Can the US Navy Rebuild their Fleet? 

Distributed maritime operations is the new kid on the block and I'm here for it. The Navy will have to downsize over the next few years in order to increase their size over the next 30 years. What do you think of the US Navy's modernizaiton plan with? I feel like I've been fooled before with the Zumwalt and Littoral Combat Ship, will the Conestellation class be different? Follow for updates: instagram.com/cappyarmy | twitter.com/Cappyarmy

As a machinist that's been doing this for over a decade now starting when I was 18 the skilled labor shortage is very very real. I've been the youngest man in the shop or shipyard by decades. Most of the old timers that taught me are either retired, going to retire or dead. I get constant unsolicited job offers because there are so few younger guys that have the necessary experience. I try to pass down the knowledge I've obtained but it's not enough. There needs to be a resurgence of trade schools and less emphasis put on college degrees. I make a very good living with no college degree and going back to school now the hands on work experience is invaluable to the academic setting. Having gone to a vocational high school companies like general dynamics and Lockheed would come and give presentations telling us and the welders that once we turned 18 to apply and we'd be almost guaranteed a job. It's a very powerful thing to have on a resume. They know that they don't have to train you from square one and that you're not going to retire for the next 40 years.

7:13 Still takes longer to make GTA VI then it is to build a nuclear carrier

A lot of high schools stop teaching basic carpentry, welding and other basic manufacturing skills...technology took hold with computers...we need the basics back...💯👍🇺🇸

Props for talking about the skilled labor shortage and Diego to explaining it so clearly. US used to be the factory of the world, and not a lot of people realize that that ship has sailed and that getting back would require radical changes to education, social security and economics of labor.

Diego did well. He was very well spoken. And he has a natural "radio" voice!

"We are short on labor and we are paying extremely well" where were those word when i didn't know what to do with my life after school! We go to uni for like 10 more years when someone who knows how to weld with a short course on welding probably make as much as someone who went to uni for 10 years.

“Filled with water” is apparently a Chinese saying for using lower quality materials in order to save money.

Nice to hear from the guys behind the curtains! Thanks Diego!!

Maybe I’m just biased but as a US Submariner, our boats are so far ahead of everyone else that seeing issues like “China building more ships than us” just makes me chuckle if I’m honest. During war games with our own ships we need to make an ungodly amount of noise to give even our most advanced ships a chance of detecting us and that’s with there active sonar. Don’t get me wrong, visual force projection is important, but if were talking about no hands tied proper naval combat. The US dominates to an ungodly degree with subs alone. There are some great modern sub stories online that give a fraction of our unclassified capabilities if anyone’s curious. Great video btw.

Doesn't matter how many ships the Navy has if they don't have the personnel to crew them.

There is no labor shortage for skilled manufacturing There is a PAY SHORTAGE for skilled workers.

This was superb, as usual. Thank you

The capability to reload these VLS cells is very important as well. It is very difficult to achieve in any sea state via cranes. Ships essentially must return to port to reload. Developing the capability to reload them more quickly would shift the balance of firepower drastically. In the Napoleonic era, technology allowing higher rates of fire of muskets and rifles were closely guarded state secrets of strategic importance.

As one of those Ship contractors I love I get to hear good analysis from my average infantry dude! Kudos! With lives of 40 years, maintenance is as much or more of an issue as emergent repairs are even more "custom" and cannot be scripted or automated

I love how the Industrial Complex is now advertising before the start of movies in cinemas for Columbia Class sub shipbuilders and now, the shipyard in Marinette WI cannot find enough workers to actually start building the new FFGs. “Naval Planning is Build Planning” is especially insightful when you cannot find the people to actually build the damn things.

Thank you, good info

I'm glad you mentioned the corruption in the us procurement process. Any time I see problems with a foreign power (Russia, China) I wonder if we have a similar problem. After all, human nature is human nature.

They need me

The Army uses the acronym METT-TC (Mission Enemy Terrain Troops Time Civilians) as a means of accounting for operational concerns. Designing a naval force similarly contemplated makes complete sense to me.

I’m glad I’ve been a long time subscriber to this channel, I am glad I can always get a fr trustable pragmatic, logical, and a view based in experience from a veteran. Helps me a lot in my own forming of opinions, thank you man.

