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'Lack of discipline' behind U.S. shipbuilding issues, former rear admiral says
By Vaughn Cockayne,August 31 2025
Expensive labor and an undisciplined process have hampered U.S. shipbuilding, says a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, at a time when China aims to dominate the world’s oceans.
In the latest episode of the "Threat Status" Influencers series, retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery detailed some of the issues standing in the way of continued U.S. naval dominance. Notably, he said shipbuilding costs have skyrocketed in the U.S. while peer nations have created efficient and affordable systems.
“The problem is multifaceted. One, over time, this has become an exquisite production facility, which requires an expensive labor force,” Mr. Montgomery told "Threat Status" regarding facilities throughout the country. “And once labor prices become variable on something in the United States, they tend to go up versus, say, in Japan, where they can build some of the same ships as ours for maybe $0.28 on the dollar.”
Despite the protection afforded by the Jones Act, a 1920 law that requires vessels operated between U.S. ports to be built domestically, owned by U.S. companies and staffed by Americans, U.S. shipbuilding capacity has shrunk dramatically the past 50 years. Stringent regulations, aging infrastructure and high labor costs have left most U.S. shipyards inactive.
According to a Signal Group report from April, U.S. shipyards account for less than 1% of commercial vessel production worldwide, while China, Japan and South Korea make up 90% collectively.
Mr. Montgomery said the situation has been made worse due to an undisciplined approach to U.S. shipbuilding, which includes adding components to ships. That overcomplicates the process.
“The Fincantieri, the constellation-class frigate being built at the Fincantieri yard in Wisconsin, has suffered from this,” Mr. Montgomery said. "Where we took an existing ship, an Italian FREMM class frigate, we made so many changes that the price has skyrocketed, the delivery slipped years to the right. This is a lack of discipline.”
Still, Mr. Montgomery said President Trump’s recent initiatives to provide more funding and give U.S. naval officials more control over shipbuilding projects could improve the situation.
“We do need to really concentrate on shipbuilding. His restoring maritime dominance was a lot about the merchant, commercial and Coast Guard shipbuilding. Separately, he’s empowered the secretary of the Navy to do more. The reconciliation bill, or the One Big Beautiful Bill, gave quite a bit of money to the Navy,” he said of Mr. Trump.
Rebuilding U.S. shipbuilding has been one of the key priorities of Mr. Trump’s second term. Earlier this year, he issued the Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance executive order. The One Big Beautiful Bill allocates $29 billion to improving Defense Department resources for domestic shipbuilding, with most appropriations going to key projects like the Virginia-class submarine.
Those allocations could go a long way toward ensuring Washington maintains its naval supremacy, especially as China threatens to overtake the U.S. in the waters around Taiwan. As Mr. Montgomery pointed out, China is still well behind the U.S. in naval power, but fighting a kinetic war in Asian waters would be a massive challenge if Washington can't revitalize the shipbuilding industry.
“The U.S. is still the only global maritime power. But in terms of conducting a fight on their home field within the first and second island chains off the Chinese coast within 1,500 miles, well, they’re playing a home game and we’re playing an 8,000 miles away game,” he said. “They’re beginning to establish a critical mass that does eclipse us, and therefore we’re going to have to buy the right weapons, buy the right munitions, develop the right techniques, master the redundant communications and cyber systems that are gonna be necessary to win.”
