In one important respect, the U.S. Navy has fallen badly behind the Soviets. According to the U.S. Navy's own statistics, the Red Navy now has 563 combat vessels, v. the U.S. Navy's 285. Seeking to narrow the gap, the U.S. Navy has undertaken an ambitious building program that by the mid-1980s could bring the fleet up to 600 submarines and surface warships.
But the effort is imperiled because two of the nation's most important shipbuilders no longer want to produce ships for the U.S. Navy under present contract conditions. Litton Industries, whose Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard is building radically new generations...