As the Soviet Navy rusted away in port following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the U.S. Navy undertook significant cuts in both shipbuilding and ship maintenance. Of eight public naval shipyards, four were closed, and the workforce declined from a peak of 62,000 to a low of 21,000.1 The results of this divestment were not immediately noticeable in the nearly uncontested post–Cold War era; however, as China rapidly expands its naval force supported by a massive shipbuilding industrial base, the United States is struggling not only to grow the U.S. fleet, but also to maintain the ships already in commission.
Fortunately, consensus is building in Congress that the Navy needs additional resources and industrial capacity to sustain U.S. naval superiority. Through the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan, efforts to modernize and recapitalize the public shipyards are underway, and the federal government is pressing private yards and the industrial base to build both their shipbuilding and ship maintenance capabilities.2 In addition, the Navy recently commissioned a study to determine the need for a fifth naval shipyard.3
If the Navy concludes an additional public naval shipyard is needed, it will have to choose whether to refurbish a dormant facility or build one from the ground up. Both options have advantages and disadvantages, but a new build may be the better choice.
Refurbish or Build New?
Those who advocate reviving an ex-naval shipyard likely would point to dormant facilities that could be reused. For example, in Boston, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Mare Island there are still World War II–era 1,092- by 178-foot dry docks that built and repaired aircraft carriers. Not only would new dry docks be complex and time consuming to build, but the U.S. industrial base currently lacks experience building them or similarly sized maritime infrastructure.
The lack of dry-dock building experience was seen in the cost growth from the Navy’s original estimate to modernize Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard ($6.1 billion) to later estimates with industry input (around $16 billion).4 Compared to dry-dock construction during World War II, when fleet expansion and maintenance trumped most priorities, modern construction almost certainly will face stricter regulatory and environmental requirements.
Given these obstacles to new construction, the seemingly obvious choice would be to reestablish a yard at Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, New Jersey, or Mare Island. However, refurbishing a past naval shipyard likely would have to overcome legal challenges and even could impede existing shipbuilding efforts.
Obstacles to Refurbishment
Naval shipyards are more than dry docks and berths. They require extensive shop space for everything from metal casting and shaft forging to welding, painting, and fitting. These facilities require robust road and rail infrastructure to move enormous warship components from shop to shop and then to the ship in either dry dock or wet berth. Added to that is the space required for the administrative staff and facilities to train the next generation of workers. For example, dry docks and wet berths account for just 11 percent of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, with the rest of the yard occupied by industrial and administrative spaces.
When the Navy closed the naval shipyards, it turned over the land to the municipal governments, which over the years have found alternate uses for this valuable real estate. Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, for example, was transformed into a mixed-use facility that not only hosts the USS Constitution, but also houses a large portion of Massachusetts General Hospital’s medical research facilities and Spaulding Hospital, a preeminent rehabilitation hospital. The majority of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s industrial spaces have been converted into office, residential, and light industrial spaces. Even if the Navy could acquire its existing dry docks (which currently conduct much-needed maintenance on watercraft that operate in New York Harbor), there is no realistic way to relocate facilities that drive world-class medical research and local economies.
Converting even the ex-naval shipyards that kept their maritime identity would be problematic. At the ex-Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, commercial shipbuilder Philly Shipyard occupies a significant portion of the dry dock and industrial space and currently is building five National Security Multi-Mission Vessels for the Maritime Administration.5 Other industrial spaces host the Constellation-class frigate’s land-based engineering and test sites and the Navy’s only propeller foundry. To convert this yard would sacrifice valuable new-shipbuilding, industrial, and research-and-development capacity to add repair and maintenance capacity.
Considerations for a New Naval Shipyard
Building a modern, fifth naval shipyard would require more than good site selection. There are further considerations—from program management to human resources, infrastructure resilience, and future force structure—that the Navy must consider and design into the yard.
Workforce. In years past, employees competed for stable, well-paying positions like those at the naval shipyards. However, after the 2008 recession was over, unemployment began to trend steadily downward, and by 2018 there were more open positions than job seekers.6 In this tight labor market, the Navy must compete for employees.
The Navy first must ensure any new shipyard is located near a thriving metropolitan area with strong predicted population growth. It might mean paying higher wages, but building in a less expensive but demographically challenged region could make it more difficult to recruit the skilled labor the Navy would need to repair and maintain ships. One suggestion has been to bring shipbuilding capacity to northeastern Ohio.7 This certainly would benefit the local economy; however, a fifth naval shipyard would need a location with a growing population of young, motivated, and educated workers and should not be used as an urban renewal tool.
Another consideration is ensuring a new yard does not cannibalize existing shipbuilding workforces. For example, establishing a fifth naval shipyard in the Hampton Roads area could pull existing employees from Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Newport News, and other shipbuilding and ship repair operations. The Navy cannot rob Peter to pay Paul.
Finally, there is the changing nature of the U.S. labor force. The country no longer has a ready workforce trained and willing to work in an industrial setting. Since the end of World War II, there has been a steady downsizing in the manufacturing sector and a concurrent shift toward the services and knowledge sectors.8 Without a compensation structure that rewards working in an industrial setting, a targeted program to acquire immigrant talent, or a breakthrough in automation and robotics, the Navy may not be able to easily staff a new shipyard.9
A more active “cradle to grave” approach to recruiting, onboarding, training, and sustaining a professional shipbuilding workforce could offset some of these challenges. Fortunately, the Navy has the Navy Recruiting Command and Naval Education and Training Command. If the Navy is committed to growing a professional shipbuilding and ship repair force, these commands must get involved. For example, a high school senior walking into a Navy recruiter’s office could be offered the opportunity not only to be a hull technician in uniform, but also a civil service apprentice welder.
Start-up risk. Establishing a new naval shipyard would be a monumental technical and programmatic challenge. To reduce the initial start-up risk, the Navy should consider a phased approach, in which the yard starts as a detachment of an established naval shipyard, initially receiving administrative support from nearby naval installations, and then eventually grows into a fully functional naval shipyard.
Naval Sea Systems Command already is following this model, with Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard establishing a detachment in Guam. This detachment conducts much-needed maintenance on forward-deployed surface ships and submarines.10 A fifth naval shipyard could start as a detachment of one of the three public shipyards based in the continental United States, with plans to expand into an independent naval shipyard.
Extreme weather and climate change. Sea-level rise and extreme weather pose serious risks to waterfront naval facilities. Not only must a future shipyard be able to withstand extreme weather events, but its facilities also must be such that its workforce can safely and efficiently work in warmer and less hospitable climates.
For example, in 2018 Hurricane Michael smashed into the Florida panhandle, devastating Panama City and Eastern Shipbuilding Group’s shipyard. Facilities were destroyed and shipyard workers were left homeless, delaying delivery of the first offshore patrol cutter from fiscal year (FY) 2021 to FY2024.11 Had a similar hurricane torn through a naval shipyard, the Navy could have suffered billions of dollars in losses and long-term damage to its nuclear fleet. In Virginia, a sinking shoreline and rising sea level threaten to flood Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s dry docks, and severe weather events risk flooding that could submerge complex mechanical equipment under saltwater.12
Navy planning for a future fifth shipyard should consider a location less likely to face extreme weather events, as well as include resources to build resilience-focused facilities such as floodgates, raised factory floors, and a safety margin to account for even more extreme weather events and climate change.
Plans also should include facility upgrades to ensure workers’ safety and protect them from extreme summer and winter temperatures. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration mandates additional rest periods in the Gulf Coast and Mid-Atlantic regions throughout the summer to mitigate heat stress.13 And cold temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit can reduce hand/limb dexterity, which could increase injury risk and decrease work quality in critical areas such as welding.14
Enclosed and climate-controlled dry docks and ship assembly areas might seem like luxuries, but they are worthwhile investments. Controlled work environments could prevent weather-related delays and related cost growth and, most important, protect the workforce and provide them with the best environment for producing the highest quality work. Both Babcock (building the Type 31 frigate for the Royal Navy) and Marinette (building the Constellation-class frigate) have invested in completely enclosed shipbuilding facilities that would allow two frigates to be assembled indoors.15
Potential Locations
There are a number of regions that could support a fifth naval shipyard. These areas feature a growing demographic, strong engineering schools, and an influx of working-age individuals, as well as being far enough from existing shipbuilding and ship repair facilities to not risk poaching workers. Further, these locations are less likely to experience extreme weather events and climates compared with the Gulf Coast and Hampton Roads.
San Francisco Bay Area/North Bay: The Bay Area was once a bustling fleet concentration area. Mare Island Naval Shipyard built and repaired many of the Navy’s early nuclear-powered submarines, and Naval Air Station Alameda was home port for multiple carriers and their air wings. Across the bay, Kaiser Shipbuilding’s Richmond yard built hundreds of Liberty and Victory cargo ships that were the backbone of the U.S. World War II logistics network. The site formerly occupied by Naval Air Station Alameda’s runway is largely unused and offers the potential to design and build a facility with very few space constraints. In addition, the carrier-capable piers could host pierside maintenance.
Demographically, the San Francisco Bay Area has seen consistent growth even through the 2020s, reporting more than 7.7 million residents in the 2020 census.16 World-class engineering institutions such as U.C. Berkeley and Stanford, as well as a strong NASA presence at the Ames Space Center, draw skilled workers to the area. Further, the climate is mild, with average daytime temperature between 55 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and Northern California typically does not experience hurricanes or tropical storms.
However, there are some challenges. First, because of the earthquake risk, new facilities would need to be designed with seismic resilience in mind. Second, the Bay Area is notoriously unaffordable, with San Francisco and its surrounding areas often topping the list of the most expensive housing markets in the United States.17 If the Navy is to draw sufficient personnel to a new naval shipyard in Alameda, it might have to provide on-installation housing.
Northeast Megalopolis/Baltimore: Often called the I-95 Corridor, this region has the world’s highest economic output and is home to more than 50 million residents stretched over Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and the surrounding areas.18 Besides its proximity to the headquarters functions in Washington and the National Capital Region, the Northeast Megalopolis is underrepresented in national shipbuilding and ship repair. General Dynamics Electric Boat (14,000 employees) and Philly Shipyard (1,500 employees) are large firms, but not relative to the size and scale of the region. Placing a fifth naval shipyard in this region would allow the Navy to tap into a sizable pool of talent.
Within the region, Sparrows Point in Baltimore has great potential as a fifth naval shipyard. In addition to access to the region’s human capital, it has a large waterfront acreage and railhead connections that would support a shipyard’s intensive industrial operations. Bethlehem Steel operated a shipyard at Sparrows Point until 1990, which means much of the waterfront is already surveyed, dredged, and capable of supporting large naval vessels.19
As with all sites, Sparrows Point is not perfect. Summers are sweltering and winters are cold, and a naval shipyard there would require additional investments in climate-controlled and covered building facilities. Baltimore also is subject to hurricanes, and a storm like 2012’s Hurricane Sandy could wreak havoc on shipyard operations. In addition, private companies have recognized Sparrows Point’s ideal location for logistics operations in the Northeast, and a majority of the complex has been redeveloped and is occupied for commercial use.
Turning Vision into Reality
Congress and the public are waking up to the Navy’s need for additional shipbuilding capacity. Broad bipartisan support for improving the nation’s shipbuilding infrastructure is a step in the right direction, but now the Navy must do the hard work of turning that vision into reality. Building a naval shipyard would be a challenge, but it could be a solution to today’s shipbuilding crisis.
1. Congressional Budget Office, The Capacity of the Navy’s Shipyards to Maintain Its Submarines (Washington, DC: Congressional Budget Office, March 2021).
2. SIOP was authorized in 2018 to modernize the four existing naval shipyards. Officers in Charge of Construction (OICCs) are already operational at the Pearl Harbor and Portsmouth Naval Shipyards. See Navy Facilities Engineering Systems Command, “Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program.” Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and the Senate Armed Services Committee have discussed and promoted legislative tools to improve naval shipbuilding and grow U.S. commercial shipbuilding capacity. See Megan Eckstein, “Senator Kelly to Propose Legislation to Strengthen Commercial Shipping,” Defense News, 5 December 2023.