“If they’re wrong, it’s difficult to turn things round mid-development” LCS anyone? 🤣🤣🤣

Remember BRAC ? There are now fewer shipyards that repair, maintain, or even build naval ships. As the need for eighty SSN’s…not even remotely possible. There are SSNs tied up waiting for years to be worked on. Now. Plus Australia is expected to receive 3-5 Virginia class boats

Thank you

I served and retired after 22yrs from the United States Navy in 2019. I left way before I had to because I was burned out honestly, but still felt like we needed to do more as a whole toward future proofing ourselves, however, many upper echelon leaders were and still most likely are hesitant to propose and actually implement "extreme" modernization systems. In my opinion, the US military services as a whole have to start focusing more toward drone warfare and increased cyber warfare/information warfare dominance. We have seen how effective both of those types of warfare are nowadays, we just need to figure out the defense of EMP and other various ECM attacks that could possibly counter our efforts. Additionally, remember, the information we have access to is just a small part of what the United States militaries are actually capable of when "urgency" or national security actually come into play. Finally, this was a decent generalization of a possible modernization path, nice job. Semper Fortis Edit: Yes, the US Navy is and always will be prepared for China... Hooyah

I greatly appreciate how you integrate force capability with strategy, tactics, design, acquisition, training, logistics, industrial capacity, and manpower issues.

A wise man once said “don’t touch Americas boats” they tend to go on a bit of a rampage when anyone touches their boats.

Best channel Ive discovered this year

Very well done.

That picture of “Sir Corbett” is German Admiral Reinhard Scheer.

Idk, maybe if they offered weldors decent wages when we left schooling, we wouldn't have been picked up by other trades. A construction company will pay 4x what they'll pay a weldor, better working conditions too.

Incredibly informative. As good as I've seen on modern military capabilities.

Great Show

Sir Corbets picture you use in the video is actually Reinhart Scheer.

The US Navy spread around while the PLAN is concentrated around China reminds me of the Anglo-German Naval Arms race of the early 1900s. The Royal Navy (superpower of the time) was spread around the world while the German Fleet was concentrated in the North Sea, right next to Britain.

I worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine for many years. Over a decade in the welding shop and also involved with the Union. I totally understand the lack of skilled laborers in the ship building and maintaining field. Have been involved with decommissioning, overhauls and maintenance work on Submarines. Good Video, very informative.

Thank you for having Diego on the show, what a smart guy!

That Corbet fellow looks quite a lot like a ww1 German Admiral you may have heard of.

Perun did a fantastic video on the PLA and it's competition with the US. I'd highly recommend it as it's the only military channel I'd recommend apart from this one!

Great vid

Sub Brief had terrific piece about downfall of maintenance / repair shipyard numbers and capacity.

I love how u tried to sound Italian with the ship name. 😂 I wouldn’t be able to resist either.

Correction: The Constellation class will not be able to launch Tomahawk cruise missiles. It only has the MK 41 tactical length VLS. Congress inquired about having the strike length VLS installed instead, but was told it would take a major redesign of the ship. For now at least, the first ships of the class will be limited to ESSM, SM 2, and ASROC. It will also carry 16 Naval Strike Missiles.

Well done Analysis.

Your video would have really helped when I took Naval Science in college during my NROTC training.

Just remember, to a military strategist the terms "limited war" & "unlimited war" have 2 very specific definitions. "Unlimited" refers to a war where you are attempting a regime change with overt military force. "Limited" refers to the wars that are not attempting a regime change as the end goal.

Not to nitpick here, but ... talking about FREMM, showing a Perry class, talking about frigates and showing destroyers, some british and german ships thrown in the mix...

In my opinion it's a good strategy. FREMMs are hands down the best frigates available on the market. Sink a big cruiser, you deal a lot of damage. But when you have to deal with big ships AND small, yet extremely modern and capable frigates, that's where you start realizing that you're screwed either way.

More tonnage doesn’t mean more advanced, nor does it mean more capabilities anymore. It was the case back then, when more tonnage meant a bigger ship with more crew, more guns, more capability. But today, a ship that is 4500 tons does the same, if not more capable, than a ship that was 10’000 tons heavy. Advancements in electronics and the reduction in their size means that a weapon system, for example a naval gun and its radar, that was 14 tons heavy is now 4 tons heavy. These same advancements in electronics means more computing and a lesser need for manned systems, thus less crew members. For the same task and purpose, ships went from 1000 crews members to 200 crew members, etc.

