The American Shipbuilding Renaissance Goes to War
The MOC
By Dr. Steven Wills
March 18, 2025
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President Donald J. Trump has spoken frequently of re-energizing the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry. The Congressional SHIPS Act legislation sponsored by Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and former Congressman Mike Waltz, now President Trump’s National Security Advisor, also proposes to re-invigorate the domestic shipbuilding industry through new government management structures and more funding. The Navy might seem curiously absent from these proposals as new Navy vessels are not specifically mentioned. That said, the common products of a renaissance in U.S. commercial shipbuilding have direct applicability in rapidly increasing the size and capability of the U.S. Navy.
Three common products of the existing U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry can be rapidly converted into useful military vessels. These include the maritime academy school ships currently being built at Hanwha Philly Shipyard, the large bulk carrier ships under construction on the West Coast, and the common and ubiquitous offshore resupply vessel that is built in multiple small and medium shipyards around the country. All three types of vessels have immediate applicability in increasing both the capacity and the capability of the Navy to operate against enemies, even within current adversary weapon engagement zones (WEZ’s).
The Hanwha Philly National Security Multi-Mission Vessel
The Philly shipyard, recently purchased by South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Inc., currently builds the National Security Multi-mission Vessel (NSMV), a 525 foot, 9000 tons+ displacement vessel with an 11000 nautical mile range, equipped to carry hundreds of maritime cadets for the regional maritime academies. These efficient, electric-drive vessels are being built on time and budget, managed by vessel construction manager TOTE Services. The NSMV is an ideal base platform for submarine and destroyer tenders, a type of vessel of which the Navy once had two dozen but now fields only two. The Philly-built ships might also serve as command ships, replacing the aging Blue Ridge and Mount Whitney in the role of mobile Maritime Operations Centers (MOC’s) central to the Distributed Maritime Operations. Finally, the NSMV could also be adapted to build a fleet of more distributed, less targetable hospital ship to replace the two large, ageing U.S. hospital vessels Comfort and Mercey. The Navy has given scant attention to its auxiliary fleet since the end of the Cold War and the NSMV program offers a hot production line and a means of rapidly restoring its very diminished capabilities.
The General Dynamics NASCO Shipyard Expeditionary Sea Base Ship
The U.S. Military Sealift Command’s Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ships, perform the vital role of floating base of operations and back-up amphibious warfare ship among their many missions. At 90,000 tons, they displace as much as an aircraft carrier. Built civilian standards and manned by a small crew, these large vessels could be re-purposed for a variety of roles including drone carriers, and “missile merchants”, reminiscent of the 1990’s-era proposed arsenal ship mounting dozens if not hundreds of cruise missiles. Their generous size and excess reserve buoyancy make them more survivable than smaller warships in the event of mine or missile damage, and they are purpose-built to be operated by smaller crews. Multiple civilian yards on the East and West coasts capable of building large vessels under President Trump’s accelerated commercial shipbuilding plan could also build ESB-like ships for U.S. Navy service.
The Offshore Resupply Vessel as the Destroyer’s Sidekick
The common offshore support vessel (OSV) used to re-supply oil rigs and other economic activities at sea is perhaps the most viable candidate to be built in numbers to the support greater lethality and survivability of the U.S. Navy in battle. This includes sailing in some of the most dangerous maritime real estate, notably inside the People’s Liberation Army’s “weapon engagement zone” within and outside the Chinese-labeled “First Island Chain”.
It has been suggested that the vast volume of missile firepower resident on the Chinese mainland and controlled by a sophisticated “Reconnaissance Strike Complex” will cause even a large group of U.S. warships to rapidly exhaust its defensive missile capabilities long before those ships can get close enough to fire their own weapons against Chinese targets. The Dutch Navy is currently developing the concept of a “sidekick” ship as an unmanned, or very minimum-manned support vessel with weapons and countermeasures that can be controlled by its larger parent warship.
The U.S. Navy has been experimenting with its own unmanned ships based on the OSV concept with the potential to support a load of four shipping containers, each mounting four surface to air missiles or other weapons. A formation of four such ships supporting a single U.S. Navy destroyer would add 64 missiles to the warship’s arsenal. An Arleigh Burke-class DDG mounts 90-96 vertical-launch missile tubes, meaning that four drone “sidekicks” could raise its firepower by as much as two thirds. Larger numbers of drones could be assigned to aircraft carriers and large amphibious warfare ships, giving them their own organic missile arsenal for air defense or long-range strikes.
Placing part of the destroyer’s firepower on drones also makes it more distributed. If one or more of the sidekick vessels were lost, the manned ship could continue the fight. The loss of a drone in combat would also weigh less on the Navy—both materially and morally—than the loss of or damage to a commissioned warship, allowing commanders to take greater risks when needed.
Of most importance, OSV’s can be built in many U.S. small and medium shipyards at costs of approximately $60 million per unit, a figure that might come down over time due to economies of scale. Given the number of manned U.S. vessels needing their escort, this means hundreds of OSV’s might be constructed as part of President Trump’s revitalized shipbuilding effort—for the same cost as a few manned warships and tapping into a part of the industrial base that does not currently build U.S. warships. The DARPA, NOMARS Defiant unmanned vessel might be the production variant of this concept. At 180 feet in length it can likely accommodate the number of shipping container-based missile launchers, or other payloads required to make it a viable component of the fleet.
Rebuilding U.S. Naval Power with Civilian ships built in Commercial Yards
It should not be forgotten that the original navy of the Thirteen Colonies of the Revolutionary War came first from commercial ships re-purposed for war. Naval hero John Paul Jones’ famous ship Bonhomme Richard was a converted, armed merchant ship. Commercial vessels can again vastly augment U.S. naval capabilities at a fraction of the cost or time needed to build conventional warships. President Trump’s re-imagined U.S. commercial maritime industry can help build those vessels. Flank speed ahead for a new and more capable U.S. Navy.
Dr. Steve Wills, Navalist
The views expressed in this piece are the sole opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Maritime Strategy or other institutions listed.