{"id":36521,"date":"2020-01-13T13:24:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T13:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/13\/in-a-quest-for-355-ships-us-navy-leaders-are-unwilling-to-accept-a-hollow-force\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:58:46","slug":"in-a-quest-for-355-ships-us-navy-leaders-are-unwilling-to-accept-a-hollow-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/in-a-quest-for-355-ships-us-navy-leaders-are-unwilling-to-accept-a-hollow-force\/","title":{"rendered":"In a quest for 355 ships, US Navy leaders are unwilling to accept a hollow force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The push to grow the U.S. Navy by about 20 percent was given a new lease on life, politically speaking, with a renewed push from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/12\/24\/pentagon-proposes-big-cuts-to-us-navy-destroyer-construction-retiring-13-cruisers\/\" target=\"_blank\">White House <\/a>and acting secretary of the Navy. But the fundamental issue applies: The Navy can\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/12\/09\/acting-us-navy-secretary-deliver-me-a-355-ship-fleet-by-2030\/\" target=\"_blank\">tack on a significant number of extra ships <\/a>without more funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent comments, the president\u2019s national security adviser, Robert O\u2019Brien, and acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly stressed the Trump administration\u2019s continued interest in pursuing a larger fleet. But Navy leadership,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/breaking-news\/2017\/11\/02\/navy-finds-deep-rooted-failures-led-to-fatal-collisions\/\" target=\"_blank\"> fresh off two deadly maritime collisions in 2017<\/a>, balk at the idea of sacrificing readiness for shipbuilding, according to both public statements and multiple officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And indeed \u201creadiness\u201d throughout the armed forces has been the watchword even as former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis\u2019 tenure slips further into history. In his confirmation hearing for the defense secretary position, Mark Esper described balancing readiness with modernization as the Defense Department\u2019s \u201ccentral challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis need to balance current readiness with modernization is the department&#8217;s central challenge and will require strong leadership, open and continuous dialogue with others, and the courage to make tough decisions,\u201d Esper told the Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy, unwilling to sacrifice current readiness as it has in the past, has insisted repeatedly that if the government wants to buy more ships, it must also pay for the manning, training and equipping of those ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/smr\/federal-budget\/2018\/02\/13\/us-navy-to-add-46-ships-in-five-years-but-355-ships-is-well-over-the-horizon\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/straits.JPG.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">US Navy to add 46 ships in five years, but 355 ships won\u2019t come for a long time<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Navy will grow by more than forty ships over the next five years, the Navy\u2019s Budget director said Monday. But while the fleet will grow rapidly in the near term, the gains will sputter out shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recent comments, Modly demanded the Navy bring him a 10-year plan to get to 355 ships, noting that the Navy would also need more money. He has also said that without more funding, it\u2019s just not going to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe path to 355 is a challenging path because, frankly, it\u2019s a mathematical issue,\u201d Modly told conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt in a recent interview. \u201cI mean, if you\u2019re going to grow the force by 25 to 30 percent, and we started at 275 [ships], you need to have a top line that matches that. We had a big bump [in funding] in the first year or two [of the Trump administration], but \u2026 we\u2019re sort of flat going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd so that\u2019s where the decisions base has to be brought and made clear to the president and the secretary of defense about, hey, look, if this is the path we\u2019re going on, we\u2019re going to probably need to have more top line for the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Hollow force<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The mismatch between the political desire for a larger fleet and the available funding under the Navy\u2019s 2021 top line was the driving force behind a series of cuts outlined in a recent memo from the White House\u2019s Office of Management and Budget, according to three Navy officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss pre-decisional budgetary matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When given the choice between funding the current force structure and shipbuilding programs, or maintaining current readiness, Navy leaders chose to cut shipbuilding and force structure, the sources agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while it\u2019s unclear what the Navy\u2019s top-line budget will be, the cuts that resulted from those trades could be considered extraordinary: Five of the 12 planned Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers were cut from the Pentagon\u2019s five-year budget projections, including two from 2021; a slowdown of the buying profile of both the FFG(X) future frigate and the Block V Virginia-class submarine buying profile, which included one of each being cut from the program; retiring the first four littoral combat ships more than a decade early; and accelerating the decommissioning of five cruisers and three dock landing ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">All told, instead of growing the fleet, the cuts would shrink the force from its current size down to 287 ships from 293, according to the OMB memo. The Navy disputes that the cuts would alter the trajectory of a growing force, according to a recent memo from Modly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5568\" height=\"3132\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-56691\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg 5568w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg?resize=300,169 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg?resize=768,432 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,576 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,864 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/BS.