WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Chairman of the Senate Seapower Subcommittee, today held a hearing featuring testimony from a panel of expert naval analysts on achieving a 355-ship Navy. Wicker has conducted five hearings this year focused on the Navy’s 355-ship requirement.

The hearing explored the factors driving the need for a bigger Navy; timelines and costs; innovative options to grow the fleet; and the support necessary to generate and maintain the buildup.

Last month, Wicker successfully added his “SHIPS Act” proposal to the FY2018 “National Defense Authorization Act” (NDAA). The bicameral, bipartisan “SHIPS Act,” introduced with Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., would make it the policy of the United States to achieve the Navy’s requirement of 355-ship fleet.

Witnesses at today’s hearing included: 

• Dr. Eric Labs, Senior Analyst for Naval Forces and Weapons at the Congressional Budget Office;
• Mr. Ronald O’Rourke, Specialist in Naval Affairs at the Congressional Research Service;
• Dr. Jerry Hendrix, Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program at the Center for a New American Security; and
• Mr. Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.