A Rockefeller of the Seas
America Should Consider Private Funding of Its Submarine Fleet
The most survivable deterrents to war are in short supply as the U.S. Navy struggles to replenish its underwater fleet. But history suggests America’s wealthiest can make a difference in closing the nation’s submarine gap.
By Bill Rivers | April 19, 2024
Mr. Rivers served as speechwriter to U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis from 2017 to 2019.
When General Ulysses Grant floated troops down the Tennessee River in 1862 on the campaign that would eventually break the back of the confederacy, his transports did so under the protection of privately-owned gun boats. The first-of-their-kind riverboat ironclads were at that time still the property of their inventor—St. Louis entrepreneur James B. Eads.1
A wealthy businessman, Eads oversaw more than four thousand workers to build the boats from scratch in less than one hundred days, spending his own money to finish them in time. Though technically under contract with the federal government, he was not paid until well after Grant used his vessels to pry open the war’s western theater.
The acquisition pace for new naval assets was different in 2023. On submarines, for example, the Navy announced last March that the United States would not achieve a two-submarine-per-year delivery schedule until 2028.2
https://republic-journal.com/journal/articles/a-rockefeller-of-the-seas/
