
The Navy Department’s latest 30-year shipbuilding plan has three alternative scenarios for the service’s acquisition and inventory of battle force ships, with two reflecting a budget with “no real growth” and the third with $75 billion in real growth. In the plan, the first two lower-range options have no additional budget growth, resulting in a total battle force inventory of 316 and 327 battle force ships by 2052, respectively. The third highest range option would have the Navy reach 326…