Wallets Aweigh: Romney’s Navy Surge Could Cost $40 Billion

[n2doc]

By Spencer Ackerman


On the surface, Mitt Romney’s proposal to inflate the Navy is seaworthy. The ex-Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential frontrunner wants to build six more ships every year to meet the increased demands that the U.S. military will likely face in the big, blue Pacific Ocean.

Naval analysts generally like the idea, which they say is needed to fill a whopping hole in the U.S. fleet, come 2030 or so. Just a few problems, the seapower wonks say: Romney has given no indication of what kinds of ships he wants built; he doesn’t explain what they should do; and his proposal might give a deficit-obsessed D.C. sticker shock.

Shipbuilding is a major national-security priority for Romney. In an Oct. 7 speech at the Citadel and his campaign’s big national security white paper, he pledged, “I will reverse the hollowing of our Navy and announce an initiative to increase the shipbuilding rate from 9 per year to 15.” It’s the most specific, declarative statement on defense Romney’s made in the campaign thus far.

Independent naval analysts don’t know how much Romney’s proposal will cost, since nowhere in the white paper does Romney specify what ships make up his expanded fleet. (The Romney campaign didn’t respond to Danger Room’s requests for clarification on what ships the candidate wants built.) That complicates any analysis, since ships aren’t interchangeable. “Fifteen ships a year sounds good,” says Frank Hoffman, who recently left the policy shop at the Navy Department, “but what kind of ships? For what strategy?”

But judging by the Navy’s current wishlist (mostly, more destroyers and attack submarines) the analysts guesstimated that Romney’s plan would most likely cost about $7 or $8 billion a year, on top of the Navy’s estimated $19.8 billion shipbuilding budget. Since the Defense Department budgets for five years at a time, that would add $35 to $40 billion to the shipbuilding budget at a time of austerity.


http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/10/romney-shipbuilding/

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. To the people who would pocket that $40 billion, that's GREAT NEWS!

[TwilightGardener]

2. Sounds like he just really thinks ships are cool, we should have more of them.

Because by what rationale do we need a bigger Navy?

[exboyfil]

3. We need to back and define what the mission of the Navy

should be before we look at increasing spending. I personally think that we should cut the Navy by a 1/3 at least and redefine our mission to be primarily protecting ourselves and our shipping in the western hemisphere. As far as I am concerned we spend a significant amount of money protecting the sea lanes to allow us to send cash to awful people who sell us oil and other awful people to sell us consumer goods.

We need to identify what resources are necessary for our country under a more asture lifestyle, and if those resources have to come from the western hemisphere what it will take to get them here without buying multitrillion dollar subs and such. If this means that gasoline becomes $5/gallon then so be it.

Our defense spending should be in line with the 2 to 2.5% of GDP that our allies spend.

Has anyone developed a policy paper on a scaled back military. One that only acts in self defense and expects more from our "allies" in the way of protecting themselves.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. How about we use that money to erase student debt? Or to fix our schools?

[Orrex]

5. I think it's appalling that you'd mock Romney for this, of all things.

After all, he wants to protect us from Al Qaida's growing fleet of destroyers and aircraft carriers.

[Andy823]

6. He will say anything

History from the last race in 2008 proves he will say ANYTHING, no matter how big a lie it is, and he simply goes from one idea to the nest depending on who is listening to him. He is so full of BS it comes out of his ears! I remember his catering to the NRA by saying he was a "life long hunter"! Of course when the facts came out he had never bought a hunting license in his life. Then it came out he had never owned gun. Then he had to admit that the only thing he had ever shot was a rat at a local dump, and then I don't even believe that!

Mitt will say anything to get votes, but reality is a different story! He changes his view on a daily basis!

[Laelth]

7. We have the greatest navy in the world.

We spend more on our military than the next ten greatest military powers on earth combined. We do not need to spend more on our military.

And this is a moderate Republican? :shrug:

-Laelth