US ship production is down 85 percent from the 1950s, and the number of naval shipyards capable of building the largest vessels has fallen by 80 percent, according to the McKinsey consultancy.
- 'Not what it was' -
In the 1970s, five percent of commercial ships built in the world (in gross tonnage) came from American shipyards.
That share has since plunged to a scant one percent, a drop in the water compared to China (50 percent), South Korea (26 percent) or Japan (14 percent).
"We need some solutions to our shipbuilding gaps," said the CSIS's Cook, while noting that Seoul and Tokyo, at least, are US allies.
"I absolutely admit that US shipyard capacity is not what it once was," Paxton said last month before a congressional committee.