World War 3 News: Trump Wants 350-Ship War Fleet, Likely To Appoint Investment Exec As Navy Secretary


It appears as if President-elect Donald Trump is now likely to nominate a former Asia-based investment executive with close ties to other top-level nominees in the incoming administration to be his Secretary of the Navy, a move that could be strategic in dealing with China and what amounts to the herculean task of funding Trump’s promised 350-ship modernized U.S. Navy. While critics deride Trump’s plans for a larger active navy as a slide toward World War 3 through increased militarism, supporters of the soon-to-be-president see the refurbishment and build-up as key to America’s continued military might, not to mention the best method of deterrence to any major conflagration.

The Washington Post reported this week that President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Philip Bilden, a business executive who headed a subsidiary of leading private equity investment firm HarbourVest Partners, to be his first Secretary of the Navy. Bilden, who was named one of Asia’s 25 Most Influential People in Private Equity by Asian Investor magazine in 2013, has now “moved to the front of the pack and is expected to be named as early as next week,” a transition official told Josh Rogin of the Post.

As Rogin pointed out, Bilden’s nomination — if it occurs — would be the latest in a string of wealthy businessmen Trump wants running military service agencies instead of military, policy or political leaders. He named billionaire businessman and one-time Army infantryman Vincent Viola as his nominee for Secretary of the Army in early January.

If the nomination holds, Philip Bilden would replace Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes, long considered the frontrunner for the position of U.S. Navy Secretary. Forbes, who worked on Trump’s campaign as a military advisor (and, as The Hill noted, was the driving force behind then presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call for a 355-ship navy). There is yet no word as to what role, if any, Forbes, who currently sits as chairman on the Congressional Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, might play in the upcoming administration.

Still, Bilden, who has lived in Hong Kong since 1996, has had dealings with military matters, having served on the board of directors of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, according to the Washington Examiner. He is also said to have close ties with “has close ties to retired Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense, and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s appointee for National Security Adviser, according to Foreign Policy magazine.

But not everyone is enamored with the idea, according to Rogin. “We’re going to have the biggest Naval buildup since Ronald Reagan and Trump is going to pick a private equity guy whose only qualification seems to be his wallet,” one Defense Department official, requesting to speak with anonymity, complained about Bilden.

During the Ronald Reagan administration, the strong-on-defense president proposed a 600-ship U.S. Navy to dominate the world’s seas. A campaign promise by Reagan, the 600-ship navy came in answer to massive military cutbacks in the 1970s following the Vietnam War. The program sparked a massive rebuilding and construction effort that would eventually top out at 594 in 1987, according to figures from the Naval History and Heritage Command’s website, after which the end of the Cold War saw a sharp decline in the number of commissioned ships.

Part of a fleet of US Navy ships
Donald Trump has promised a bigger budget for the U.S. Navy to expand its fleet to 350 ships. [Image by U.S. Navy/Handout/Getty Images]

At present, the U.S. Navy has an active battle force of 272 ships, according to the Navy Times. Current plans of modernization, which includes construction of new ships and refurbishment, would see the total reach 308. However, Donald Trump, while running for president, saw a continued buildup of the Navy as a way to create jobs and increase the strength of the military, according to a memo obtained in October by the Times.

The buildup is also seen as a major deterrent to nations like China and Russia, both countries that have embarked upon massive military modernization schedules in the past decade. China, with its increasingly modern fleet, has begun to issue demands concerning territorial rights and move aggressively into the South China Sea, which is hugely important to maritime shipping and trade.

As for Russia, tensions between that government and the U.S. are at their worst state since the Cold War. Worries of an imminent World War 3 are constant headlines in Europe, where Russia’s military aggressiveness is put on continual display in eastern Europe with scheduled drills, troop and munitions movements, the establishment of new task forces, and military exercises. And it has been warned by former NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Supreme Allied Commander Philip Breedlove, as was reported by theT Inquisitr in September, that the U.S. and NATO was ill-prepared to deal with a belligerent Russia, one whose air and naval forces would dominate and cut-off a quickly conquered Europe should Russia decide to invade the continent in force any time in the near future.

Regardless, the most obstructive stumbling block for the U.S. Navy buildup is seen in acquiring the funding for the new and improved modernized fleet. Such a massive buildup, especially with the modern Navy’s reliance on hardware and electronics that are prone to cost overruns, will require a sustained budget.

One of U.S. Navy's modern warships
The USS Zumwalt, seen here on a test run in December, is the largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy. [Image by U.S. Navy/Handout/Getty Images]

Perhaps Donald Trump sees Philip Bilden as the answer to finding a way to subsidize his promised 350-ship navy. Perhaps, due to Bilden’s experiences in Asia, he might be able to offer insight into somehow thwarting China’s growing economic and military presence in the region. This remains to be seen.

Trump, of course, has the support of the Shipbuilders Council Of America, whose president, Matthew Paxton, has said, according to the Daily Star, that the president-elect’s proposed navy buildup was “forward thinking.”

He went to say, “Russia and China are going to continue to build up their navies. The complexities aren’t going to get any easier. The Navy, more than any of the services, is our forward presence. We’re going to need this Navy.”

But wanting and/or needing a modern U.S. Navy still runs aground of the ability to pay for it.

“There are going to have to be lot of trade-offs,” Dan Palazzolo, a professor of political science at University of Richmond, told the Navy Times.

“Donald Trump wants a lot of things: Big tax cuts, big infrastructure spending, doesn’t want to touch entitlements, defense spending. There are tensions here that are going to have to get unwound.”

“Really this is going to be the challenge of Trump’s presidency: How do you translate these broad policy proposals into policies, and defense in that mix. It’s going to be on Congress to help him figure that out.”

Again, perhaps successful businessman Philip Bilden can help Donald Trump figure out how to pay for a 350-ship, top-of-the-line, modernized U.S. Navy.

[Featured Image by U.S. Navy/Getty Images]

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