SAN DIEGO – Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle on Tuesday signaled a potential expansion of San Diego’s shipyard capacity to address growing demands for warship repair and maintenance, particularly as the Navy focuses on maintaining a battle-ready fleet in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East regions.
Caudle’s remarks, made during a meeting with reporters in San Diego, come as the Navy grapples with extended deployments for its San Diego-based aircraft carriers – the USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Theodore Roosevelt, and USS Carl Vinson – impacting thousands of sailors and placing strain on the vessels themselves. He indicated a desire to find ways to alleviate the need for these extended deployments, citing the fatigue and hardship imposed on sailors and their families.
“My biggest concern as a service chief is communicating to leaders the downsides of deployment extensions,” Caudle stated, offering no further specifics on potential solutions.
The push for increased shipyard capacity aligns with a broader Navy objective to increase the number of manned ships in the fleet to approximately 381, a goal that has faced challenges in recent years. A Government Accountability Office report last year noted that the Navy has “failed to increase its fleet size over the past 20 years—despite nearly doubling its shipbuilding budget.”
Caudle emphasized the Navy’s intention to supplement traditional warships, especially aircraft carriers, with a growing fleet of small, unmanned, autonomous vessels. These vessels, already being tested at Naval Base San Diego and sometimes referred to as “ghost ships,” are intended to perform a range of tasks, including surveillance and mine neutralization, and can be scaled to address varying threat levels.
“I love aircraft carriers,” Caudle, 62, told reporters. “Nothing offers that kind of combat power.” He specifically highlighted the USS Abraham Lincoln, currently operating in the Arabian Sea, which was deployed by the Trump administration to deter Iranian aggression and encourage renegotiation of its nuclear program. On February 3rd, a U.S. Navy fighter jet downed an Iranian drone approaching the Lincoln, according to U.S. Central Command.
Maintaining these carriers, and the accompanying warships – particularly destroyers – requires significant maintenance and repair work, largely handled by four major shipyards in San Diego, the largest naval base on the West Coast. Caudle expressed a desire to consult with shipyard leaders, including representatives from General Dynamics and BAE Systems, to explore potential capacity increases.
“I’d definitely like to consult with the shipyard leaders present… and see what they can do to give me more capacity,” Caudle told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Those conversations definitely need to be had.” He did not indicate whether the Navy had formally contacted the shipyards to initiate discussions.
At a recent industry event, WEST 2026 in San Diego on February 11, Caudle engaged with industry partners to explore emerging technologies and innovative solutions to strengthen the Navy’s future readiness, according to a U.S. Navy Facebook post.
Caudle also addressed the financial implications of expanding the fleet, stating, “The Navy is so essential that I don’t think People can afford not to do it… When we lower the number of ships, we see a sudden increase in conflict… My goal would be to maintain a spending of at least 4% of GDP here to ensure we have the resources needed to build that kind of Navy.”
