Studies conducted by the U.S. Navy are suggesting that the service should increase the number of ships in its fleet to about the mid-300s, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson.
The Navy is currently slated to grow its fleet from 272 ships today to 308 by fiscal year 2021. But the 308 goal was set in 2012 and did not account for a resurgent Russia or the rise of the Islamic State, Richardson said Dec. 3 at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif. As a result, the Navy has been studying whether a further expansion of its fleet is warranted.
“Our studies are showing” that a fleet size “very close to the middle 300s” is what the Navy would recommend as an “appropriate risk,” Richardson told the forum. “It has to come with the rest of the funding to own that force.”
The Navy plans to release more details about its ship plans “in the next several months,” a spokesman said Dec. 5.
The new goal offered by Richardson would put the Navy close to the total of 350 surface ships and submarines that President-elect Donald Trump proposed during his campaign. Trump has said he would reach his target partly by buying more destroyers and upgrading cruisers.
Richardson’s comments came two days after Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the service would likely increase production rates for attack submarines, large surface combatants and amphibious assault ships if it received a funding infusion. Committee members conveyed support for a larger fleet but emphasized that controlling costs would be critical to making that happen.
The House Armed Services Committee has expressed concern about the “unprecedented shrinkage” in the attack submarine force, which is expected to fall below the Navy requirement of 48 vessels in 2025 and reach a low of 41 in 2030. According to the House report on the fiscal year 2017 defense authorization bill, the committee “has received testimony from a wide range of military leaders and experts about the strain that the submarine force is under today, and the need to mitigate the projected reduction in the fleet.”