China just proved my point: the logic of the new technologies requires larger hulls, not smaller. America needs all fifteen BBGNs now — with the power and space for fifty years of American innovation.
Rod, I dub thee Admiral Rod D. Martin and direct you to wherever in the bowels of the Pentagon they are carrying out the plans for the Trump Battleship. You are very knowledgeable and I appreciate you sharing with us. It is so fascinating. As I am soon to be 84, I'll be watching the ship's launch from my Heavenly perch and cheering loudly. When you arrive at your post, Admiral, get with Homeland Security and establish an immigration policy to attract people with vital skills, such as shipbuilding to include the high tech part. Promise of citizenship should entice a number to join our forces. If we can keep our government out of the clutches of the Democrats (a Big If) we stand on the threshold of mighty advances in naval and space technology. Depend on it, I will be watching. The little ghostly breeze you detect flitting around the decks may just be me. Blessings.
Well first, thank you for the promotion. And also, o king may you live forever.
I have been writing a good bit about the shipbuilding bottleneck, and too his great credit, the President is quite focused on it. We have let that particular industry atrophy. The fifth public yard he just outlined will relieve a lot of the maintenance backlog, but what we really need is another civilian shipyard capable of building and maintenancing nuclear surface combatants. Right now, we have exactly one, which is stupid for a whole host of reasons, but certainly won't support my call for 16 carriers and 15 BBGNs (the latter of which is the administration's plan, the former being what we need but have not yet planned). We also need more capacity to build nuclear submarines.
The new facility in Western Australia will eventually relieve some of that pressure, but we need to be able to build at least one entire nuclear submarine more per year than we are at present just to keep up with our (already inadequate) current plan.
As to skilled workers, the President's trade deals with South Korea and Japan, and Trump's Finland icebreaker deal all contemplate important steps: (1) utilization of foreign shipyard capacity where appropriate, in exchange for (2) allied shipbuilders building or taking control of new U.S. yards, (3) utilizing their skill and technology to speed production and train U.S. workers, (4) and then replace their own workers with that new U.S. workforce in the shortest reasonable period of time.
It's a great plan. We need more. I don't doubt that Trump and Hegseth know that better than anyone. Letting shipbuilding -- and the Navy -- atrophy was a bipartisan screwup.
Sounds like a plan, and hope it can progress without Democrats squelching it. (To nitpick, should be "o queen," but thanks for the thought. Although at this juncture the prospects of Heaven with my Lord and Savior have definite appeal.) Blessings.
Great! We need 16 carriers (up from the statutory minimum of 11, which means we only have 6 at sea at most at any given time). We need 15 Trump-class battleships. I'm going to propose an entirely new class of ships for a dedicated purpose in a couple weeks. And of course we need shipbuilding capacity to achieve and maintain all that.
We are now executing on a global chokepoint strategy. We would do well to have a big enough fleet to cover all that and China as well. Construction has to start long before you need it, and what you build has to stay useful long after you design it.
Rod, I dub thee Admiral Rod D. Martin and direct you to wherever in the bowels of the Pentagon they are carrying out the plans for the Trump Battleship. You are very knowledgeable and I appreciate you sharing with us. It is so fascinating. As I am soon to be 84, I'll be watching the ship's launch from my Heavenly perch and cheering loudly. When you arrive at your post, Admiral, get with Homeland Security and establish an immigration policy to attract people with vital skills, such as shipbuilding to include the high tech part. Promise of citizenship should entice a number to join our forces. If we can keep our government out of the clutches of the Democrats (a Big If) we stand on the threshold of mighty advances in naval and space technology. Depend on it, I will be watching. The little ghostly breeze you detect flitting around the decks may just be me. Blessings.
Well first, thank you for the promotion. And also, o king may you live forever.
I have been writing a good bit about the shipbuilding bottleneck, and too his great credit, the President is quite focused on it. We have let that particular industry atrophy. The fifth public yard he just outlined will relieve a lot of the maintenance backlog, but what we really need is another civilian shipyard capable of building and maintenancing nuclear surface combatants. Right now, we have exactly one, which is stupid for a whole host of reasons, but certainly won't support my call for 16 carriers and 15 BBGNs (the latter of which is the administration's plan, the former being what we need but have not yet planned). We also need more capacity to build nuclear submarines.
The new facility in Western Australia will eventually relieve some of that pressure, but we need to be able to build at least one entire nuclear submarine more per year than we are at present just to keep up with our (already inadequate) current plan.
As to skilled workers, the President's trade deals with South Korea and Japan, and Trump's Finland icebreaker deal all contemplate important steps: (1) utilization of foreign shipyard capacity where appropriate, in exchange for (2) allied shipbuilders building or taking control of new U.S. yards, (3) utilizing their skill and technology to speed production and train U.S. workers, (4) and then replace their own workers with that new U.S. workforce in the shortest reasonable period of time.
It's a great plan. We need more. I don't doubt that Trump and Hegseth know that better than anyone. Letting shipbuilding -- and the Navy -- atrophy was a bipartisan screwup.
Sounds like a plan, and hope it can progress without Democrats squelching it. (To nitpick, should be "o queen," but thanks for the thought. Although at this juncture the prospects of Heaven with my Lord and Savior have definite appeal.) Blessings.
Just a Narnia reference. :)
Alright. You have conditionally convinced me.
Great! We need 16 carriers (up from the statutory minimum of 11, which means we only have 6 at sea at most at any given time). We need 15 Trump-class battleships. I'm going to propose an entirely new class of ships for a dedicated purpose in a couple weeks. And of course we need shipbuilding capacity to achieve and maintain all that.
We are now executing on a global chokepoint strategy. We would do well to have a big enough fleet to cover all that and China as well. Construction has to start long before you need it, and what you build has to stay useful long after you design it.
I respect the forward looking strategy along with the flexible design
A most informative and info-packed article, Dr. Martin! The Trump-class carriers are going to be crucial for the future of the U.S. Navy!
The Official Rod Martin Report Book Club Issue #7
* The Western Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 by Nick Lloyd
* The Eastern Front: A History of the Great War, 1914-1918 by Nick Lloyd
* The War That Ended Piece: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan
* Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan
* The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global World, 1916-1931 by Adam Tooze
* The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s by Piers Brandon
* A Shadow Over the World: Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rise of Fascism, and the Making of America's World War II by William I. Hitchcock
* 53 Days: How Hitler Dismantled a Democracy by Timothy Ryback
* Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family by Daniel Finkelstein
* Miracle: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chambers at Auschwitz by Michael Calvin & Naftali Schiff
* The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age by Alex Wellerstein