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U.S. Navy shipbuilding at worst in 25 years

2024-08-13

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The Associated Press reported on the 11th that the U.S. Navy is lagging behind in ship construction and maintenance due to challenges such as shortage of shipyard workers, repeated design changes, and cost overruns. Some professionals have called the U.S. Navy's shipbuilding situation the worst in 25 years.

Eric Labus has long worked as a naval affairs analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. He believes that the US Navy's shipbuilding situation is the "worst" in 25 years, and "there is no quick and easy way to solve this problem." He said that Marinette Maritime in Wisconsin has signed a contract with the US Navy to build six missile frigates, and it is possible to build four more, but the shipyard is currently short of staff and can only build one frigate a year.

The U.S. Politico website reported in April this year that U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro ordered an assessment of ship construction in January this year. The results showed that the construction progress of the U.S. Navy's five ships under construction was slow, with delays of one to three years.

According to the Associated Press report on the 11th, the main reason for the shortage of shipyard workers is the retirement of a large number of experienced workers. In order to recruit manpower, shipyards across the United States have established training schools and cooperated with technical colleges to allow workers to receive the skills training required to build cutting-edge warships.

Lucas Andreni, 25, currently works as a welder at Marinette Maritime, worked for several years as a welder on a production line that makes garbage truck parts before training at a technical college.

There are thousands of young people like Andreni who have been trained and employed in related shipyards in the United States. In order to try to retain the workforce, American shipyards are providing better medical and pension benefits, as well as better working environment, canteens and even parking lots. But according to Eric Dent, a spokesman for Marinette Maritime, even so, the problem of worker shortages still exists in all shipyards in the United States, and "labor shortages are obviously a major problem."