In June, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued its latest update on the U.S. Navy's fleet and the funding needed to achieve the 313 ships the chief of naval operations and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have said is the minimum number necessary to meet our national security requirements. The CBO's latest update, combined with its initial report in December 2005, showed that for the nine-year period, from 2000 through 2008, the Navy was authorized to build an average of fewer than six ships per year. As a consequence, the Navy has shrunk to an inadequate 278 ships. The current fleet is less than half the size of our fleet of 20 years ago, and 40 ships less than we had as recently as 1999.
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