It’s a beautiful day in the Navy’s fleet.
A beautiful in the Navy’s fleet.
Won’t you fund my Navy? …
Virginia Senator Jim “Mr.” Webb might have some unfinished business — that of building the fleet he quit when he was secretary of the Navy in 1988. Webb, already a lightning rod for controversy when he took over as Navy secretary, stormed off the job after just 10 months when he would not agree to cut funding for ships when faced with budgetary challenges. The 600-ship dream was slipping away, and he certainly showed ‘em with his purported protest resignation. Ah, but we digress.
Now 20 years older (and maybe no wiser), Webb might be out to avenge himself of that wrong he committed so many years ago. (This is about him and not the Navy.) In 1988, he reportedly did not want to be the “father of the 300-ship Navy.” Now he is the spokesmodel for a fleet of 313.
Cover boy Webb sees 313 as a minimum, so it will be interesting to see defense and fiscal realities pitted against one another. He has waited a long time to settle this score. Someone will lose, but we don’t think it will be Mr. Webb or anyone in his neighborhood this time around.