The U.S. shipbuilding industry now confronts grave challenges in providing essential support of national objectives. With recent emphasis on renewal of the U.S. naval fleet, followed by the defense builddown, U.S. shipbuilders have fallen far behind in commercial ship construction, and face powerful new competition from abroad. This book examines ways to reestablish the U.S. industry, to provide a technology base and R&D infrastructure sustaining both commercial and military goals.

Comparing U.S. and foreign shipbuilders in four technological areas, the authors find that U.S. builders lag most severely in business process technologies, and in technologies of new products and materials. New advances in system technologies, such as simulation, are also needed, as are continuing developments in shipyard production technologies. The report identifies roles that various government agencies, academia, and, especially, industry itself must play for the U.S. shipbuilding industry to attempt a turnaround.

• Front Matter
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• State of Technology Application in U.S. Shipbuilding
• Programs to Increase the Technological Competitiveness of U.S. Shipyards
• National Needs for Education Infrastructure in Maritime Technology
• Conclusions and Recommendations
• Acronyms
• A Biographies of Committee Members
• B Presentations to the Committee
• C Making Financing Decisions in the U.S. Shipbuilding Industry
• D Government and Industry Programs that Invest in Shipbuilding Technology
• E Schools of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering