Program Manager, former Surface Warfare Officer (nuclear), Volunteer tour guide USS Alabama Battleship Park, Board member Mobile, Alabama Chapter of the Navy League
If our Navy is having a 1930’s moment as the CNO stated recently, we should do what they did in the 1930’s: -President Roosevelt issued an executive order in 1933 allowing $238 million in emergency public works funds to be used to build thirty‐two warships over the next three years. -Pass the Vinson-Trammell Act of 1934 which authorized the Navy to construct 102 new warships over the next eight years. -Pass the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 “to further the development and maintenance of an adequate and well-balanced American merchant marine, to promote the commerce of the United States, to aid in the national defense…” -Pass the Naval Act of 1938 which increased the Navy by 20 percent. -Pass the Two Ocean Navy Act of 1940 which increased the size of the Navy by 70 percent. All during the Great Depression and before we were at war. Japan did not awaken a sleeping giant at Pearl Harbor - our defense industry already had a nearly ten year running start. https://lnkd.in/exygAUjh
Sadly the industrial base potential is not what it was in 1930. It would be better to follow the 1970's to 1980's, Zumwalt to Lehman example that grew the fleet by 150 ships to almost 600 by the late 1980's.
… and that’s the reason why we did as well as we did as soon as we did when we entered WWII. Thank you FDR!
Even if we build more ships can we find enough qualified individuals to man them. During the Great Depression Americans were tripping over each other for a chance to get into one of the military services. Today, with plenty of jobs looking for people to fill them how can we get qualified young people to fill our military needs. Plus, most Americans of military age cannot even pass basic physical and intellectual requirements.
The government should take steps to build up our Navy, but fire all of the PC/social justice warrior leaders in the Pentagon and senior military leaders and appoint combat veterans who know what it takes to have an effective military and win a war. Otherwise the Navy can't recruit, train and retain qualified personnel to operate the more technologically advanced ships. The military and the Pentagon have been more focused on social justice than they have on strengthening our Navy and building our military into a more effective fighting force. Instead of focusing on promoting transgenders on social media, the focus should be on men and women who want to be warriors, not social justice warriors.
If we dig down and look at why the ships are deteriorating and cannot sustain itself it’s because our government does not give the Navy enough money to the ships to maintain themselves. And with the port engineers, not knowing what to do with these ships when they go into the dry dock or in their PSA. They just waste money on BS crap like to zoom more class, the planning of the new FFG’s. We decommission so many damn ships that could’ve been re-outfitted and put back in the service.
We need an immediate focus on building up our military arsenal. As early as 2001, Chinese leadership discussed the strategy of surprise, striking hard and fast against a “distant enemy”, a term Chinese leaders use when referring to the U.S.
Really, what can expect from the man in this picture??? He didn’t tell anyone he had cancer and was in the hospital ICU for days!!! Hell, when I served we had to do a full muster on the ship a few times a day while on deployment. I can’t believe he is still employed by the federal government to protect our Country. What a joke!
It’s the president duty to lead and Biden has failed miserably. Our enemies sense our weakness at the top. That is why we see all the problems. Biden Ii’s the problem
Educator and Mentor of Future Leaders | Historian and Author | Seasoned Leader and Program Manager
9moThere were FOUR elements that aligned to make that work (and it was more tenuous than some would like to believe). 1. A navalist president, 2. A strong advocate in Congress, 3. A well defined naval strategy, and 4. A willing industrial base. I would argue that today we barely have one of those four things (a strong advocate in Congress). I will also note that the federal government funded a good chunk of the infrastructure needed to expand the ship building capacity to meet those ship orders (also not something in play today). So, we can harken back to the 1930s all we want (and I wholeheartedly agree that it is an appropriate timeframe to look to for lessons) but we won’t get there until we get all four of those elements in line.