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A comment on The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospects for Recovery (1994). Parent comment

Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by klooney on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @12:34AM (#43628902)
> The U.S. already manufactures warships, though, and we’re already by far the best at it.

We very slowly build a small number of incredibly expensive ships. For any other value of "manufacturers warships", Korea or Italy are better and more reliable.

Also, it's not clear if aircraft carriers are survivable in a vaguely peer context. Missiles and drones have come a long way.

> Australia just cancelled a deal with France in order to buy subs built in the U.S. We build the best in the world

We won't be sending them because we can't build them because our defense shipbuilding industry is moribund, and there is no civilian shipbuilding industry to do double duty.

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by jopsen on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @01:30AM (#43629162)
Wouldn't you be better off buying ships from allies?

Nobody does everything.

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by kashunstva on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @08:06AM (#43631182)
> buying ships from allies

In 2025, is the word “ally” even a legitimate term in the U.S. political lexicon?

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by mrguyorama on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @02:14PM (#43635381)
We were literally buying Frigates from Italy, because they build really good frigates and we can't build a mid-size ship worth a damn it seems.

LMAO does the Navy pay tariffs?

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by pyrale on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @08:18AM (#43631240)
> Also, it's not clear if aircraft carriers are survivable in a vaguely peer context.

It's not clear if the planet is survivable in a vaguely peer context. What do you want, build a second planet and make Mexico pay for it?

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