US Navy considers overseas shipbuilding to combat century-level crisis

The United States is considering emergency measures, including the permission to build warships overseas and returning to proven technologies like steam systems, to accelerate construction as the Navy faces its most difficult period in 100 years.

The United States Navy is facing its most difficult period in the last 100 years. Analysis suggests that warship construction and maintenance capabilities have reached their limits as the rapid quantitative and qualitative expansion of the Chinese Navy coincides with the weakening of the United States Navy's industrial base. According to the explanation provided by Kwon Hyo-jae on Dr. Choi Jun-young's Globe Institute, the United States has recently issued specific administrative directives that shake up existing policies in an effort to increase the speed of warship construction.

"Build warships faster": Unusual administrative directive from the U.S. President

The U.S. President recently released a memo through a meeting containing specific details to accelerate warship construction. This is interpreted as a documented administrative directive rather than a simple verbal instruction, formalizing changes that experts have advocated for over the past 20 years at the executive level. Kwon Hyo-jae identified the "permission to build warships overseas" as one of the core contents of this memo. This is intended to apply the model used by the Coast Guard, which built some icebreakers overseas through a Finland model, to the United States Navy.

Additionally, the directive includes a review of returning to proven past technologies, such as steam or hydraulic systems, instead of the new technologies currently being applied to aircraft carriers under construction, in order to increase speed. This is interpreted as an intention to shorten construction time to secure immediate lacking aircraft carrier strength, rather than increasing completeness by applying cutting-edge technology.

Failure to adapt to the post-Cold War system and collapsed production base

The fundamental reason the U.S. shipbuilding industry cannot keep up with the demand for warships lies in the continuous reduction of naval power and the weakening of the industrial base following the post-Cold War era. Kwon explained that as the United States underwent a process of gradually reducing naval power over the last 30 years, defense companies responsible for delivering warships failed to adapt to the changed environment. The U.S. doctrine, which previously responded with "high-quality, excellent weapons," has met a crisis when faced with China's "expansion in both quantity and quality."

In addition to the weakening industrial base, the manpower problem is also serious. As the military has fallen from being an attractive career path within the United States, securing soldiers has become difficult, leading to a burden on overall military operations. In particular, maintenance capabilities have deteriorated to the point where basic non-combat system issues, such as toilets or laundry rooms, occur even on the latest aircraft carriers. Combined with a shortage of supply ships and transport ships due to the reorganization of bases in the Middle East, the operational capabilities of the United States Navy are being overloaded.

Review of a fifth repair shipyard and changing South Korea-U.S. cooperation

The United States is considering extreme prescriptions to restore its collapsed production capacity. In addition to the four existing repair shipyards within the United States, plans to secure a fifth shipyard are being discussed. This is expected to include methods such as restarting closed shipyards.

These changes in the United States are also altering the nature of shipbuilding cooperation between South Korea and the United States. Shipbuilding cooperation, which had been expected to serve as the glue for the South Korea-U.S. alliance, is experiencing a tense atmosphere due to the industrial base issues and policy changes in the United States. As the U.S. shifts its policy toward allowing competition with overseas companies, the environment facing South Korean shipbuilding companies is also expected to change.

Source: original video (YouTube)