MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF WAR THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET THE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRS SUBJECT: Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby direct: Section 1 . Purpose .
The United States Navy has experienced a series of shipbuilding setbacks stemming from overly complex designs and iterative design change procedures, which have resulted in cost growth, delays, and cancellations. The lack of capacity and competition among shipbuilders has resulted in large backlogs of orders across six major Navy shipbuilding programs and a commercial shipbuilding sector that is not globally competitive. An atrophied shipbuilding industrial base, coupled with diminished adjacent supplier bases, has expanded delays and increased costs.
The Department of War shall restore both capacity and competition to the maritime industrial base as it expands our naval force structure. It will use proven, reliable, and affordable technologies and ship designs, as well as award contracts that enable purchases from foreign suppliers in the near term while simultaneously incentivizing investment in America’s shipbuilding industrial base, consistent with other major equipment purchases such as icebreakers.
My Administration has already taken steps to revitalize and rebuild the domestic maritime industry and workforce to promote national security and economic prosperity in Executive Order 14269 of April 9, 2025 (Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance). To build upon the actions ordered in that Executive Order, this memorandum sets forth additional actions to further strengthen the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base. Sec . 2 . Restoring Steam and Hydraulic Systems to Carriers . Within 60 days of the date of this memorandum,…