Navy Force Structure: A Bigger Fleet Background and Issues for Congress

Abstract

Current Navy plans call for achieving and maintaining a fleet of 308 ships of certain types and numbers. Some observers have advocated increasing the Navys force-level goal to about 350 ships. The Navy is currently conducting a force structure assessment (FSA), and some observers anticipate that this FSA will lead to a new Navy force-level goal of more than 308 ships, although not necessarily 350 ships. The Navys actual size in recent years has generally been in the range of 270 to 290 ships. Those who advocate increasing the planned size of the Navy to something more than 308 ships generally cite Chinas naval modernization effort, resurgent Russian naval activity, and challenges that the Navy has sometimes faced in meeting requests from the various regional U.S. military commanders for day-to-day, in-region presence of forward-deployed Navy ships.The figure of 350 ships is by no means the only possibility for a Navy of more than 308 ships; fleets of more than 350 ships, or of fewer than 350 ships (but still more than 308), are also possible. There have also been proposals in recent years from other observers for fleets of less than 308 ships. Given constraints on defense spending under the Budget Control Act of 2011 (S. 365/P.L. 112-25 of August 2, 2011) as amended, as well as the Navys current share of the defense budget, the Navy faces challenges in achieving its currently planned 308-ship fleet, let alone a fleet of more than 308 ships. If current constraints on defense spending are not lifted or relaxed, achieving and maintaining a fleet of more than 308 ships could require reducing funding for other defense programs. A key potential reason for increasing the planned size of the Navy to something more than 308 ships would be to reestablish a larger U.S. Navy forward-deployed presence in the European theater, and particularly the Mediterranean.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 16, 2016
Accession Number
AD1017536

Entities

People

  • Ronald O'Rourke

Organizations

  • Congressional Research Service

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircraft Carriers
  • Amphibious Ships
  • Attack Submarines
  • Ballistic Missile Submarines
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Boats
  • Cold War
  • Deployment
  • Force Structure
  • Littoral Combat Ships
  • National Security
  • Naval Operations
  • Navy
  • Nuclear Powered Submarines
  • Procurement
  • Submarines
  • United States

Readers

  • Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting
  • Strategic Security Studies