Navy Secretary John Phelan toured the Newport News Shipbuilding and Norfolk Naval Shipyard for the first time Wednesday.
“We need to create a greater sense of urgency in the Department of the Navy,” Phelan said at Naval Station Norfolk. “We need to figure out a way to make things quicker, more adaptable. We need to take more risk in what we're doing, learning, getting these things out quicker.”
The Navy has been chronically behind and over budget in both building and maintaining current ships in the fleet for more than a decade. Several Government Accountability Office reports have highlighted problems with the supply chain, the lack of a skilled workforce and mismanagement by the Navy and its contractors for the slow pace of producing more ships for the Navy.
The problems have made it difficult for the Navy to increase the size of the fleet beyond 300 ships, including during the first Trump Administration.
All options are on the table, including reopening old shipyards and building some ships overseas, Phelan said.
“We're behind, and so now we have to try to catch up,” he said. “So I think it's a number of different factors. I'm still really formulating that. I think it's going to take a whole government approach to fix it.”
Hampton Roads was one of Phelan’s first public appearances since being confirmed 22 days ago. The Florida businessman never served in the Navy. He co-founded Rugger Management LLC in Palm Beach.
The Trump Administration promises a massive investment in shipbuilding for both commercial vessels and the military.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order requiring the Defense Department and other federal agencies to come up with a plan to revitalize the industry. Trump also recently floated the idea of a $1 trillion defense budget.
During his day-long visit to Hampton Roads, Phelan also toured the second Ford Class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, which is still under construction at Newport News.
“This is the only country that builds a nuclear-powered supercarrier,” he said. “There's only one place that builds it, and that's here.”
The carrier is the second Ford Class aircraft carrier. Despite being 95% complete, the Navy is not confident the ship will be ready to be turned over to the Navy by July, as laid out in its contract with Huntington Ingalls Industries.
In a joint statement to Congress earlier this month, Navy leaders, including Rear Adm. Casey Moton, who oversees aircraft carriers, said there are issues with JFK's advanced weapons elevators and aircraft launch and recovery equipment. The USS Ford suffered numerous delays during the first Trump administration, though the carrier has since deployed successfully.
Navy leaders told Congress that they hope the problems would be worked out in later carriers currently in production at Newport News.
Phelan said he expects to have the Navy’s plan for increasing shipbuilding ready within his first 100 days.
