4. Department of Defense · Major · Needs Congress
Build a Navy fleet of more than 355 ships
Printed page 111 4. Department of Defense
“Build a fleet of more than 355 ships.”
What has happened
- Attempted
Presidential memorandum 'Rebuilding the United States Navy and America's Shipbuilding Industrial Base' directed a 'Finland Model' of foreign-designed ships built in U.S. yards for up to three ship classes, a fifth public shipyard, and a plan to return CVN-81 to steam catapults — measures aimed at capacity, still without a delivered increase in fleet size.
- Attempted
Read in full 2026-09-06 (60 pp.). The plan states on p. 6 that the Department 'currently operates 291 battle force ships, while the Navy requirement by law is 355', and that the shipbuilding budget has doubled in two decades with 'no more ships now than in 2003'. Its own inventory table (A1-5) starts the battle force at 288 in FY2027 and reaches 355 in FY2040 — the text says so in terms: this plan 'will increase the size of the manned battle force to 355 ships by FY40'. It requests 34 manned ships and five unmanned platforms in FY2027 ($65.8 billion) and 122 ships plus 63 unmanned platforms across the FYDP. The plan also changes the *count*: for the first time it reports a 'Total Naval Vessel Force' that adds auxiliaries and covered unmanned vessels to battle force ships (395 in FY2027, 450 by FY2031), and the Navy updated its battle force counting instruction to allow counting robotic and autonomous systems — but the plan says MUSV is not in the battle force yet and the CNO 'will assess recommending inclusion' as capability approaches delivery. A recount is not a build; the ask is leveled on ships.
- Attempted
Sec. 20002 of the reconciliation act appropriated about $29 billion for shipbuilding, including a second FY2026 Virginia-class submarine ($4.6 billion), two additional destroyers ($5.4 billion), Landing Ship Medium, T-AO oilers and industrial-base investments. Money for ships, not ships delivered; the fleet had not grown.
- Attempted
Executive Order 14269 ('Restoring America's Maritime Dominance') ordered a Maritime Action Plan and shipbuilding-industrial-base measures; it sets no fleet number.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- The 355-ship figure is already U.S. policy by statute (FY2018 NDAA sec. 1025, 10 U.S.C. 8062 note); the Mandate asks that the fleet actually be built. Held at attempted because no event has yet increased the battle force; the Navy’s own plan shows it falling to 288 in FY2027 and not reaching 355 until FY2040.
- The plan itself was read on 2026-09-06. An earlier note recorded it as unread because media.defense.gov refused it; that was wrong. https://www.secnav.navy.mil/fmc/fmb/Documents/27pres/30%20Year%20Shipbuilding%20Plan.pdf opens (9.9 MB, 60 pp., PDF creation date 2026-05-08, released 2026-05-11). CRS RL32665 “Navy Force Structure and Shipbuilding Plans” is still a lead — crsreports.congress.gov really does refuse us — but nothing in this item now rests on it.
- The plan’s own account of the Golden Fleet Initiative dates the President’s announcement of it to December 2025 (repeated in NAVADMIN 100/26, C-NOte #7). No December 2025 presidential action on the Navy appears among the White House presidential actions we keep and search, so the announcement is not evidenced here and no event rests on it.
- The SHIPS for America Act of 2025 (S. 1541 / H.R. 3151, introduced 2025-04-30 and 2025-05-01) sits in committee, per congress.gov’s record of bills — introduction only, no event. The “American Cargo for American Ships Act” (H.R. 2035, House-passed 2025-06-10) is cargo preference, not fleet size.
- Action
- expand
- Object
- U.S. Navy fleet size
- ID
- 197