Congress Looks to Japan for Tips on Submarine Building

“There are very few commercial shipbuilding in American shipyards today,” the expert said.

The Congressional Subcommittee on the Seapower and Projection Force held a hearing on March 11th, hearing that the US could learn from Japan’s plans to produce one submarine a year.

Ronald O’Rourke, a naval analyst who has served the Library of Congress’s Congressional Research Service for 40 years, told lawmakers that Japan’s shipbuilding methods have enabled the stability to build and maintain a 22 powerful fleet with maximum efficiency.

The hearing follows President Donald Trump’s remarks to Congress on March 4, during which he pledged to expand U.S. shipbuilding by handing out “special tax incentives” to the White House.

O’Rourke noted that Japan and South Korea are known for their “best practices” in shipbuilding by global standards.

He said Japan is exemplary in skill development and raw material management, and can stabilize procurement despite changing scale of force. According to O’Rourke, one of the keys manages the “backend” by looking at the “end of the fleet” as opposed to what he calls “previous procurement tin-cooling.”

His written statement was prepared for a hearing entitled “US Shipping Status,” the process explains.

“Japan aims to maintain a stable submarine production rate for one boat a year. When Japan planned to maintain the power of 18 submarines, it did so at a construction rate of one year per year, by serving submarines up to the age of 18.”

“When Japan increased its submarine-level target to 22 boats, it maintained its annual construction rate per year and began to maintain submarines around age 22. If Japan decides to increase its submarine fleet to 30 more boats, it will maintain its one-year build rate and maintain boats up to age 30.”

NTI is a non-profit global security organization working to reduce the threat of emerging technologies, and has documented how Japan can produce submarines each year since 1998.

O’Rourke pointed out that South Korea and Japan are competing with China. This, according to experts, produces 40-50% of the world’s ships.

According to Statista, China accounted for 48.4% of the global shipbuilding market in 2021.

For this reason, South Korea and Japan are “focusing on lasers” by retaining market share, O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke’s comments on Japan and South Korea were echoed by Eric Labos, senior analyst for navy and weapons at the Congressional Budget Office.

The lab went as far as it suggested that the US outsource the industry to its allies.

“Given the full capacity of shipbuilding yards today, it’s worth considering seeing the issue of our allies being able to supply some of these types of ships,” he told the panel.

“Trading allies and partners into a shipbuilding portfolio, whether domestically or overseas, has all sorts of advantages and disadvantages.”

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) met in silence when he asked Labs, O’Rourke and their colleagues for yes or no answers on whether the Navy had the ability to build, repair and design ships.

Bergman then asked a statement he heard in the last 24 hours that he had heard that US shipments existed only because of the Jones Act of 1920.

The lab replied, “There are very few commercial shipbuildings held at American shipyards today.”

“There are several commercial shipbuildings that arise. It seems like they are mainly Jones Act ships, building ships for unified state trade between US ports and another US port,” he added.

A 2023 Congressional report entitled “US Commercial Shipbuilding in a Global Context” stated that the US had only built 0.2% of the world’s ships.