The Maritime Action Plan Needs a Yardstick: Enter the Mahan Ratio

Washington is littered with the corpses of grand plans to restore the Merchant Marine. The Trump administration’s Maritime Action Plan is the latest attempt, and to its credit, the most comprehensive since World War II.The plan is the government’s blueprint to resurrect America’s commercial shipping and domestic shipbuilding industry. The goal is straightforward: build enough merchant ships and train enough civilian mariners to sustain the military through war, while cutting reliance on foreign supply chains in peace. With a $1.5 billion Maritime Security Trust Fund, Maritime Prosperity Zones, and fees on foreign-built vessels, it treats over a half-century of decline

The post The Maritime Action Plan Needs a Yardstick: Enter the Mahan Ratio appeared first on War on the Rocks. ...