606 
Experts disagree on the question whether the act has been properly 
implemented. Only in recent years has the Government paid substan- 
tial subsidies for the construction and remodeling of merchant vessels, 
under the Merchant Marine Act of 1970.2 But has the size and 
composition of the subsidized fleet taken defense needs sufficiently 
into account? 
U.S. MERCHANT MARINE RESPONSE TO DEFENSE NEEDS 
The number of government-owned ships operated by the Military 
Sealift Command has never been enough to move more than a fraction 
of a major support requirement. The Department of Defense has 
always depended heavily on the U.S. merchant marine to support 
major military contingencies. This dependence on the merchant marine 
and on the national defense reserve fleet is likely to increase even 
more in the future because most of the remaining government-owned 
ships will have to be retired due to age and material conditions. 
In the event of a NATO war, commitments to help support U.S. 
deployments have been made for the early availability of ships belong- 
ing to NATO partners. Those NATO ships will be dearly needed 
in view of the fact that the U.S. merchant marine and the national 
defense reserve fleet can supply less than 450 ships out of the 900 
to 1,000 vessels which are projected as necessary to meet U.S. military 
and economic shipping requirements in a major war.!6 
Recent studies indicate, on the basis of the movement requirements 
anticipated in a NATO-Warsaw Pact war, that the U.S. and NATO 
merchant fleets together will only be marginally adequate to meet 
the deployment and resupply objectives. !?’ 
Dr. John Bennett, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Installa- 
tions and Logistics, testified before the Subcommittee on Merchant 
Marine of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 
that any further dimunition in the capability of the U.S. merchant 
marine would severely impact our marginal capability to support a 
conventional defense of Europe.'?® Dr. Bennett’s fears could very well 
become reality because of pending bloc retirement of most of the 
national defense reserve fleet. About 130 of the 450 US. flag vessels 
listed are 30-year-old Victory ships aproaching the limit of their useful- 
ness. !29 
Under the 1970 Merchant Marine Act, contracts have been entered 
into for 58 ships, with construction subsidies (by 1975).'°° Of these, 
according to Assistant Secretary of Commerce Robert J. Blackwell, 
"25 The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 has resulted in the construction of 58 ships, but the ship- 
building program has fallen considerably short of its objectives. A substantial portion of the funds 
requested and appropriated for fleet construction and support remains unspent. 
126 Hearings on Merchant Marine Oversight 1975, op. cit., pp. 8 and 370. 
27 1bid., p. 8. 
28 Ibid., p. 8. 
%9There are plans to modernize 30 of those NDRF vessels to extend their usefulness another 20 
years. 
89 Hearings on Merchant Marine Oversight 1975, op. cit., pp. 8 and 370. 
