Conflict, Congress, and Consolidation: Understanding How 21st Century Strategic Shifts Shaped the U.S. Naval Shipbuilding Industrial Base

Abstract

The American naval shipbuilding industrial base faces three persistent contradictions. Despite bipartisan acknowledgment of the crisis, congressional appropriations fall short of the 30-year shipbuilding plan’s funding requirements. Second, while the consequences of conflict-driven demand volatility remain unaddressed, the structural deficiencies of the industrial base, including workforce attrition, rising unit costs, and ballooning maintenance backlogs, are attributed to program mismanagement. Finally, the era of Great Power Competition has generated an unprecedented amount of political attention to the shipbuilding crisis. However, the industrial base remains smaller and less resilient than the strategic moment demands. This thesis analyzes the development of those deficiencies considering these contradictions. Leveraging Samuel Huntington’s three-element framework of military service identity, this thesis first considers the strategic environment of the Global War on Terror, arguing that the land-centric nature of the conflict eroded the Navy’s concept within national policy, producing congressional apathy toward the Shipbuilding and Conversion account and industrial contraction. Then, this thesis considers how the renewed maritime strategic clarity of the era of Great Power Competition only partially restored congressional support, leaving inherited structural damage unresolved. Finally, this thesis examines the Virginia-class submarine and the Littoral Combat Ship, arguing that their diverging industrial outcomes confirm the causal mechanism across both eras. To make these arguments, this thesis leverages congressional procurement markup data, IBISWorld industry employment and revenue figures, as well as reporting from the GAO, CBO, and CRS. Following analysis of the structural consequences of conflict-driven procurement, this thesis concludes with four evidenced-based policy recommendations.