A significant crisis in American shipbuilding has left the United States dangerously outpaced by China's rapidly expanding fleet, according to Republican Senator Tim Sheehy.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, stated in a podcast interview that China is now constructing ships at a pace far exceeding that of the U.S., creating a critical national security concern. "Our Navy right now is not where it needs to be," Sheehy told Fox News. "Right now, our fleet, when you compare us to China, they build ships 230 times faster than we do. Their shipyards can turn around repairs 90% faster than we can."
He attributed this decline to a period of complacency during extended global peace, arguing that the U.S. has become unprepared for future conflicts. Sheehy pointed out that while rebuilding the Army might take one to two years and the Air Force up to five years, restoring the Navy's industrial base is a more complex, long-term challenge. "We’ve allowed our shipbuilding industry to atrophy over the past 30 years to a point that’s really quite scary because we felt the peace dividend was permanent, Pax Americana was here to stay, and we felt we don’t need these big expensive ships anymore," he said.
The skills required for shipbuilding are far more difficult to reacquire than those for other military branches, according to Sheehy, who noted that America has not engaged in shipbuilding in a "meaningful way in a long time."
During his presidency, Donald Trump made efforts to address the issue. In April 2025, the White House issued an executive order to revitalize the maritime industry. This order established the Maritime Action Plan (MAP) to encourage private industry involvement in vessel construction and directed cabinet members to develop strategies for increasing output. Trump had previously vowed to "resurrect" the shipbuilding industry, stating, "We used to make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore very much, but we’re going to make them very fast, very soon. It will have a huge impact."
Sheehy also cited the loss of shipbuilding sites as a contributing factor to the current crisis. He suggested that the rise in waterfront real estate values, leading to the construction of condos, and the offshoring of industries deemed "dirty" or "loud" have diminished the nation's capabilities. "Let’s take the heavy industries and push them to other countries because they’re dirty, and they’re loud, and they’re not as profitable, and let’s make our system based on financial optimization," Sheehy remarked. "And as a result, we lost invaluable and irreplaceable assets for the ability to not just build a Navy but maintain it. So, we’re now at a moment where both parties are realizing we have under-invested in our fleet."