For a channel with 1.45+ million subscriptions, it still feels like a channel made to be down to earth for us average folk

My man........ WHEW.....as an Iraq./Afghanistan war(s) era veteran who proudly served 12 years in the US Navy, I am extremely impressed by the level of accuracy and detail you've achieved in this relatively brief--albeit surprisingly thorough & expansive in scope--new Task and Purpose production. Not only is the research solid and evidently in-depth, but it is also undeniably relevant--past, present & likely future as well. It adds important historic context and in my humble opinion, it adds significantly to your overall analysis. Smart, straightforward, informative and freakishly well made! Thanks again, Cappy....it is a pleasure to follow you and watch you grow as a content creator and dare I say.....up and coming to journalist??? No? Too far......? 🤔 Ahhh, c'mon....the admiration is genuine, sir. Not bad for a former average infantryman.😉 Keep up the great work. May you enjoy longevity and awesome relevancy, on par with the great Navies of the World.⚓. "UNDERESTIMATE US AT YOUR OWN RISK & PERIL." 🇺🇸 SEMPER FIDELIS 🔱 Cheers

Did some one mentioned "Ships"? Call S. Korea, anytime~❤

Cappy! Good job tackling the history of navel strategy and infrastructure logistics! May I suggest you also introduce the ideas of Colonel John Boyd to your subs.

Thanks for spending the time to create and share this content awareness 🙏🏾

Cappy, you’ve been on fire lately. Keep it up!

You are doing a Great Job

Finally a decent, non-biased, and truthful video from this channel.

Super analysis! Thank you!

Congratulations on the channel, dude, your content is amazing!

Had the US Navy Ghost fleet cruise past my place recently, they were pretty cool!

Great channel

its awesome to see how far the content has come man. Keep up the good work.

Excellent presentation, thanks.

Don't forget the lessons of the Russian navy vs Ukraine.

Love all the talk about future new missles and systems that we still haven’t actually fielded nor produced in any large numbers. Absolute Vaporwave and magic accounting for capability we don’t actually have.

Thanks for sharing Cappy

What nobody talks about is that so many of the shipbuilders are shorthanded because of how they treat their workers.

As an Italian and a former Fincantieri Group employee, I IMPLORE you to correct your pronunciation of “Fincantieri” at 10:00. You mangled it beyond any recognition 😅 For every other aspect, great job as usual!

As someone who works in a steel mill that makes plate used in these ships, I can confirm skilled labor is needed for all levels of production. We are struggling to find more employees to fill the gaps and learn from the old timers before they retire.

Thanks! That was very educational!

You were made to make these videos. Only channel that breaks down each layer to give a complete view of each situation.

