The Trump Administration Is Planning A Major Naval Expansion

The carriers Ronald Reagan and Nimitz carrier strike groups steam in formation. (MC3 Jason Tarleton/U.S. Navy) 

Defense News: As its term winds down, Trump’s White House plots a major naval expansion 

BATH, Maine — Sitting inside a restaurant just yards from Bath Iron Works shipyard on a blustery October day, President Donald Trump’s top national security aide has two things on his mind: pizza, and Chinese naval expansion in the Western Pacific. 

One solves a short-term problem. The other is a long-term menace. 

National security adviser Robert O’Brien, the California-based attorney who was brought in to replace John Bolton, was in Maine to visit Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, which maintains submarines, and Bath Iron Works, the lead shipbuilder for the U.S. Navy’s mighty Arleigh Burke-class destroyer and three Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers. 

The week following his trip to Maine, O’Brien visited Fincantieri’s Marinette Marine shipyard, where the new generation of guided-missile frigates, the Constellation class, is set to be built over the next decade. 

Government ethics watchdogs are raising questions about whether the national security adviser should be on the stump in key states just weeks before an election. In Maine, for example, Republican Sen. Susan Collins is in a tight race that could decide the balance of power in the legislative body. 

But officials who spoke to Defense News said O’Brien’s trips were more than just electioneering: They’re part of a high-level push inside the Trump administration to prepare for a major expansion of the U.S. fleet, beginning in earnest with the rollout of the 2022 budget and into a potential second Trump term. 

A major buildup could deepen the naval arms race in the Western Pacific and potentially reorder the Defense Department’s budget for years to come. 

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WNU Editor: you can take this to the bank. These plans to expand the US Navy will end in a Biden administration.