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INS Lecture 6: U.S. National Strategy: Implications for Shipbuilding, RAS, and the Future Fleet

2026-04-13 · 19:00 UTC ·U.S. Naval War College ·1 min read

Brief

Dr. Peter Dombrowski’s 13 April 2026 lecture (presentation) at the U.S. Naval War College assesses future U.S. fleet needs against national strategy and the current maritime industrial base. Using Admiral Daryl Caudle’s C‑notes and official documents, he argues rebuilding shipyards and scaling remote autonomous systems is generational, and advises focused domestic specialization plus allied shipbuilding collaboration.

Why it matters

Dr. Peter Dombrowski (William Ruger Chair, Naval War College) presented on 13 Apr 2026 that rebuilding U.S. maritime industrial capacity—domestic commercial shipbuilding, revitalized naval shipyards, and scaled production of remote autonomous systems (RAS)—will be a politically fraught, generational effort.

Key details

  • Fleet requirements in the lecture were grounded in Admiral Daryl Caudle’s C‑notes plus official testimony, administration, and congressional documents, using those sources to align force design with realistic industrial constraints.
  • Recommendation: prioritize specialized naval production domestically while expanding collaboration with allied shipbuilders to increase capacity and maintain a competitive edge amid growing great‑power maritime rivalry.
Source evidence

This presentation assesses the requirements of a future US Navy Fleet within the context of official national security and defense strategies as well as limits set by the existing maritime industrial base. Requirements for the Navy’s future fleet needs are based on Admiral Daryl Caudle’s C-notes, official testimony, and administration and congressional documents inform. Through a critical reassessment of U.S. maritime industrial policy, this lecture argues that restoring American sea power requires aligning operational demands and the future fleet with a realistic view of U.S. industrial capabilities. Preliminary analysis shows that efforts to rebuild domestic commercial shipbuilding, revitalize naval shipyards, and boost the production of remote autonomous systems (RAS) will be a difficult, politically fraught, and a generational process. Using comparative evidence and recognizing current constraints, the argue that U.S. maritime strategy should focus on specialized naval production domestically. It should also expand collaboration with allied shipbuilders to increase capacity and maintain a competitive edge in a time of growing great-power maritime rivalry.

Lecturer:
Dr. Peter Dombrowski is the William Ruger Chair of National Security Economics and a professor of strategy in the Strategic and Operational Research Department at the Naval War College. His most recent books are Across Type, Time and Space: American Grand Strategy in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press 2021), coauthored with Simon Reich and Security Studies in a New Era of Maritime Competition (Routledge 2023), co-edited with Jonathan D. Caverley He received his B.A. from Williams College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Channel: U.S. Naval War College
Published: 2026-04-13
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVW98VN6sZ8