Prospects for Shipyard Mobilization: The Shipbuilding Industry and the U.S. Navy in Peace and War

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe simplest statement of the wartime requirements of the shipbuilding and ship repair industry is to build and repair ships faster than they are being sunk. Given a conflict of the magnitude of World War II, the task is a formidable one. Forty years ago, it was accomplished brilliantly. However, there is no real security in past success.This paper assesses the shipbuilding and ship repair industry as it was in World Wars I and II and as it currently exists. If a similar conflict occurred today, would the current capacity of the industry be able to produce as it did between 1941 and 1945? If so, how? If not, where are the shortfalls? What are the similarities and differences between the industry then and the industry now? How are current policies affecting the level of capacity in the shipyards? How does an industry that is facing certain decline continue long‐term strategy for business development?Given the pivotal role played by the shipbuilding and ship repair industry in all previous conflicts, the answers to these questions could prove crucial to U.S. national security. If there were no national security requirement for the industry, its future would be clear and there would be no lamenting its demise. War is too grim a game to risk defeat through insufficient industrial capacity in critical areas.