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1152 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5568px) 100vw, 5568px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Boatswain\u2019s Mate 3rd Class Timothy Mallon radios the bridge on board the guided-missile destroyer Carney during a July 9 visit, board, search and seizure drill in the Black Sea.  (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Fred Gray IV\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a Dec. 2 interview with Defense News, Modly said the 2021 budget was not final, but agreed that the service is averse to hollowing out the force to pay for more ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe definitely want to have a bigger Navy, but we definitely don\u2019t want to have a hollow Navy either,\u201d Modly said. \u201cThese are difficult choices, but the requirement to get to a bigger fleet, whether that\u2019s 355 ships or 355-plus, as I like to talk about, it is going to require a bigger top line for the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you are growing the force by 25 to 30 percent, that includes people that have to man them. It requires maintenance. It requires operational costs. And you can\u2019t do that if your top line is basically flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>305? 355? 420?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy\u2019s goals will be spelled out in a new integrated force structure assessment, or FSA, that is set to be rolled out in early 2020. The FSA will include a greater level of input from the Marine Corps than in previous versions, according to Navy and Marine Corps leaders. The inclusion is part of an effort to align with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger\u2019s vision of a more closely integrated Marine Corps and Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The memo from OMB directed the Navy to include unmanned vessels in its ship count, though programs to build such ships are still largely conceptual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congress recently authorized the Navy to build two \u201clarge unmanned surface vessels,\u201d which the Navy plans to equip with vertical launching systems, as well as use as an external missile magazine for larger manned combatants. But lawmakers also forbade the service from dropping a vertical launching system into its new large unmanned surface vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But to get to 355-plus ships, the service needs cheaper unmanned systems, Modly said, noting that the actual number of ships including unmanned vessels could be as high as 420.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2018\/10\/26\/move-over-355-ship-navy-report-from-trumps-favorite-think-tank-calls-for-an-even-larger-fleet\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/norwegian.JPG.png?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Moveover, 355-ship Navy: New report calls for an even larger fleet<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The study calls for a force 40 percent larger than today\u2019s.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve always called it 355-plus because I think it\u2019s going to be that number plus a variety of other platforms that &#8230; we hadn\u2019t thought about before,\u201d Modly told Hewitt, the radio talk show host. \u201cAnd that includes unmanned vehicles, it includes a new type of, perhaps, smaller [amphibious]-type ship that we hadn\u2019t looked at before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[M]y perspective is [that] the right mix for us is going to be 355-plus, and that could be anywhere from 400 to 420 platforms \u2014 some manned, some unmanned, some under the traditional guise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As it stands, once the service accounts for the manning, maintenance and equipping of the fleet, the current budget supports an inventory closer to 305 ships, according to then-Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer. He was speaking to reporters during a roundtable at the Heritage Foundation in October. He was fired the next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe will have 305 ships with the top-line funding we have,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cIt\u2019s not the Navy we want. We have the Navy the nation needs, we have the Navy the nation has funded, and the gap is the risk we are going to take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe are trying to make the best production we can with the money we have. The law says that you will have 355 ships if the funding is there. We are doing the best we can with the funding we have and the requirements we have right now: It looks like 305. That\u2019s not the Navy walking away from 355; that\u2019s us saying: \u2018You give us the funding, we\u2019ll go to 355.\u2019 The top line doesn\u2019t support that number.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Navy believes it must grow to 355 ships, but it won&#8217;t do so without funding for readiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":103,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,29,16,36,103],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-36521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-surface-navy-association"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"OZZ2TWVJHBAU7NDRHYHNS62VFQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/in-a-quest-for-355-ships-us-navy-leaders-are-unwilling-to-accept-a-hollow-force\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>In a quest for 355 ships, US Navy leaders are unwilling to accept a hollow force - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Navy believes it must grow to 355 ships, but it won&#039;t do so without funding for readiness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In a quest for 355 ships, US Navy leaders are unwilling to accept a hollow force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Navy believes it must grow to 355 ships, but it won&#039;t do so without funding for readiness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/in-a-quest-for-355-ships-us-navy-leaders-are-unwilling-to-accept-a-hollow-force\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-13T13:24:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:58:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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