Returning from Ebb Tide : Renewing the United States Commercial Maritime Enterprise

Abstract

Returning from Ebb Tide highlights the decline in our nation’s commercial maritime capability for a variety of reasons-the peace dividend in the post-Cold War era; elimination of subsidies for the commercial maritime sector during the Ronald W. Reagan administration; and globalization whereby we outsourced our maritime lift requirements to foreign carriers, some of whom may not be friendly to us in times of war. It is one thing to lament the inability of our current maritime industrial base to produce aircraft carriers, warships, icebreakers, and submarines on time and on budget, yet policy makers and commentators often ignore the atrophy of our commercial maritime fleet. This is the fleet that supported the Allies to defeat authoritarian regimes in the First and Second World Wars and ferried hundreds of thousands of troops and millions of pounds of equipment in support of Desert Shield and Desert Storm. This fleet is a shadow of its former self, and this book represents a clarion call to action. Failure to revitalize America’s once-great merchant fleet will spell sure defeat in the next time the United States finds itself fighting a major conflict. We cannot afford to idly observe the status quo in the commercial maritime sector.