Why it Matters

The House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces held a joint hearing Wednesday on "Revitalizing Shipbuilding and the Maritime Industrial Base," exposing a stark reality: the U.S. produces roughly 0.1 percent of global commercial shipbuilding while China dominates. The Trump administration's own maritime agenda aligns with the hearing's goals, but a same-day GAO report found the Pentagon still lacks the disciplined strategy needed to back that ambition with results.

The Big Picture

The hearing, held jointly with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, is part of a sustained congressional oversight track that began with a March 2025 "State of U.S. Shipbuilding" hearing. The urgency has only grown since. A March 2026 analysis found roughly 82 percent of Navy ships under construction are behind schedule. The U.S. Navy is also actively operating in the Strait of Hormuz, stress-testing an industrial base that GAO report GAO-26-109068, released the same day as the hearing, said lacks adequate oversight.

President Trump signed Executive Order 14269 in April 2025 directing a whole-of-government maritime revitalization effort. The White House followed in February 2026 with its America's Maritime Action Plan, calling for a Maritime Security Trust Fund, shipyard infrastructure investment, workforce development, and deregulation. The hearing served as Congress's formal response to that plan.

What They're Saying

The session produced sharp exchanges and candid admissions rarely seen in defense hearings.

The most striking exchange came when a member asked Stephen Carmel, Administrator, U.S. Maritime Administration directly: between the U.S. and China, who builds more ships? Carmel did not soften the answer. China has more shipyards, bigger yards, and builds the vast majority of ships ordered globally. The U.S. produces about 0.1 percent, none for export. The member pressed further: China's commercial fleet exceeds 5,000 vessels. The U.S. fleet is under 100. "It seems to me like we have a big problem on our hands," the member said.

Carmel's response pivoted to strategy. China's command-driven model marshals resources effectively but struggles with disruption. "The Schumpeterian creative destruction that is a hallmark of the U.S. economy," he said, "are things that Chinese simply can't deal with. So what we need to do is change the terms of competition with China to one that favors us, which is dynamism, innovation."

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT), Ranking Member of the Seapower Subcommittee, pressed Jason Potter, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition, on multi-year procurement. Potter confirmed the Navy is in "the final stages" of awarding a Block VI Virginia-class and Build II Columbia-class contract covering 15 submarines, noting that multi-year deals typically yield 8 to 10 percent savings over annual procurement and create binding government commitments that drive industrial investment.

Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA), who held a press conference the day before the hearing calling for passage of the SHIPS Act, wove that legislation into the hearing's framing. The GAO witness delivered the hearing's most pointed institutional critique: "There's this mistaken notion that getting started fast is going to get you a ship any faster." She cited a commercial shipbuilding principle, "go slow at first to go fast in the end," and noted that 52 of 137 GAO recommendations made over the past decade remained open as of her prior testimony.

Political Stakes

The hearing puts the Trump administration in a complicated position. Its Maritime Action Plan and executive order give the White House a proactive "Make Shipbuilding Great Again" narrative, as USNI News noted. But the GAO's finding that DOD lacks adequate oversight of submarine industrial base investments, combined with the 82 percent behind-schedule rate, creates real exposure. Republican members must balance support for the administration's agenda with accountability for a Pentagon that has not delivered.

For members representing shipyard districts, the stakes are direct. Rep. Trent Kelly (R-MS), who chaired the joint session, represents Pascagoula, home to one of the nation's major naval shipyards. Courtney's Connecticut district includes Groton, where Electric Boat has announced plans to hire 8,000 workers in both 2026 and 2027. A newly formed USA Shipbuilding Coalition, launched just days before the hearing, is backing the SHIPS Act and includes nearly a dozen unions and shipbuilding employers.

Yes, but: The Coast Guard's Rear Admiral Campbell offered a counterpoint to the hearing's prevailing pessimism. Acknowledging that the Offshore Patrol Cutter and Polar Security Cutter programs had "a rough start," he said the Coast Guard had adopted the GAO's recommendation to lock in design requirements before moving to production. Both programs, he said, are now "operating on all cylinders." The vessel contract manager model used for the multi-mission training vessel program at Philadelphia Shipyard was also held up as a working template. Carmel called it "an outstanding success" because it "injects commercial common sense into what otherwise can be a pretty uncoordinated way of doing business."

What's Next

The FY2027 NDAA cycle is already underway, and shipbuilding provisions will be among the most contested. The congressional Naval Force Structure Commission faces a July 1, 2027 deadline for its final report. The SHIPS Act, backed by a growing bipartisan coalition, is the most likely near-term legislative vehicle. Additional hearings in this oversight series are expected.

The Bottom Line

Congress and the administration agree the shipbuilding maritime industrial base is broken. The fight ahead is over whether increased funding, legislative reform, or both can actually fix it before the gap with China widens further.

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