Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared ambitious plans to bolster the United States Navy if elected president at a capacity not seen in more than 40 years.
Appearing at the Heritage Foundation on Oct. 27, the former Naval officer proposed a modernized “four-oceans navy” nearly 400 ships strong to the American voters.
He called for a rapid expansion of the current number of ships, setting a goal for 355 ships by the end of his first term and 385 ships by the end of his second term–continuing his determination to serve two terms in the Oval Office–and to set his military branch on a course to become a 600-ship Navy within the next 20 years.
The United States Navy currently has more than 280 ships ready to be deployed, with one of the newest ships, the USS Jack H Lucas, being commissioned and sent to join the Pacific Fleet on Oct. 7.
Press secretary for the governor’s campaign, Bryan Griffin, said that the plan is to expand the fleet to 355 in the first four years through both new construction and reserve reactivation and then further increase that number to 385 in the next term.
“The plan is to re-establish conventional naval deterrence on the high seas,” Mr. Griffin told The Epoch Times, adding that this plan would equate the Reagan Administration’s naval growth of 85 ships in eight years.
The campaign also said that the goal of 600 ships in 20 years would be attained through a “comprehensive, achievable shipbuilding plan.”
Mr. DeSantis said that the driving force behind the military growth is “to deter CCP aggression.”
“What they will respect is strength, particularly strength in their region,” he said of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). “We must have adequate hard power to deny China’s ambitions visa vie Taiwan, as well as the first island chain.”
His ambitions for the Navy, he said, “Will be hard power that will make a difference. That will be hard power that will preserve the peace.”
China’s rise in power has been a key issue of Mr. DeSantis’s entire campaign, continuing to emphasize the need to strengthen America’s presence in the Indo-Pacific. That morning, he promised to “reorient U.S. foreign policy to prioritize the Indo-Pacific region as the most pressing part of the world for defending U.S. interests and U.S. security.”
The governor quoted Winston Churchill, saying, “It’s important to keep open and active the saltwater highways that make our world tick.” He also called out the need to reform export controls and work with allies to create new supply chains that free them from “the CCP’s malicious influence.”
Along with his focus on Naval dominance, Mr. DeSantis also wants America to achieve “technological dominance,” putting less money into “left-wing universities” and more into research and development through the Defense Department.
“I want new players in the defense space,” he said. “We shouldn’t just have a handful of the same companies that we rely on to meet our defense needs.”
Peace, he echoed, can only be achieved through strength.
Mr. DeSantis’s campaign then turned to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he attended the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Leadership Summit on Oct. 28.
