US Navy secretary says he was ‘floored’ by a Pacific ally’s shipbuilding abilities amid American warship production woes [Video]

Amid concerns about American shipbuilding, the US Navy’s top civilian official said this week that he was “floored” by a Pacific ally’s capabilities in this space.

The Navy secretary’s comments came on the heels of an internal review that discovered that most of the Navy’s top programs, including high-priority submarines, a first-in-class guided-missile frigate, and the third Ford-class aircraft carrier, are severely delayed by years, fueling worries from US officials about the ability to maintain our pace against great power rivals.

During his keynote speech at the Navy League’s Sea Air Space conference this week, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said his recent trip to South Korea had left him impressed by their shipbuilding.

“When my team and I went to South Korea, we were floored at the level of digitization and real-time monitoring of shipbuilding progress, with readily available information down to individual pieces of stock materials,” Del Toro said.

“Their top executives could tell …