Rebuilding the Fleet

Ep. 10: Season 1 Recap - What We Learned About America's Shipbuilding Crisis

We did something different this week. No guests and no scripts… Just me and Tim sitting down to take stock of what we’ve learned across Season 1 about what is happening in American shipbuilding right now. When we started this podcast six months ago, I don’t think either of us fully appreciated the moment we were entering. As Tim put it: “My entire shipbuilding career, nobody even knew what shipbuilding was.” Now it’s on the front page. Congress is debating the SHIPS Act. The Secretary of the Navy is making YouTube videos explaining acquisition decisions. It’s not a moment too soon. As we reflected on our first season, what surprised us most was the passion around these topics. When we invited founders, industry veterans, and association leaders onto the show, we expected expertise. They had that, for sure. But we also got fire. These people have been ignored for decades, working on something that suddenly matters to everyone, and they are ecstatic to be talking about it. The big themes from Season 1: * Geopolitics is driving this reboot. Anxiety over the Indo-Pacific is reshaping every acquisition decision, every war game, every conversation we have with Navy customers. Ukraine’s Black Sea campaign added urgency: if a small country can pin down Russia’s fleet with unmanned systems, what does distributed maritime power actually look like? * Policy is moving… slowly. The SHIPS Act didn’t make it into this year’s NDAA. The reconciliation bill added MIB money. The Navy reorganized acquisition around PAEs. Things are happening, but the pace still falls a bit short of the threat. * The Navy is getting better at storytelling! Secretary Phelan’s videos explaining the frigate cancellation and NSC pivot were the first time I’ve seen Navy leadership proactively justify acquisition decisions to the public. Whether or not you agree with their reasoning, they laid it out for us, which was different. * American capacity is genuinely fragile. Matt Paxson from the Shipbuilders Council drove this point home. Without the Jones Act and similar policies, some of our yards would already be gone. We’ve seen acquisitions save yards that were about to fail. The ecosystem is brittle. * International allies matter. Tim spent a week in Korea visiting shipyards. A “tiny” yard in Busan would rank top-five in the United States by capacity. That’s the scale gap. And it’s not just Korea… here at home, Hanwha, Fincantieri, Austal, and Damen are all playing roles in American sea power. What we’re watching in 2026: Acquisition announcements (big consolidation moves are coming). The frigate program’s next chapter. Will California Forever break ground? How will the Golden Fleet translates into contracts? And we hope (finally) to get some Navy officials on the show to talk about it all in Season 2. Thank you for listening to Season 1. We built this because we believe American sea power matters, and because this industry deserved a platform. Turns out a lot of you agree. Stay tuned for Season 2! Catch up on Season 1 here: https://austinegray.substack.comFollow Austin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinelliottgray/Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tglinatsisFollow Blue Water Autonomy: https://www.blw.ai/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit austinegray.substack.com [https://austinegray.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ep. 09: Building America's Biggest Shipyard - A $1B Bet on California Forever

About the Company California Forever is an ambitious venture founded nearly 10 years ago to build a new city in Solano County, California just east of San Francisco. The company has quietly assembled almost 70,000 acres (100+ square miles) through 700 separate land transactions over 8 years, and has raised over $1 billion in funding. The project consists of three main pillars: the Solano Foundry (America’s largest proposed advanced manufacturing park), the Solano Shipyard (~7,500 acres of maritime industrial space), and Solano Living (a walkable downtown and neighborhoods with 175,000 homes for approximately 400,000 residents). About our Guest Jan Sramek is the founder and CEO of California Forever. Originally from the Czech Republic, Jan grew up in a blue-collar manufacturing community where his uncles were CNC machinists and his father was a car mechanic. After stints in finance and technology in the UK and Switzerland, he moved to California in 2013 with a vision of a state that could build anything. Disillusioned by the regulatory obstacles preventing construction, he spent a year researching solutions before concluding that California needed an entirely new city. In 2016, he bet his personal fortune on the vision, borrowing what he describes as “an irresponsible amount of money,” and has since built California Forever into one of the most ambitious development projects in American history. Key Topics of Conversation * Why America needs new shipyards, not just new ships * The challenge of site selection * The Korean shipyard model * California’s regulatory environment and how California Forever is navigating permitting * The workforce advantage: 750,000 skilled workers within 50 miles and the recruiting advantage of short commutes * The “inland bay” construction approach: excavating in the dry at 1/20th the cost * Why all seven cities in Solano County have passed resolutions supporting shipbuilding Learn more: https://californiaforever.com/ About Rebuilding the Fleet: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rebuilding-the-fleet Follow Jan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jansramek/ Follow Austin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinelliottgray/ Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tglinatsis/ Subscribe to Rebuilding the Fleet: * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuildingTheFleet This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit austinegray.substack.com [https://austinegray.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ep. 08 - Inside Hanwha Defense's $5B Bet on American Shipbuilding

