60 recommendations unaddressed.”

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This is an immediate problem.

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Some experts think China will try to invade [br]Taiwan in 2027.

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That’s 2 years from now.

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Is the US Navy capable of fighting a war like [br]that?

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Or are we S.O.L.: ship out of luck.

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Well, the Trump Administration is trying to [br]do something.

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But it’s very late in the day.

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China builds more than half the [br]world’s ships.

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But that’s about to get very expensive for China

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and any [br]company or country that uses them.

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Trump wants to charge Chinese ships [br]$1million dollars for every port call.

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And most ships make around 3 [br]port calls per voyage to the US.

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Trump also announced the creation of a new [br]Office of Shipbuilding in the White House.

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And put out an executive order called [br]Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance.

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Various government agencies will work together [br]with the White House to create a “Maritime Action Plan

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.” It’s about countering China and building [br]back up America’s Maritime Industrial Base.

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It calls for a ton of reviews on shipbuilding [br]programs,

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procurement rules, regulations,

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and the US maritime workforce,

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as well [br]as new funding mechanisms and financial incentives

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to promote investments into US [br]shipyards and subcomponent supply chains.

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So essentially, all the things that would have

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been common sense to do years [br]ago.

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Revolutionary, I know.

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There’s also a bunch of red tape getting cut.

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And even DOGE is getting in on the [br]action.

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They’ll do their own review of the DoD

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and Homeland Security [br]vessel procurement processes.

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And as always, Trump is putting [br]an emphasis on education.

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He wants to modernize the US Merchant Marine [br]Academy.

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These guys are critical to sea-based commerce during peace

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and the transportation [br]of cargo and personnel by sea during war.

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Very important job.

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But the number of them has declined

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from roughly [br]50,000 in 1960 to less than 10,000 today.

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I haven’t seen a decline that sharp in the [br]same timeframe

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outside of Bill Cosby’s fanbase.

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This was a priority for Trump even [br]back during his first term in office.

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Trump also wants to offer scholarships [br]to maritime experts

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from allied countries

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to teach at US institutions.

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Probably Japan and South Korea.

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Navy Secretary John Phelan has been [br]busy visiting a lot of shipyards

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and building relationships with [br]partners to aid in shipbuilding.

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He made his first international trip to Japan,

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And then to South Korea,

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two powerful shipbuilding allies .

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that [br]the US wants closer collaboration with

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It’s still early in Trump's second term so [br]I’m sure there will be more developments

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But the clock is ticking.

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And we don’t want to be SOL.

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But what do you think?

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Leave your [br]expertly crafted analysis in the comments below.

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Once again, I’m Chris Chappell. Thank [br]you for watching America Uncovered.