I have been critical of this videos mangling of historical sources but I do also have some positive things to say about it. My co-collaborator in a book on the 1914 Battle of Coronel is an intelligence officer in the Australian Navy and has been trying for a couple of years to turn my attention towards the developing situation with China to see what, if anything, my talent at spotting obscure links that others miss may unearth. He succeeded at engaging my attention a couple of weeks back and I have been looking at the Pacific situation a lot more closely. I watched this Task & Purpose video when it first came out a month ago as something of only passing interest, but now, after taking a deeper dive into the topics covered, re-watching this video today has greatly helped to clarify some key aspects of the situation and helped me gain a better understanding of how screwed the US Alliance is. So in reply to the topics covered in this video I would say that the USN plans are too little, too late. For various reasons, China, as a functioning nation, is currently in its death throes. It has very nearly reached the point where China absolutely needs to go to war to conquer the resources (human, mineral, food etc.) it needs to survive (in its current form that is). Those resources are not to be found in Taiwan and I believe that everyone looking at Taiwan as a flashpoint is in for a major surprise. I suspect that the Chinese will attempt, by a large scale coup de main operation, to simultaneously invade and seize the island nations to its south, from the Philippine’s, through Indonesia, Australia, and onto New Zealand. Ambitious yes, but China needs to take all these island nations to secure the necessary resources for its own survival whilst simultaneously pre-empting an attritional island hopping campaign like that which destroyed Japan in WW2. If China is successful, then all the pre-war US Alliance planning centred around trade choke points will be obsoleted as China will hold and control the strategic geography of the South Pacific that would have otherwise allowed the US Alliance to strangle her into submission in fairly short order. The bane of all military planning is that the enemy gets a vote and I would say that the US Alliance is too myopically focused on Taiwan to properly realise that China knows what they plan to do and has an obvious option to nullify the key foundations of the US Alliance general war plan. Also, China has no other choice (other than fall apart) but to strike southward to ensure her continued existence by relieving her internal problems with external conquest of what she desperately needs. China’s military does not appear to have the strategic reach to accomplish the coup de main I outlined above quite yet, but it is clear that they are making strong efforts to acquire it in the very near future. I would expect war to occur prior to 2030 as I can’t see China surviving internal pressures beyond that date. I looked up the USN’s (I believe obsolete already) 30 year plan and was surprised to see the reduction in the carrier fleet to only 9 vessels. This video did explain that as it made it clear to me that the USN is transitioning to missiles and drones in lieu of manned aircraft. However, the video also suggested that the USN is expecting the war to go nuclear as that is the only reason the Navy would be considering de-concentrating their naval forces. Concentration is considered a fundamental strategic pillar of naval power (as per Mahan and Vice-Admiral Philip Colomb anyway) and, in a conventional war, single ships, or small groups of ships, will be overwhelmed by the missile barrage a more concentrated naval force can send against them. Small ships, such as frigates, simply cannot carry the defensive systems larger ships can and if dispersed they are very vulnerable. China’s navy may not have the tonnage of the USN but the number of available hulls to act as missile carriers makes them currently dominant. The fact that the USN is running down its large ships to emphasise a larger number of smaller ships actually indicates that the USN is trying to create a navy similar to China’s (ironically, China is trying to go in the other direction). I think that the strategy the US Alliance is adopting is very flawed and doomed to fail and I am starting to suspect that there has been a fundamental misunderstanding of Corbett’s theories which are currently in vogue. Virtually everyone views Corbett as a singular strategist working alone. This is not the case. Corbett was a civilian lawyer who became a naval analyst and historian at a rather mature age. Within a few years of starting his new career he formed a partnership with Admiral Sir John (Jacky) Fisher. For various reasons, the Royal Navy’s ability to think strategically virtually died out during the 1890’s leaving Fisher as the sole repository of the plans and theories of the strategic thinkers that served in the Royal Navy during the mid to late 19th century and it was through his partnership with Fisher that Corbett had access to the strategic thinking of the great strategic admirals such as Milne and Hornby. This helped Corbett refine his theories. Admittedly, I have only begun my research into Corbett but I have been studying on Fisher for more than a decade now and I understand his strategic beliefs which are also those of Corbett. That understanding is what is making me suspect that there was an error in understanding what Corbett was advocating. However, one thing is clear, we are the generation cursed to be living in “interesting times”.

We have this problem due to many factors, but one of the biggest is the Jones Act which was supposed to keep our ship industry healthy. Instead, it left us with a tiny industry dependent on government.

Sun Tzu v Clausewitz, but on water. Well done.

Nice NEBULOUS: FLEET COMMAND clip. Very cool. :)

0:45 I think this Alfred Mahan guy was mentioned in my eastern European history book for some reason somehow

When I was in High SchoolIn The 60's we had several shop classes from Auto, Wood & Metal Shops & Those Classes Were Always Full

Damn good explanation and references! Tnx!

