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HOW WILLWE KEEP THIS ISLAND FUNCTIONING WITHOUT SHIPS? Freedom of the seas has always been crucial to strong nations. For the U.S., which is the largest trading nation in the world and largely dependent on foreign sources for many strategic raw materials, safe and open sea lanes are essen- tial to national security and economic well being. Any curtailment would have dire economic consequences. Yet while the Soviet Union has been build- ing its Navy to a point where it outnum- bers our own, the U.S. has been going in the opposite direction. In the words of the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Ad- miral Thomas B, Hayward, "We are trying to meet a three-ocean requirement with a one-and-a-half-ocean Navy." And on the basis of current budget requests, the Navy's combatant strength will actually decline so that by the 1990s our defen- sive capability may be inadequate and our trade routes vulnerable. The U.S. merchant marine fleet, too, is ill- prepared for a global mission. And the men and women skilled in building new ships and repairing those in our existing fleets to keep them on station are being laid off for lack of work. If this erosion continues, we will not have an adequate shipbuilding mobilization base to rely on in any future crisis. Ships are indispensable for commerce... for peace...for defense...for the public good. U.S. ships must be built within our own borders, at our own facilities, by our own people, under our own control. We cannot rely on foreign governments, however friendly today, to come to our aid with their ships and crews during tomorrow's emergency. Our nation urgently needs a firm deci- sion in Washington now - by Congress and the Administration - to reverse the trend of declining maritime strength by funding a U.S. merchant and naval fleet of global dimension and capability, suffi- cient in numbers and deterrent potential to preclude any threat of economic strangulation. As an island nation, we can't afford to wait any longer. Despite the proven cost effectiveness and operational flexibility of the guided missile frigate (FFG), present government procurement plans call for only 54 of these sophisticated new warships instead of the 73 originally planned. SHIPYARDS CORPORATION Todd Shipyards Corporation One State Street Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10004 NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE NEW ORLEANS/HOUSTON/GALVESTON DELIVERING THE SHIPS THE U.S. NEEDS WHEN IT NEEDS THEM. Write 196 on Reader Service Card November 15, 1980 49