3. Justin Katz, “Navy ‘Scoping Study’ to Examine Shipyard Capacity, Potential for a New Yard,” Breaking Defense, 2 November 2022. A senior Secretary of the Navy staff member also reportedly has visited the site of the ex-Mare Island Naval Shipyard. See Craig Hooper, “Desperate for New West Coast Shipyards, Navy Eyes San Francisco Bay National Park,” Forbes, 13 October 2023.
4. Government Accountability Office, Navy Readiness: Actions Needed to Address Cost and Schedule Estimates for Shipyard Improvement (Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, June 2023).
5. The first of five vessels was delivered in September 2023, with all vessels scheduled to be delivered by 2026. See WorkBoat Staff, “Philly Shipyard Delivers First National Security Multi-mission Vessel,” Workboat.com, 8 September 2023.
6. Federal Reserve Bank St. Louis, FRED Unemployment Level/Job Openings: Total Nonfarm.
7. John Grady, “Bartlett Marine Pitches New Plan to Repair U.S. Attack Submarines,” USNI News, 8 August 2023.
8. Thirty-eight percent of all nonfarm employees were employed in manufacturing in 1943. This percentage has declined since the end of World War II and is currently 8.26 percent. Federal Reserve Bank St. Louis, FRED All Employees, Manufacturing/All Employees, Total Nonfarm.
9. The South Korean government extended to even nonskilled trade employees a visa program that tracks employees to become permanent residents in five years. See “Improvement of Foreign Worker Visas Expected to Resolve Manpower Shortage in Shipbuilding Industry,” Dong-A Ilbo, 10 July 2023. Nearly 91 percent of Korean shipbuilders claim it is impossible to sustain operations with domestic workers, and most shipbuilding-focused cities have 30–50 percent immigrant populations. See Woo Shim Il, “9 out of 10 Shipbuilders Are Already Foreign Born–Yeongam City Is Already Multicultural,” Seoul Economics Daily, 21 August 2023.
10. The detachment is expected to reach full operational capability in 2026, with 170 civilian and 400 military personnel permanently assigned. See Brandon Wright, “Hafa Adai! Guam Detachment in Full Effect,” Naval Sea Systems Command News, 30 November 2021.
11. Ben Werner, “Coast Guard, Shipbuilder Assessing Hurricane Damage to Yard Building Offshore Patrol Cutter," USNI News, 22 October 2018; and Allyson Park, “Coast Guard Launching First Offshore Patrol Cutter,” National Defense, 18 October 2023.
12. Eric Miller and Scott Calvert, “‘A Large Portion of This Base Is Going to Be Underwater’: U.S. Military,” The Wall Street Journal, 25 April 2023.
13. For example, in Pascagoula, MS, where DDGs, LPDs, and LHAs are built, a 30/30-minute work/rest cycle is required during average summer climate. “Heat Stress Work/Rest Schedules.”
14. At below 52 degrees Fahrenheit ambient temperature, a 52–55 percent reduction in hand/limb dexterity was observed. See Peter Budnick, “Effect of Cold Temperatures on Dexterity,” Ergoweb.com, 19 November 2013.
15. Marinette completed construction on its indoor shipbuilding facility in 2022. See Greg Trauthwein, “Shipbuilding: Fincantieri Marine Group Invests Mightily to Deliver for the U.S. Navy,” MarineLink, 16 February 2022; and “Britain Gets a New Frigate Factory,” Navy Lookout, 20 February 2020.
16. Aaron Tolentino, “U.S. Census Breakdown: The Largest Racial Group in Each Bay Area County,” Kron4.com, 30 May 2023.
17. Susie Nielson, “San Francisco at Its Most Unaffordable Point in at Least a Decade. Here’s What That Means,” San Francisco Chronicle, 1 March 2023.
18. Maggie More, “All Hail the Northeast Megalopolis, the Census Bureau Region Home to Roughly 1 in 6 Americans,” NBC4 Washington, 7 December 2022.
19. “Unparalleled Access,” Tradepoint Atlantic (former site of Sparrows Point).
