Yet Trump’s mixed messages on the topic risk squandering the opportunity to rebuild in a smart, sustainable way. Start with the type of shipbuilding that one might want to support. The president has proposed a fleet of battleships at $15bn a pop. Meanwhile, the MAP, which was produced by the Office of Management and Budget (which is where the White House shipbuilding task force was relocated last year), is pushing the use of “designs of existing mature or modular commercial or government vessels that can be adapted to multiple agency mission needs with minimal modification”.