Could Trump Rebuild and Repair The US Navy?

Today, the focus of nearly every American is on the election. However, more important than the president himself is who the transition team selects for key positions, which executive orders are revoked or issued on day one, and how the administration is organized.

We’re living in a powder keg of maritime crises. A shooting war rages in the Black Sea, the Red Sea is shadowed by gunmetal-gray warships and insurgent skiffs, tensions in the Persian Gulf simmer just beneath the flashpoint, and in the South China Sea, China flexes its maritime muscle with a fleet as massive as it is modern. Against this backdrop of rising international turmoil, the U.S. Navy — our frontline defender on the world’s oceans — is underfunded, overstretched, and struggling to maintain the basic readiness required to project American power and protect global trade routes.

Our Navy faces these dangerous waters without the numbers or material support it needs to stand firm against adversaries like China, who aren’t just beating the drum of military growth but outbuilding us by leaps and bounds. As we look to the next administration, the question is clear: Will they act decisively to resurrect America’s maritime strength, or will they drown in bureaucracy and budget battles?

President Trump hasn’t spoken much about revitalizing the Navy during his campaign, but sources close to him suggest he’s keen on expanding the fleet. What might this plan entail? National Review recently published a blueprint titled ‘Restoring Our Maritime Strength‘ by two prominent Republican naval strategists, Brent Sadler and Jerry Hendrix. While not endorsed by the Trump team, their proposal offers potential insights into how republicans might attempt to swiftly bolster the Navy and strengthen our maritime defenses.

The first step to moving fast? The authors suggest that ambitious plans require more than just ideas on paper — they need people appointed to key positions. To be effective, these individuals would need to be confirmed quickly, fully empowered with executive orders, and freed from the typical bureaucratic quagmire of lengthy confirmation hearings and committee reviews so they don’t waste the cruicial first 100 days.

The First Hundred Days Aren’t a Promise, They’re a Test

The mythos of the first hundred days has been etched into the granite of American political lore, but make no mistake — it’s not just a symbolic timeframe; it’s a test of how efficiently an administration can mobilize to confront danger.

According to Hendrix and Sadler Roosevelt administration in 1933 got fifteen transformative bills through Congress in just over three months. The next administration will need that kind of focus and political clout if it hopes to avert maritime disaster. And let’s be clear: without the people in place to turn lofty ideas into fleet expansions, maintenance overhauls, and strategic reorganization, any promises to “rebuild” the Navy will sink like a stone.

The brutal truth is that the Navy has been running on fumes for years, its leadership stuck in a death spiral of budget fights, staffing crises, and waning morale. We’re seeing the results play out in real-time — subs sitting idle because there aren’t enough dry docks, warships deploying without fully operational systems, and a fleet that barely scratches the bare minimums of what it takes to face off against our most pressing threats.

And it all comes back to a fundamental truth: Personnel is policy. To fix the navy quickly the next president would have to build a team that’s not just capable but battle-tested and bulldozer-ready to get things done. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, and all their assistant secretaries need to be selected, confirmed, and ready to charge on Day One.

Day One: A New Commanding Order for America’s Seas

The next president’s top maritime priority should be revitalizing the U.S. Navy to meet modern challenges. This requires bold action: making naval expansion a national priority, streamlining decision-making, and removing obstacles to fleet modernization.

Eschewing cautious approaches, Hendrix and Sadler suggest the new Trump administration must immediately initiate a comprehensive fleet readiness review, including shipyards and the industrial base. Results should be delivered within 60 days, providing a clear starting point for rapid naval rejuvenation.

America’s Commercial Fleet: The Forgotten Arsenal of Sea Power

But building up the Navy alone won’t be enough. In the event of conflict, we would be dangerously dependent on foreign-flagged vessels and overseas shipyards for logistics and support. The next administration must recognize that America’s commercial fleet is as essential to our national security as our warships are. Without a vibrant, domestic commercial shipbuilding industry, we have ceded the control of our own supply lines, handing over our economic sovereignty on a silver platter to anyone who might wish us ill.

To change this, the “Ships for America Act,” spearheaded by Senators Mark Kelly and Marco Rubio, and Representatives Mike Waltz and John Garamendi, should be passed as a foundation for commercial fleet revitalization. This isn’t a “nice-to-have” project; it’s the bare minimum if we expect to control our own destiny on the seas. It’s time to bring back an American merchant fleet that can sail under the stars and stripes, strengthening our economic backbone while reinforcing our strategic imperatives.

Unmentioned in the article is the critical importance of appointing the U.S. Maritime Administrator, who also serves as Commandant of the U.S. Maritime Service, and their deputy. Typically, holdovers from previous maritime administrations or repurposed Naval or Coast Guard admirals are selected for these roles. However, these types of appointees have often fallen short in the past. For Trump to succeed, he needs someone who understands Wall Street—a crucial perspective that previous deputy administrators and admirals have often failed to grasp.

Lessons from Reagan: Seize Control of the Narrative and Set the Course

Hendrix and Sadler draw inspiration from Reagan’s naval strategy. During the Cold War, Reagan’s administration took decisive action, adding 73 ships over eight years. The next president should be equally bold, proposing a “Five-Ocean Navy Act” to revitalize America’s maritime power.

Their suggested goal of 333 warships by 2029 is crucial in a world of rising naval powers. The next administration must secure congressional support for increased shipbuilding and maintenance budgets. This includes investing in dry docks, munitions, and industrial modernization—all urgent priorities.

Not Every Ship Has to Be New — But Every Ship Has to Be Ready

Given strained sea service budgets, Hendrix and Sadler believe stopping the decommissioning of ships and finding creative solutions to extend their service life is crucial. There are nearly two dozen ships currently slated for early decommissioning. Why? Bureaucratic inertia and budgetary convenience. Every ship we lose without a fight is a strategic gap we hand to our adversaries. Congress must act to fund repairs, operations, and the activation of naval reservists, bringing every capable hull back into the fight.

Making Maritime Power Central to Economic Policy

According to Sadler and Hendrix seapower isn’t just about military readiness — it’s about economic security. Our reliance on foreign fleets is a vulnerability we can’t afford to ignore. The next administration should rally like-minded allies like Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines into a maritime G-7 of the top ocean nations that would shore up our collective security and stand against China’s stranglehold on the seas. A market-driven approach that combines America’s industrial might with allied cooperation is the only viable path to a resilient maritime economy.

Strategic Clarity for the Long Haul

But the authors warn that none of these ideas will matter, though, if we lose sight of the end goal: deterrence through strength. Our top admirals, leaders forged in the crucible of a decades-long peacetime, must be evaluated for their wartime potential. They suggest that those who lack the steel to fight must make way for those who do. The Secretary of the Navy should undertake a rapid, no-holds-barred review of senior command to determine who has the resolve to steer this ship.

Conclusion

The next administration doesn’t have the luxury of a slow buildup; this is about survival. If they fail to act decisively early in the first term, the maritime domain will slip further out of our control, and we may find ourselves facing down a maritime superpower in waters we once ruled.

It’s time to ask ourselves: Will the next administration heed the wake-up call ringing from the Black Sea to the South China Sea?

Read the full article by Sadler and Hendrix over at National Review: Restoring Our Maritime Strength

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