Gene Taylor: “I regret that we really do not do enough. We are now down to a fleet…”

On the recordMay 21, 2003

I regret that we really do not do enough. We are now down to a fleet of about 300 ships. And at the rate we are going, we are on our way to a fleet of 140 ships. Fleet age used to be about 30 years. We are now down to keeping them for about 20, and we are only putting 7 in the budget. So quick math tells you if you are going to build 7 ships a year, and only keep them for 20 years, you are down to a 140-ship fleet. I hope we can turn that around. We have not had much help from this administration. Quite frankly, we did not have much help from the previous administration. And I do think a navy is important for force projection, so I do think the Congress needs to pay more attention to that.

Said by

Gene Taylor

Mississippi

Source

govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the state of the U.S. Navy fleet and the need for modernization.

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Gene Taylor: “I regret that we really do not do enough. We are now down to a fleet of about 300 ships. And at the rate we are going…”

Editor's note · Context