America’s shipbuilders – including Maine’s Bath Iron Works (BIW), synonymous with “US Navy destroyers” – should be celebrated with America’s Navy. As a Navy veteran, allow me to say, without the precision design, machining, and patriotism of our shipbuilders, the Navy would not be.
If that sounds stark, it is entirely true. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Navy – and approach the 99th anniversary of making Armistice Day a holiday (now Veterans Day) – a trip down memory lane is in order, and a hat tip to America’s shipbuilders.
America has a long and distinguished tradition of shipbuilding. Today, the sector is vital to our national security. Without this expertise, we would not have won two world wars, and today be keeping global peace. The sector’s importance will grow as China’s navy grows.
America’s top leaders, including Maine Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), are working with President Trump to secure the nation’s future – and navy ships are central. Nationally, other builders include Ingalls, Newport News, and Electric Boat, but for navy surface ships, Bath Iron Works is unrivaled.
History shows, borrowing from Winston Churchill, “how much is owed by so many to so few.” BIW, with the motto “Bath Built is Best Built,” is unique. Founded in 1890, they have launched 425 ships, of which 245 have been Navy vessels, including the three Zumwalt-class, stealth destroyers.
To understand how shipyards play into our security, and specifically how BIW has secured the nation for more than a century with a labor force of patriots, you have to look backward.
From 1890 to now, BIW’s ships have been a centerpiece. Put differently, America could not have won all the wars we have without our Navy, and our Navy could not have won without BIW ships.
If you doubt either proposition, just walk back through time. BIW’s first gunboat, the USS Machias, was central to the Spanish-American War and WWI, patrolling European waters on antisubmarine missions until July 1918. The USS Katahdin similarly served in the Spanish-American War.
Jumping ahead, BIW built gunboats, frigates, countless cruisers and a battleship, but also launched all 24 classes of destroyers, the Gleaves, Fletcher, Sumner, Smith, and Gearing classes – used in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, Okinawa, Guadalcanal, Philippine Sea, Korean and Vietnam wars, then Arleigh Burke and Zumwalt classes, workmanship impeccable.
At the height of WWII, when production was tantamount to victory, and every hour and day counted, BIW symbolized American can-do, launching a destroyer every 17 days.
Future Admiral Chester Nimitz, for whom we now have an aircraft carrier named, commanded the USS Decatur, built at Bath Iron Works, while the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway included multiple BIW destroyers, including the USS Sims, heroic but lost at sea.
Looking ahead, power projection will be central to US and allied security in a turbulent world, one in which our chief adversary is on the other side of the globe. Strategically, the US Navy plans to build 364 new manned ships by 2054, topping out near 400, 19 new ones presently in the FY26 budget.
Bottom line: The US Navy proudly celebrates our 250th anniversary this year, and we are about to celebrate our veterans on November 11th, but the Navy and our veterans also celebrate the thousands of determined, highly motivated, often unsung patriots who build those great ships. To those at Bath Iron Works and beyond, thank you. Bravo Zulu!
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is the National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor (please visit BobbyforMaine.com to learn more)!
RBC, thanks again for your article for the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary. My family line has served this nation since the Revolutionary War and continues through this day and hopefully beyond.
Thanks to all who served in the Navy.
Happy Birthday to the Navy and may the shipyards keep on building bigger and better.
Great history of American Shipbuilding Robert – sure enough should be appreciated by many who appreciate the Freedom here in the United States and how that Freedom has been defended since the 1770’s. I reckon that when Bath Iron Works is mentioned in connection with Shipbuilding – it. doesn’t get any better than that ! Thought it would be appropriate time to mention a book published by U.S Naval Institute in late 1960’s – early 1970’s ” John Phillip Holland Inventor of the Modern Submarine ” by Richard Morris .The story of the determination involved is something admirable
Holland ,born in Ireland 1841 had experience as a teacher ,great ability in Mathematics and the first submarines ,that did what submarines are supposed to do, go underwater and then surface again without any difficulty were developed and presented to the U.S. Navy in the late 1890’s. Holland passed away in 1914. The author Richard Knowles Morris. had a relative who worked with Holland on the designs for at least a couple of the submarines. It is encouraging that President Trump is taking measures to improve shipbuilding here in the United States . When doing mechanical work on ships as a civilian in the 1970’s. I would often think about the importance of the Liberty Ships ship building project in the 1940’s and how necessary that work was and how it progressed as rapidly as it did – turning out large vessels in a matter of days. It contributed greatly to victory in world war two. And. a few were still around during the early days of the space program fitted with advanced radar and other equipment in connection with retrieval of a variety of. space exploration craft in those days.
Do we still HAVE shipbuilders? I know there are places in our country where ships, under construction or “maintenance,” are STORED, almost never to be seen again.
A shame, that. Do we need better LEGAL TEAMS, or better YARDBIRDS?
If you haven’t watched “The Wind and The Lion,” I highly recommend it. This article reminds me of the movie, and the pride of our US Navy and Marine Corps during our “…carry a big stick” era. This article was a great read, and the movie is a great watch.
Great article, thank you!
Shall Naval shipyards merge to cut costs? share resources
OR have a Commercial div for civil ships