Navy seeks to avert precipitous decline in the size of the fleet.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 March 2006
• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.

An ambitious Navy plan to expand the size of the fleet not only assumes a considerable surge in spending, but also a fundamental shift in the preparation and execution of ship programs, senior officials say.

An effort to increase the fleet from 281 to 313 ships during the next 30 years will require nearly $5 billion more annually than the Navy currently spends on ship building.

One of the officers in charge of executing the plan, Rear Adm. Barry McCullough, says these goals are attainable, but only if the Navy begins to curb its huge appetite for the "latest and greatest" technology and correctly forecasts the threats the fleet is likely to face in the coming decades.

The shipbuilding program has been mired in controversy, as the Navy in recent years has seen a slowdown in the construction of new ships, while it continues to retire old ones. The upshot has been a precipitous decline in the size of the fleet, which prompted the chief of naval operations, Adm...