WASHINGTON – The lack of military readiness and funding has been a consistent theme over the last year, whether it was Secretary of Defense James Mattis testifying before Congress, the release of the National Defense Strategy or President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address this week.
A major piece of this conversation has been calls for a complete overhaul of previous ship-building plans for the U.S. Navy. Trump has moved forward with a plan to build the Naval fleet up from its current level of 279 ships to 355..
However, according to a Congressional Budget Office report, this plan will be expensive and could take up to 35 years to accomplish.
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Figures and data: Congressional Budget Office 2017 report, “Costs of Building a 355-Ship Navy”
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