S8 Ep756: 1. Tom Modly analyzes the Navy's 2027 budget request. Secretary John Phelan proposes increasing ship orders to 34 vessels, aiming to expand industrial capacity and secure global oceans through battle force and support ships.

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 16 April 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

1. Tom Modly analyzes the Navy's 2027 budget request. Secretary John Phelan proposes increasing ship orders to 34 vessels, aiming to expand industrial capacity and secure global oceans through battle force and support ships.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm John Bachelor. The Navy is is important as long as America is important.
0:23.2	The Navy is what secures both oceans and projects power around the world.
0:28.6	Hence the Straits of Hormuz are shut when the Navy says they're shot.
0:33.0	However, the Navy is about the future as well, and I welcome former acting Secretary of the Navy, Tom Maudelae, who is the Sea of the Navy is about the future as well, and I welcome former acting secretary of the Navy,
0:39.3	Tom Maudley, who is the CEO and president of Baylorock Ventures now in civilian life,
0:48.5	to help me understand the new budget from the Trump administration for the Navy in particular for 2027. It's got a
0:56.7	combination of flags such as building ships, but also concerns about what kind of ships and where.
1:04.3	Tom, a very good evening to you. Thank you very much. The numbers that jump out right away,
1:09.4	and I follow this reporting from the Secretary of the Navy himself, John Feeleyn, the numbers that jump out right away is a big number.
1:17.7	The 2026 budget allotted 27.2 billion for the Navy to build 17 ships.
1:25.6	The Secretary of Phelan said President Trump's proposed fiscal 2027 budget of
1:31.5	$1.5 trillion could bump that number up to at least 34. So somewhere between 17 ships and
1:38.9	34 ships. My memory is that that's a lot at once. Good evening to you, Tom. Good evening, John. Thanks for having me on. Yes, these numbers are pretty staggering, and quite frankly, I'm very jealous because I wish I were in the job. I mean, it was a fantastic job when I had it, but it'd be really fun right now because these numbers are pretty big. And I remember
2:04.7	just pleading with Secretary Esper to give me $5 billion more or give the Navy $5 billion
2:10.6	more on a sort of a base of about $20 billion to increase our pace in acquiring new ships back in 2020.
2:19.8	And it was an uphill battle that I frankly lost.
2:24.3	So I'm very encouraged by this budget.
2:29.2	And some big numbers sort of stick out in them.
2:31.4	The overall top line number, which is about
2:34.4	140% increase from the budget request from last year. But you have to put some reality into that
2:40.2	because the budget request last year of 27.2 was later plused up by the reconciliation in the
2:45.9	big beautiful bill to around $30 or $40 billion. So it's still a big increase from that.
	...

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