Navy's call for dramatically larger fleet could boost Bath Iron Works

The Navy is calling for a dramatic increase in the size of its combat fleet, a costly shift that could lead to additional work at Bath Iron Works and other Navy shipyards.

A Navy assessment of future needs to counter emerging threats recommends achieving a 355-ship fleet – compared with a current fleet of fewer than 280 ships – within the next 30 years. That proposes 47 more ships than the 308-ship goal set by the last “force structure assessment” released just two years ago and would require a significant increase in the pace of Navy shipbuilding.

The document recommends 16 additional “large surface combatants” over the 2014 report, bringing to 104 the number of guided-missile destroyers and cruisers that are the workhorses of the Navy and escort aircraft carriers. Only two shipyards in the U.S. – Maine’s Bath Iron Works and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi – currently build destroyers for the Navy.

The Navy’s 355-ship goal also calls for the addition of 18 attack submarines and one additional aircraft carrier.

Read more: http://www.pressherald.com/2016/12/16/navy-calls-for-a-dramatically-larger-fleet/