Shipbuilding

Congress has been encouraging the Pentagon to beef up its sealift capabilities, providing $2.1 billion in recent years for 20 new strategic ships to rapidly deploy troops and equipment. The Navy has been considering both new construction and conversion of existing ships to help obtain additional sealift capability. Significant time and money can be saved if the Navy buys and converts existing ships. If the Defense Department lowers its speed requirement for a few of the 20 ships, more vessels will be eligible for conversion, possibly saving even more time and money.

GAO found that: (1) the Navy has eliminated two of four options for acquiring the needed ships due to unfeasibility; (2) in September 1991, the Navy awarded nine 90-day initial design contracts for two ships, has since selected a 950-foot ship as the best design, and is anticipating awarding engineering design contracts after approval; (3) at the same time, the Navy solicited shipyards' and commercial ship operators' comments for conversions of existing ships to meet its requirements, and is drafting a circular of requirements for such conversions and planning to proceed with some conversions; (4) a preliminary data review suggests that conversions may save time and money in comparison with new construction; (5) the 24-knot speed capability requirement for all the new ships has not been justified, since similar existing sealift ships have speeds ranging from 16 to 27 knots; and (6) slightly lower-speed ships would still be able to deliver the required cargo within the required time period, and would provide more candidates for conversion.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone: