{"id":2407534,"date":"2025-02-27T14:38:01","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T19:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-navy-pick-commits-to-rebuilding-americas-depleted-fleet\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T14:39:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T19:39:22","slug":"trump-navy-pick-commits-to-rebuilding-americas-depleted-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-navy-pick-commits-to-rebuilding-americas-depleted-fleet\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Navy Pick Commits To Rebuilding America&#8217;s Depleted Fleet"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-navy-pick-commits-to-rebuilding-americas-depleted-fleet%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2407534&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The summary\u2062 focuses on Navy Secretary nominee John Phelan&#8217;s confirmation hearing, where he addressed\u200d the urgent need to revitalize America&#8217;s\u2064 naval \u2062fleet, \u2062which has seen \u200ca important decline in size and\u2064 shipbuilding capacity over the years. \u200cPhelan,\u200c appointed by President Donald Trump, stated that both he and\u200c the management are committed to increasing the number of ships in the military&#8217;s naval fleet, which has fallen from over 500 at the \u200bend of the Cold War to fewer\u2064 than 300.<\/p>\n<p>During \u200cthe hearing,\u200d Phelan \u200doutlined the systemic failures within the Navy, including extended deployments, inadequate \u2064maintenance, delayed shipbuilding, and issues affecting personnel\u2064 such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-pledges-to-reinstate-transgender-military-ban-during-new-hampshire-speech\/\" title=\"Trump vows to restore transgender military ban in New Hampshire speech.\">high suicide \u200brates<\/a>. He stressed the\u2064 importance of addressing these problems to maintain the U.S. Navy&#8217;s\u2063 status as a leading \u200bmaritime force.<\/p>\n<p>Phelan also \u200cdiscussed bipartisan support for strengthening the naval\u200d industrial sector, evidenced by the introduction of the SHIPS Act aimed at enhancing U.S.competitiveness against China.He acknowledged a recruiting crisis within the Navy and \u2064proposed leveraging\u200d the upcoming 250th anniversary of \u2063the Navy and Marine Corps to improve outreach efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout his testimony, Phelan\u200d emphasized the need for\u2064 high recruitment \u2062standards and the importance of hiring capable individuals to ensure the Navy&#8217;s operational effectiveness. He countered criticisms from some Democratic \u2063senators \u200bregarding budget reallocations, explaining \u200cthat the Pentagon\u200c is focusing existing resources on strengthening\u200d defense rather \u2064than\u2064 implementing cuts.<\/p>\n<p>Phelan&#8217;s hearing highlighted both the challenges facing\u2063 the Navy and the\u200d administration&#8217;s proactive approach to addressing \u2064them \u200bin efforts to enhance national security.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Revitalizing America&rsquo;s depleted maritime fleet will be a major focus of the new Trump administration, Navy Secretary nominee John Phelan told lawmakers on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/event\/senate-committee\/navy-secretary-nominee-john-phelan-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing\/431287\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">confirmation hearing<\/a> before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Phelan, a former private investor and businessman, emphasized his and President Donald Trump&rsquo;s commitment to increasing the number of ships that comprise the military&rsquo;s naval fleet. As The Federalist previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/07\/11\/how-years-of-decay-and-neglect-crippled-americas-navy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a>, the size of America&rsquo;s naval fleet and the country&rsquo;s shipbuilding capacity have&nbsp;diminished significantly&nbsp;in recent decades, going from a fleet of more than 500 ships at the end of the Cold War to <a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2025\/02\/24\/usni-news-fleet-and-marine-tracker-feb-24-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">less than 300<\/a> as of this month.<\/p>\n<p>In his opening statement, Phelan highlighted the Navy&rsquo;s shipbuilding crisis and other &ldquo;systemic failures&rdquo; facing the service. He noted that these failures cannot be permitted to continue if America is to remain a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-america-losing-the-battle-for-naval-superiority-to-red-china\/\" title=\"Is ... losing naval superiority to China?\">leading maritime power<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps remain the most formidable expeditionary force in the world. But the U.S. Navy is at a crossroads,&rdquo; Phelan said. &ldquo;Extended deployments, inadequate maintenance, huge cost overruns, delayed shipbuilding, failed audits, subpar housing, and sadly, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-suicide-rates-hit-record-high-of-nearly-50000-in-2022-provisional-cdc-data-show\/\" title=\"US suicide rates reach all-time ... of nearly 50,000 in 2022, per CDC data.\">record-high suicide rates<\/a>, are systemic failures that have gone unaddressed for far too long. And frankly, this is unacceptable.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>Wow. New SECNAV John Phelan isn&rsquo;t pulling punches. In his first public statement, he hammers home that the Navy faces &ldquo;deep systemic problems&rdquo; &ndash; then drives home the point with a Bull Halsey quote.<\/p>\n<p>This is the kind of leadership truth we have not seen in decades. Buckle up&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tqIMw2E6Q1\">pic.twitter.com\/tqIMw2E6Q1<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; John &#581; Konrad V (@johnkonrad) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/johnkonrad\/status\/1895135949018873978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Strengthening America&rsquo;s naval industrial capacity has generated bipartisan support in recent years. <\/p>\n<p>In December, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle from the House and Senate introduced the SHIPS Act, a bill that aims to &ldquo;reform the commercial maritime and shipbuilding sectors so the U.S. can better compete with China,&rdquo; according to <a href=\"https:\/\/news.usni.org\/2024\/12\/19\/new-ships-act-legislation-aims-to-revamp-u-s-shipbuilding-industry?ct=t(USNI_NEWS_DAILY)&amp;mc_cid=7b68847196&amp;mc_eid=3f07bd8338\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. Naval Institute News<\/a>. One of the measure&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelly.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/icymi-kelly-waltz-announce-legislation-to-strengthen-americas-maritime-industry-during-csis-discussion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">original aut<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kelly.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/icymi-kelly-waltz-announce-legislation-to-strengthen-americas-maritime-industry-during-csis-discussion\/\">hors<\/a> was then-Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who now serves as Trump&rsquo;s national security advisor.<\/p>\n<p>During Thursday&rsquo;s hearing, Phelan also fielded questions from GOP senators about the Navy&rsquo;s recruiting crisis. <\/p>\n<p>The issue rose to prominence under the Biden administration, in which every branch of the armed services (with the exception of the Marine Corps) <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/09\/the-militarys-2024-recruiting-numbers-arent-the-win-its-leadership-wants-you-to-believe-they-are\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">regularly struggled<\/a> to meet their recruiting targets. Military specialists have, in part, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/12\/23\/how-trump-can-restore-integrity-and-lethality-to-americas-declining-military\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attributed<\/a> the prior administration&rsquo;s advancement of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">racist DEI ideology<\/a>&nbsp;and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-second-biden-term-would-be-a-gift-to-red-china\/\" title=\"A Re-election of Biden Would Benefit China\">disastrous foreign policy agenda<\/a> as reasons for the service&rsquo;s failure to bring in new personnel.<\/p>\n<p>Phelan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/event\/senate-committee\/navy-secretary-nominee-john-phelan-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing\/431287\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the committee&rsquo;s chair, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., that the upcoming 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps offers a &ldquo;great opportunity&rdquo; to highlight the &ldquo;benefits of service&rdquo; and that the commemoration is &ldquo;something [he] intend[s] to take advantage of from a recruiting perspective&rdquo; if confirmed by the Senate. He also suggested improvements to &ldquo;digital recruiting&rdquo; and adopting successful strategies from the Marine Corps as ways of enhancing the Navy&rsquo;s outreach.<\/p>\n<p>While questioning Phelan, Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., noted how, in response to the recruiting crisis, the Navy and other branches of the service under the Biden administration <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/10\/09\/the-militarys-2024-recruiting-numbers-arent-the-win-its-leadership-wants-you-to-believe-they-are\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lowered standards<\/a> to widen the pool of applicants eligible for service. The Navy secretary nominee acknowledged the importance of maintaining &ldquo;standards that are high,&rdquo; and added that it&rsquo;s critical for the force&rsquo;s success to &ldquo;have people who can meet those standards.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The business is warfighting, and there&rsquo;s no margin for error in that. So, you need the most capable and best people, and we need to have high standards to meet that,&rdquo; Phelan said. &ldquo;What happens to a lot of organizations is you hire for that immediate need, and then that person can&rsquo;t grow [into] that job. &hellip; In this business, we &hellip; need to be hiring the &lsquo;Mr. and Mrs. Tomorrows&rsquo; to make sure they can compete and do.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Navy Secretary Nominee John Phelan makes it clear the threat of China and the commitment to making Navy shipbuilding ELITE!!! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WpQtF5mqKO\">pic.twitter.com\/WpQtF5mqKO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DODResponse\/status\/1895128884900679742?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>While some of the committee&rsquo;s Democrat members probed Phelan about legitimate issues facing the Navy, others took the time to take dishonest potshots at the Trump administration and its efforts to remove waste, fraud, and abuse throughout the federal government. <\/p>\n<p>Democrat Sens. Jeanne Sheehan of New Hampshire and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut engaged in fearmongering over the recent announcement that the Pentagon is examining possible reallocation of 8 percent of its existing budget. Specifically, these senators attempted to make it appear these proposed plans are &ldquo;cuts&rdquo; that would drastically harm America&rsquo;s defense industrial capacity and naval readiness.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DeptofDefense\/status\/1892702578418327972\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently explained<\/a> by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, the Pentagon has not cut anything, and the aforementioned directive is simply &ldquo;asking the services to plan&rdquo; for reallocation of department resources.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is planning for this year, that we will move away from woke, Biden-era non-lethal programs and instead spend that money on President Trump&rsquo;s America First, peace-through-strength priorities for our national budget,&rdquo; Hegseth said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a cut. It&rsquo;s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building a force that protects you, the American people.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Blumenthal also falsely classified Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/22\/trump-ousts-leftist-joint-chiefs-of-staff-chair-other-dei-pushing-military-officials\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">firing<\/a> of pro-DEI military officials as a &ldquo;purge&rdquo; and dishonestly portrayed the move as an attempt to politicize the military. The Democrat senator (unsurprisingly) failed to reference how the Biden administration&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/09\/27\/americas-military-cant-endure-another-four-years-of-democrat-rule\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">injection<\/a> of neo-Marxist ideology into the service and promotion of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">radical leftist military officials politicized<\/a> the armed forces.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Revitalizing America&#8217;s maritime fleet is a key focus for the Trump administration, says Navy Secretary nominee John Phelan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2407535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/John-Phelan.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3998,6725,6758,11713,3634],"class_list":["post-2407534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-defense","tag-fleet","tag-navy","tag-rebuilding","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/John-Phelan.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2407534"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2407538,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2407534\/revisions\/2407538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2407535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2407534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2407534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2407534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}