Given the scale of the crisis afflicting America’s surface fleet, why would Democrats object to having all hands on deck?
Democrats haven’t exactly been warm toward DOGE’s effort to root out fraud, waste, and misallocated resources in executive agencies. It is, however, odd that this governmental efficiency initiative’s foray into the armed forces has inspired the same hostility from the opposition party.
“Adding shipbuilding to DOGE’s agenda is highly questionable given its admitted blunders,” said Connecticut Congressman Joe Courtney amid the revelation that DOGE had been directed to audit the Navy’s and Coast Guard’s shipbuilding programs. “DOGE is not going to create welders, electricians, and outside machinists through the tools they have,” he added, “which is exactly what we need to build on the momentum we are seeing in the shipbuilding industry.”
Courtney’s quote stands out in a Politico article that otherwise demonstrates why the Navy, in particular, is in dire need of an intervention. “Every single Navy shipbuilding program is currently behind schedule, including critical nuclear-powered submarines and its next aircraft carrier,” the report reads. Indeed, among the programs failing to meet expectations is the Navy’s new Constellation-class frigate, “which has undergone several design changes and is already five years behind schedule and over budget.”
Those are just some of the intolerable inefficiencies limiting America’s ability to field a blue-water fleet sufficient to deter America’s expansionist adversaries abroad. As the Government Accountability Office detailed, the Constellation-class program is just one disappointment among many.
In addition, the GAO cited the Littoral Combat Ship program and Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyers, which are two ship classes that “consumed tens of billions of dollars more to acquire than initially budgeted and ultimately delivered far less capability and capacity to fleet users than the Navy had promised.”
A 2023 ProPublica investigation into the Littoral Combat Ship debacle is equal parts embarrassing and terrifying. “One Navy secretary and his allies in Congress fought to build more of the ships even as they broke down at sea and their weapons systems failed,” the report read. “Staunch advocates in the Navy circumvented checks meant to ensure that ships that cost billions can do what they are supposed to do.”
The Navy’s effort to decommission and replace the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser fleet is equally disconcerting. “A total of 11 cruisers [modernized] over 10 years by inducting no more than two cruisers each year into modernization cycles, for up to 4 years in modernization, and with no more than six cruisers undergoing modernization at the same time,” the GAO revealed. “The Navy did not develop key program planning and oversight tools and documents for the cruiser modernization effort, such as an acquisition strategy, independent cost estimate, risk management plan, baseline, and Navy program oversight meetings, according to Navy officials.”
It wouldn’t serve the public interest if DOGE replicated the work that the GAO has already done to expose the failures of American shipbuilding. We don’t need another restatement of the problem. We know that America needs a much bigger fleet if it is to compete with China, which maintains a shipbuilding capacity that is estimated to be hundreds of times greater than America’s. If DOGE can identify and contribute to eliminating inefficiencies in the shipbuilding process, that would be a most welcome development.
Given the scale of the crisis afflicting America’s surface fleet, why would Democrats object to having all hands on deck?