Shipbuilding is more than an industry; it is a pillar of national security, economic strength, and geopolitical influence. Yet, when the numbers are laid bare, the scale of failure in the United States is staggering. In the past year, the U.S. produced a mere five naval vessels, compared to 1,700 launched by China. This is not merely a gap, it is an outright crisis.
The reality of modern naval power is that control of the seas determines the balance of global power. A strong maritime force secures trade routes, deters aggression, and projects influence. The United States, once the uncontested leader in shipbuilding, now finds itself struggling against an ascendant China, whose rapid naval expansion is no accident. It is a carefully orchestrated campaign leveraging foreign contracts, state-backed investment, and stolen technology to produce an overwhelming advantage at sea.
Meanwhile, American shipyards have been left to stagnate, bound by red tape, mismanaged procurement processes, and an absence of strategic vision. U.S. shipbuilding, a sector that once built thousands of vessels for wartime efforts, now faces a slow-motion collapse. The SHIPS Act, a proposed legislative fix, is a step in the right direction, but it lacks the sweeping reforms necessary to restore America’s industrial capacity.
The question must be asked: How did the world’s preeminent naval power allow its shipbuilding industry to fall into such decline? And more importantly, how can it be salvaged before it is too late?
China’s Naval Expansion: A Blueprint for Maritime Dominance
China’s rise as a maritime superpower is no accident. The China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), a state-backed conglomerate, has aggressively pursued technological advancements, foreign acquisitions, and domestic shipyard expansion to become the world’s dominant shipbuilder. China has not just outpaced the United States; it has left it decades behind.
Several key factors drive China’s success:
- State Subsidies and Strategic Planning – Beijing heavily subsidises its shipbuilding industry, ensuring that production remains high regardless of global economic fluctuations. Shipyards receive direct state support, allowing them to operate at maximum capacity.
- Technology Acquisition and Espionage – China has strategically acquired foreign naval technology, both through legal partnerships and outright theft, allowing them to accelerate innovation and reduce development times.
- Commercial-Military Integration – Unlike the United States, where military and civilian shipbuilding operate separately, China has merged these sectors, ensuring that commercial success translates directly into military expansion.
- Aggressive Procurement and Rapid Deployment, China builds ships on an unprecedented scale, often outproducing the entire Western world in a single year. Their navy now boasts 370 warships, compared to the U.S. Navy’s 298, a margin that is only growing wider.
China’s approach is ruthless, efficient, and strategically focused. While U.S. policymakers debate incremental reforms, China is setting the pace for global naval supremacy.
America’s Failing Shipyards: A Self-Inflicted Wound
The United States has no shortage of capable shipyards or skilled labour. What it lacks is political will, coherent strategy, and a commitment to reforming a broken procurement system.
The U.S. shipbuilding industry has been crippled by a combination of overregulation, bureaucratic waste, and corporate complacency. Key problems include:
- Regulatory Paralysis – Shipyards are drowning in compliance mandates that add cost without improving efficiency. Environmental regulations, union disputes, and excessive oversight slow production to a crawl.
- Ineffective Procurement Process – The U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding contracts are notorious for cost overruns, delays, and inefficiencies. A single ship often takes years longer to complete than planned, with costs ballooning well beyond initial estimates.
- Failure of Public-Private Ventures – Bureaucrats have poured billions into failed attempts at revitalising shipbuilding through public-private partnerships that ultimately delivered few results. Money has been wasted on politically motivated projects rather than the hard reforms needed to rebuild an industrial base.
- Lack of Accountability – In China, a failed project results in swift consequences. In the United States, failure is rewarded with more funding, endless committee reviews, and no real change.
The result? A navy that is falling behind and an industrial sector that should be a national asset left rusting in obsolescence.
The SHIPS Act: A Band-Aid on a Bullet Wound?
The SHIPS Act is a legislative attempt to address America’s shipbuilding crisis by increasing domestic naval production and investment. While well-intentioned, it fails to address the root causes of the decline. Without deeper reform, it will become just another bureaucratic gesture rather than a true turning point.
For real change to occur, the U.S. must implement a three-pronged strategy to revitalise its shipbuilding industry:
- Regulatory Streamlining – Reduce red tape and allow shipyards to operate at maximum efficiency. A comprehensive overhaul of environmental and labour regulations must be prioritised.
- Targeted Tax Incentives – Offer tax relief and financial incentives to shipbuilding firms that commit to ramping up production, adopting new technologies, and expanding the skilled workforce.
- Direct White House Oversight of Production Targets – The President must oversee shipbuilding goals with clear metrics, blockchain-verified contracts, and zero tolerance for delays. Every wasted procurement dollar should be publicly tracked, and every missed deadline should have real consequences.
Additionally, the Navy must abandon costly vanity projects and focus on fleet expansion. The priority must be rapid production of frigates, destroyers, and logistical support vessels, the backbone of naval power.
Without these reforms, the SHIPS Act will become another half-measure lost in Washington’s labyrinth of inefficiency.
Maritime Dominance is Not Optional
The decline of U.S. shipbuilding is not simply an economic concern, it is a direct threat to national security. The ability to project power, protect trade routes, and deter adversaries depends on a strong, modern navy.
Britain once ruled the seas because it understood that naval supremacy was the foundation of empire and security. The United States now faces the same strategic imperative. If it allows China to control the seas, it surrenders global influence and economic independence.
Every year of inaction pushes America closer to naval irrelevance. The time for minor adjustments has passed. If the U.S. does not commit to large-scale, aggressive shipbuilding reform, it risks being eclipsed by a rising superpower whose ambitions extend far beyond the Pacific.
The question now is not whether America can recover its shipbuilding might, it is whether its leaders have the will to act before it is too late.