Although Trump has shouted "Make American shipbuilding great again" and used tariffs as leverage to get South Korea to invest in and provide technology to help revitalize the U.S. shipbuilding industry, time is not on their side. The intensification of geopolitical games and the huge challenges brought by reality make the U.S. Navy unable to wait.

Shipbuilding impact causes delays in U.S. Navy shipbuilding

According to a report from Taiwan's "Up News," in November, U.S. Navy Chief of Operations Koda, during his visit to Asia, unusually made "seeking allied shipbuilding assistance" as a core issue. He directly asked South Korean and Japanese shipyards whether they could support U.S. naval shipbuilding and maintenance capacity.

Koda believes that with U.S. dry docks facing labor shortages, aging equipment, and rising demand for naval shipbuilding, industrial support from Japan and South Korea may provide the U.S. Navy with precious time. The U.S. Navy is currently evaluating the possibility of outsourcing some auxiliary ship construction and surface ship maintenance to allies by the early 2030s to gain time to rebuild domestic capacity.

Currently, the U.S. faces significant shipbuilding pressure, and the dramatic changes in geopolitics have led to a huge demand for shipbuilding by the U.S. Navy, but the U.S. shipbuilding industry is already deeply troubled and cannot meet the needs of the U.S. Navy.

In terms of building nuclear submarines, the U.S. faces considerable pressure because not only does the U.S. Navy need nuclear submarines, but the U.S. also needs to fulfill the "AUKUS" commitment to build nuclear submarines for Australia.

From a practical perspective, each timely delivered destroyer, amphibious ship, or supply ship can increase the options for the U.S. Navy to conduct distributed maritime operations, crisis response, and sustained presence missions in the Western Pacific. Conversely, each year of delay in shipbuilding will compress the options available to the U.S.

Despite Trump's loud call for "making American shipbuilding great again" and having South Korea invest in assistance, the U.S. Navy is out of patience. Practical needs force them to quickly outsource. In this context, Japan and South Korea became the first choice, and the only choice. Several reports from U.S. research centers clearly state that currently, only Japan and South Korea can help the U.S., their shipbuilding capacity ranks second only to China, and they have the ability to build a large number of complex hulls.

Outsourcing some warships may help the U.S. accelerate the construction of nuclear submarines

Additionally, the U.S. Navy has three considerations: First, Japan and South Korea are located in the Western Pacific, making it convenient for the U.S. Navy to build and maintain ships here, saving the time needed to return to the U.S. mainland.

Second, for the U.S. Navy, the most critical part of the nuclear submarine construction project is now. Outsourcing part of the shipbuilding to Japan and South Korea can release U.S. shipbuilding capacity and accelerate the nuclear submarine construction process.

Third, outsourcing part of the shipbuilding to Japan and South Korea can quickly meet the current needs of the U.S. Navy while also giving time for the revival of the U.S. shipbuilding industry. A senior figure in the U.S. industry revealed that the latest concept is to use allies to gain time, allowing U.S. dry docks to be "modernized."

A budget document submitted by the U.S. Navy to Congress shows: if legal and political obstacles are reduced, by the early 2030s, they plan to transfer up to 15% to 20% of auxiliary ships, as well as some surface ship maintenance, to Japanese and South Korean shipyards, but the most sensitive nuclear submarine projects will still be completed domestically in the U.S.

However, this is easier said than done, as the shipbuilding issue is very sensitive. The U.S. Navy absolutely cannot allow itself to become completely dependent on Japan and South Korea.

Taiwan's "Up News" stated: several intermediate models are currently under discussion, and there are currently three main directions: first, transferring more maintenance and major overhaul work to allied shipyards; second, establishing a joint mine countermeasures ship construction program with Japan; third, letting Japanese or South Korean shipyards manufacture hulls or large modules of Arleigh Burke-class scale, then having the U.S. mainland handle the later equipment and armament.

Other options include subcontracting the construction of supply ship parts, or letting allies invest in U.S. shipyards that lack capacity, bringing Asian production technology directly into the U.S. without needing to move the entire industrial base overseas.

The only countries with the capability to build ships for the U.S. at present are likely Japan and South Korea

Nevertheless, these models face issues of sovereignty and control. Domestic U.S. shipbuilders warn that outsourcing too much work equates to "outsourcing sovereignty." They still advocate for concentrating on rebuilding domestic U.S. capacity rather than relying on foreign shipyards. Therefore, whether this "outsourcing plan" can be implemented remains uncertain.



Original: toutiao.com/article/7581687751012074024/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.