Build Up the Merchant Marine Before It’s Too Late
China is taking its naval and maritime fleet seriously. July 2, 2023 10:47 am ET The flight deck on the USS Nimitz off the coast of Busan, South Korea, March 27. Photo: POOL/via REUTERS Andrew Michta accurately assesses the importance of rebuilding the U.S. defense-industrial base (“Pivot to the Pacific? That Misses the Point,” op-ed, June 24), but he overlooks how our military will move critical equipment, troops, supplies, fuel and armaments to the front. This is the job not of the U.S. Navy but the U.S. Merchant Marine. Victory in any future global conflict will belong to the nation with the logistical chops to take the fight abroad. Commercial and government vessels that will transport war-fighting materiel are in short supply, as are the mariners that will command and crew them. China is taking its naval and maritime fleet seriously,
The flight deck on the USS Nimitz off the coast of Busan, South Korea, March 27.
Photo: POOL/via REUTERS
Andrew Michta accurately assesses the importance of rebuilding the U.S. defense-industrial base (“Pivot to the Pacific? That Misses the Point,” op-ed, June 24), but he overlooks how our military will move critical equipment, troops, supplies, fuel and armaments to the front. This is the job not of the U.S. Navy but the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Victory in any future global conflict will belong to the nation with the logistical chops to take the fight abroad. Commercial and government vessels that will transport war-fighting materiel are in short supply, as are the mariners that will command and crew them. China is taking its naval and maritime fleet seriously, investing unprecedented amounts in shipbuilding, port expansion and mariner training.
America’s unheralded Merchant Marine is vital to our national defense: Former Defense Secretary James Mattis said the merchant marine is “in every war plan that I review, I guarantee you, because you’re going to be the fourth arm of defense.” The U.S. is slowly grasping the challenge from an aggressive China, but policy makers should remember that maritime strength isn’t only about naval power.
Seth Cropsey
President, Yorktown Institute
Washington
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