Feel like a comented about building Frems in the Litoral Combat ship video! This is exactly the correct strat, glad to see the real military is ahead of us arm chair admirals!

i would argue for fast tracking an arsenal ship. one withy 100 - 150 vertical launch tubes. it would have minamal radar, electronics, but maximum data link. it's only function would to , on demand, launch the called for missel, which would then be taken over by the calling ageis system or AWACS link. this ship would be assigned to a carrier battle group, and there would be 3 per carrier group. one would be with the group, one would be close in reserve and one would be in port reloading,/stand by. this would give the fleet, when the program is compleat, an additional 1100 to 1650 additional launch tubes, quite a boost, and make an over whelming swarm attack much more difficult.

good animation

FYI A knight such as Sir Julian Corbett is correctly referred to either by his full name or 'Sir Julian'. You may feel free also to just refer to him as 'Corbett' after first use of his name, just like anyone else. In correct British usage 'Sir' doesn't simply replace 'Mr': it's a whole thing. We Brits do it this way to confuse Americans. Glad to see it's working 🙂

One of the things that is seldom mentioned is that the PRC equivalent to the Coast Guard uses ships identical to the frigates in its navy. These vessels are usually unmentioned and thereby underestimates their fleet size.

Commander Alfred Mayhem😎 The first superhero.

LOL I couldn't help but laugh when at 6:01 you show my old ship, Nuclear powered Cruiser USS California CGN36 and then proceed to label it as "IOWA CLASS BATTLESHIP" Wow all that time I spent on board little did I know that I was actually serving aboard a Battle wagon! Sweet! Then right after it at 6:06 you show my other ship USS Long Beach CGN9. Thanks bud you are the best!

Awesome to see Mahan get some love!

Whoever is doing the animations, graphics, and editing for your videos is doing a stellar job. Edit: Sorry, gunt speak. Camra dude is fucking outstanding.

If the Ukraine Russia war shows us anything it's that the battlefield is changing quickly with drone warfare that absolutely needs to be taken into account. I also agree that our trades crafts need a resurgence.

👍👏👏👏 Tou wold have some very interesting questions for some very interesting guest’s if you would start inviting experts on your show

Hope the US NAVY likes the FREMM design. Love USA from Italy. We could manufacture them a lot faster, cheaper and maybe of better quality if we could make them in Italy and export them. I think the US gov. wants US NAVY ships to be made inside the US.

Well done Cappy

Can yall do a video in how rhe US military is updating the medical corps of the branches its an interesting topic yall make awaome videos thankyou, and more importantly thankyou for your service to our great natuon🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Youre at your best here.

Great breakdown

Friday is mandatory sea shanty day. You call that swabbing?

Should also add that the US would unlikely fight alone in the Pacific: both Japan and South Korea have substantial fleets with sophisticated AAW destroyers, frigates and SSK submarines. Australia is also making substantial investments. There is also potential support from the United Kingdom and France, although they are likely to backfil in the North Atlantic area of operations.

Lack of skilled labor?? Shocked! Ever since I was a kid, American culture always espoused that professional success was through a four year college degree. I graduated from college, but found it lacking in some pragmatic areas. Fortunately, I learned some skills through summer and part-time work. I hope it’s not too late, but I’m glad the stigma is being lifted and attention is being focused on rebuilding skilled trades. My son is graduating from high school soon, and I always emphasize to him my support if he decides to pursue a skilled trade.

Nice video! I think a lot of people eother dont know or forget that half the reason we have the freedom we have today is because of the stability the Navy and our allies provide on the seas for our trade. Its more important than you think!

In WWII buff terms, for nearly a century, we've basically been able to build "Wunderwaffe" in the same quantities that everybody else builds regular ol "waffe." So every carrier is now a giant nuclear supercarrier. And ever submarine is a big nuclear boat. Which is all awesome. But it does mean that other nations can make things like small diesel powered coastal defense subs that carry basically the same sort of torpedoes for waaaay cheaper. We are finally building small-ish Frigates again, but we also re-engineered the base Euro Frigate design to make a bigger more expensive American Frigate out of it. We may need to do something similar with carriers and subs so it doesn't take us 20 years to get new hulls in the water. Non-super carriers and non-nuke subs are a big hole in our doctrine. Or rather, a large number of small holes in our doctrine. Having some assets you are willing to risk near a warzone is the only way to ensure "warheads on foreheads" rather than just "warheads somewhere in the Pacific serving as a purely hypothetical hypothetical deterrent to foreheads."

I work for an industrial contractor and ship building isn’t the only industry hurt by the lack of skilled labor. We are also struggling to find skilled labor to fill pipe fitter and welders positions in the private sector and our standards are not nearly as stringent as naval ones. Another point no one talks about is the skilled labor that is available is commanding an extremely high rate due the the shortage thus increasing cost’s across the board.