About the Company Hanwha Defense USA is the American arm of South Korea’s Hanwha Group, one of the world’s largest defense and industrial conglomerates. In the U.S., Hanwha operates the Philly Shipyard—the only major commercial shipyard on the East Coast—alongside munitions production facilities and a growing portfolio spanning solar power, optics, and advanced manufacturing. The company has pledged $5 billion in foreign direct investment to expand American shipbuilding capacity, with plans to transform Philly Shipyard from producing 1-2 ships annually to 20 ships per year within a decade. About the Guest Mike Smith is the COO of Hanwha Defense USA. A former Navy nuclear Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) who served aboard the USS Valley Forge (CG-50), Mike brings over 24 years of defense industry experience spanning United Defense, BAE Systems, Huntington Ingalls Industries (where he served as Chief Strategy Officer), and Lockheed Martin. His career has touched energetics, artillery, precision-guided munitions, shipbuilding, ship design, and weapon systems. Key Topics of Conversation * Hanwha’s $5 billion investment in U.S. shipbuilding and munitions capacity * From 800 to 2,200 employees at Philly Shipyard … in one year * Industrial automation, cobots, and the future of shipyard safety * Korean shipbuilding culture * Building submarines * The supply chain challenge and why Congressional “regular order” matters * The Vessel Construction Manager (VCM) model * Balancing commercial and naval work * Golden Fleet, MUSVs, and the case for smaller distributed platforms * Hanwha’s three commitments Key Links About Hanwha Defense USA: https://hanwhadefenseusa.com/ About Rebuilding the Fleet: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rebuilding-the-fleet Follow Mike: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesmithstratgen/ Follow Austin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinelliottgray/ Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tglinatsis/ Subscribe to Rebuilding the Fleet: * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuildingTheFleet This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit austinegray.substack.com [https://austinegray.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ep. 07: America's Welder Shortage is a National Security Crisis

