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Ships added, but goal remains a long way off
When President Donald Trump took office the Navy had 274 ships. As of June 2020, it has 299. Each time we've looked at this promise, the total of ships and submarines has ticked up.
Congress approved an official goal of 355 ships in late December 2017 — but it set no time frame. It said it should be done "as soon as practicable," and with money "subject to the availability of appropriations."
The Trump administration has said that reaching the 355-ship goal in 10 years is a top priority, but Congress sets the pace.
The Navy's long-term plan looks to reach the goal by 2048. For aircraft carriers, the priciest item on its list, the Navy would add about one every five years.
The Congressional Research Service noted that in its most recent five-year plan, the Navy scaled back the number of new ships it aimed to acquire. The mix of ships is in play, with more unmanned surface and submarine vessels and smaller ships likely to replace some big-ticket items, such as an aircraft carrier.
"It doesn't make a lot of sense to equate the effectiveness of the U.S. Navy with the number of ships that it possesses," said Thomas Mahnken, president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. "What matters more is what the capability of those ships are and how they are deployed."
The Navy is on track to add new vessels, but at the current pace, that will take decades, and no one can know whether it will ultimately reach the 350 ships Trump promised.
We rate this a Compromise.
Our Sources
U.S. Navy, Status of the Navy, June 10, 2020
U.S. Navy, Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels, February 2019
Congressional Research Service, Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans: Background and Issues for Congress, June 3, 2020
U.S. Congress, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Dec. 23, 2016
U.S. Congress, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018, Dec. 12, 2017
Email exchange, Dakota Wood, Senior Research Fellow for Defense Programs, Heritage Foundation, June 22, 2020
Email exchange, Thomas G. Mahnken, president and CEO, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, June 23, 2020