Fox News Digital is out with a new story entitled “Navy secretary cited climate change as top priority as Biden proposes shrinking the fleet“:
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said he sees fighting climate change as a top priority for the Navy as the Biden administration proposes shrinking the fleet by two ships and worries grow about how the U.S. Navy stacks up to China’s.”As the Secretary of the Navy, I can tell you that I have made climate one of my top priorities since the first day I came into office,” Del Toro said March 1 in remarks at the University of the Bahamas.Del Toro said he met with Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis during his visit and spoke “at length” with him about the climate crisis and focused the bulk of his remarks on climate.”We view the climate crisis much the same way as damage control efforts on a stricken ship. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” he added.
Meanwhile, “the Biden administration released its proposed budget for 2024, which calls for shrinking the Navy fleet even though most military experts and senior Navy officers have called for more ships to deter China’s larger fleet.” “For several years now, the Navy has set a goal of having 355 manned ships. But, for the last three years, the Biden administration has proposed shrinking the fleet below the roughly 298 ships it has available now, instead of increasing it toward a 355-ship goal.”
Senate Armed Services Committee members are not impressed:
“No matter the favored phrase of the day — ‘divest to invest,’ ‘strategic pause,’ ‘capability over capacity,’ — the president’s defense budget is, in practice, sinking our future fleet,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. “A strong naval footing begins with readiness today and a plan to grow our battle force and command the seas tomorrow. President Biden is risking our maritime security by declining to work toward either of these goals.”
But, Secretary of the Navy Del Toro dismissed Senator Wicker’s concerns:
“There is not a trade-off between addressing climate security and our core mission of being the most capable and ready Navy-Marine Corps team,” he said. “The exact opposite is true. Embracing climate-focused technologies and adopting a climate-informed posture strengthens our capability to stand by our partners and allies.”Del Toro said worrying about climate change would lead to new technologies that the Navy can use to create a “virtuous cycle of energy efficiency, cost savings, maritime dominance and climate security.”
Of course, Del Toro was a little short on details on exactly how focusing on climate change would lead to maritime dominance. Rather, he “noted that Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry was just in the Bahamas and that he was going to meet with Kerry in Panama at the ‘Our Oceans Conference.'” And, he “said the chief of naval research would host a conference in Florida in April that will focus on how to “address climate change and marine pollution” as well as “renew[able] and hybrid energies applied to the naval field and integrating unmanned systems.”
As a 31-year Navy veteran, all I can say is that even if you buy the climate change hysteria, if the Secretary of the Navy of the Navy cannot succinctly explain how making it a top priority for the Navy will produce maritime dominance, then focusing on it is a mistake.
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