About Heather Heather Carroll is the Chief Revenue Officer at Path Robotics. Before joining Path, she spent 20+ years in AI, automation, and robotics for supply chain and logistics (warehouses). She was recruited to Path to help scale the business and saw an immediate connection: her husband owns a manufacturing facility in Nashville that struggled with the exact welding challenges Path solves. About the Company Path Robotics is building physical AI for manufacturing, starting with welding. Founded by brothers Andy Lonsberry (CEO, PhD in humanoid robotics) and Alex Lonsberry (CTO, PhD in computational neural networks), Path was born from the brothers’ experience growing up in Ohio manufacturing. Andy learned to weld at age 8 in his dad’s garage fab shop. The company has raised $300M through its Series D and employs nearly 200 people in Columbus, Ohio. Path has ~100 robots deployed in the field and has collected 10+ million inches of weld data which underpins the foundation of their proprietary AI model, Obsidian. Unlike traditional pre-programmed welding robots that fail in high-mix, low-volume environments, Path’s AI uses vision sensors to scan parts, adapt to real-world variation (fit-up gaps, distortion, misalignment), and create fill plans in real-time. The system learns via reinforcement learning from every weld, and can now simulate millions of inches of practice per hour. Path operates on a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, guaranteeing production rates and staying embedded with customers to continuously improve performance. Core markets include energy/infrastructure (utility poles, grid components), AI infrastructure (data centers, backup power), and defense—with shipyard partnerships to be announced in early 2025. Key Topics of Conversation * Origin Story: Two brothers with PhDs in AI who grew up welding in Ohio, dreaming of an American manufacturing revival * Why Traditional Welding Robots Fail: Pre-programmed systems can’t handle high-mix, low-volume or imperfect parts, resulting in “robots collecting dust in corners” * The AI Difference: Vision sensors + real-time adaptation + reinforcement learning from 10M+ inches of weld data * America’s Welder Crisis: 22% of welders are 55+, another 22% are 45-55; we’re heading for a cliff in 10 years * Customer Vignette: “$65 million in orders I can’t fill because I can’t find the welders” * Obsidian Foundation Model: Path’s proprietary weld intelligence trained on real-world data, not physics simulators * Robots-as-a-Service Model: Why continuous improvement beats one-time CapEx, “like your iPhone camera updating twice a year” * Shipbuilding Entry: Natural fit for heavy multi-pass welds * NAVSEA & WPS Compliance: Robot captures every millisecond of weld parameters * What’s Next: Epsilon model for dexterous manipulation and fit-up; working toward mobile/humanoid embodiments * Congressional Testimony: Reshoring manufacturing, incentive alignment for RaaS models, federal vs. state AI regulation, permitting bottlenecks * Data Centers Competing for Welders: $1.2T infrastructure bill + $1T+ private data center investment = same labor pool as shipbuilding * Lightning Round: Cobots are overhyped; shipyard announcements coming; study welding Key Links Follow Heather: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherhcarroll/ Follow Austin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinelliottgray/ Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tglinatsis/ Subscribe to Rebuilding the Fleet: * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuildingTheFleet This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit austinegray.substack.com [https://austinegray.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Ep. 06: Disruptive Capabilities on the Sea Floor

About the Guest Captain (ret.) Colin Corridan, USN (Ret.) served 26 years in the United States Navy as a surface warfare officer. A Massachusetts native and graduate of Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Colin commanded both variants of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)—one of only a few officers to do so. He served as Deputy Commander of Task Force 59 in Bahrain, where he led groundbreaking efforts integrating commercial unmanned systems with fleet operations. Colin finished his naval career as the acting director at the Disruptive Capabilities Office (DCO), working to rapidly deliver innovative solutions to warfighters. He recently transitioned to industry and now serves as Head of Government and Defense at Bedrock Ocean Exploration. About the Company Bedrock Ocean Exploration is building next-generation autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for seabed surveying and subsea data collection. Unlike companies that retrofit existing platforms, Bedrock builds its vehicles from the ground up. Currently operating at depths of 300 meters, Bedrock serves commercial energy customers while maintaining the agility to pivot to defense applications. Key Topics of Conversation * LCS Program: Why both variants are effective, the ship as an unmanned “mothership,” and why bad press misses the point * Task Force 59: Standing up a commercial unmanned systems task force, the “tuna fishing fleet” analogy, and model for rapid acquisition * Disruptive Capabilities Office (DCO): Solving real fleet problems fast, classified industry days, and the transition to the new Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) * Maritime Domain Awareness: Using commercial space assets to track “dark targets” and share intel with allies * Fighting from the MOC: The Maritime Operations Center, expeditionary warfare, and keeping the OODA loop tight * Lessons from Ukraine & the Houthis: Pace of warfare evolution, FPV drones, and why every warfare area needs to move faster * Industry-Warfighter Partnership: “Tell us what you need”—the trifecta of industry, academia, and the warfighter * Bedrock Ocean Exploration: Colin’s transition to industry, undersea surveying, and the importance of building platforms from the ground up * Advice for the Next Generation: Why it’s become “cooler” to support defense Key Links Follow Colin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccorridan/ Follow Austin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinelliottgray/ Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tglinatsis/ Subscribe to Rebuilding the Fleet: * YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RebuildingTheFleet This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit austinegray.substack.com [https://austinegray.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]