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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1917-

This tabulation was compiled from such sources as the Navy Directory (issued at varying intervals to 1941); the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Navy (issued annually to 1931); Comptroller of the Navy (NAVCOMPT) compilations; Department of the Navy (DON) 5-Year Program, Ships & Aircraft Supplemental Data Tables (SASDT); and records and compilations of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OP-802K, now N804J1D) Ship Management Information System (now Ship Management System), refined and edited with the assistance of the annual Naval Vessel Register.

For consistent historical comparison, Naval Reserve Force (NRF) and Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force (NFAF) ships, and Military Sealift Command (MSC) fleet support ships, are included in current and recent active totals. Figures, and conclusions drawn from them, would, otherwise, be historically inconsistent, and comparisons would be skewed.

From 1963 through 1974, former guided-missile frigates (DLG/DLGN) are counted under the categories (cruisers, destroyers) to which they were assigned on 30 June 1975: DLG 6 class Became DDG 37 class; DLG 16 class became CG 16 class; DLG 26 class became CG 26 class; DLGN 25, 35, 36 classes became CGN 25, 35, 36 classes .

Surface warfare ship totals do not include submarines, mine warfare, patrol or auxiliaries.

TABLES:

1917-1923 | 1924-1930 | 1931-1937 | 1938-1944 | 1945-1951 | 1951-1957 |
1958-1964 | 1965-1971 | 1972-1978 | 1979-1985 | 1986-1992 | 1993-1999 | 2000-present

U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1917-1923

Events:

U.S. enters WWI 6 April 1917
Bolshevik Revolution begins 28 October (Old Style) 1917
WWI ends 11 November 1918
Washington Treaty in force 17 August 1923.

Notes:

@ = The last Coast Defense Monitor went out of commission in 1921.
* = Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine (nuclear powered).
rc = Reduced Commission: not included in "active" total.
The drop in ship numbers evident from 1920-21 is a post-WWI readjustment to a peacetime strength, with limited budgets and naval arms limitation.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1924-1930

Events:
Battleship modernization program in effect 1926-1934. London Treaty in force 31 December 1930.

Notes:
rc= Reduced Commission: not included in "active" total.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1931-1937

Events:
Japan enters Manchuria 18 September 1931. Hitler to power 30 January 1933. Failure of the International Economic Conference to stabilize world currencies in July 1933 leads to growing instability. Vinson-Trammell Act, 27 March 1934, authorizes--though it does not fund--Navy construction to Treaty strength. Japan renounces Washington Treaty 29 December 1934, effective 31 December 1936. Germany renounces disarmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles 16 March 1935. Spanish Civil War begins 18 July 1936. Japan begins large-scale military operations in China 7 July 1937.

Notes:
* Data for 1 July not available.
@ = CV-1 to AV-1 (auxiliary).
^ = London Treaty exchange of new DD for older types allowed.
^^ = New DD begin to appear.
rc = Reduced Commission: not included in "active" total.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1938-1944

Events:
WWII begins in Europe when Germany and the USSR invade Poland September 1939.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1945-1950

Events:
WWII in Europe ends 8 May 1945. V-J Day 14 August 1945 (15 August in western Pacific). Pacific War formally ends 2 September 1945. U.S.-USSR relations deteriorate 1945-1950. Chinese Civil War won by communists 1949. Korean War begins 25 June 1950.

Notes:
* = V-J Day.
The increase in fleet size after 1950 is due to the mobilization, begun after North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1951-1957

Events:
Korean War Armistice signed 1953. Taiwan Straits patrol begins 1955.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1958-1964

Events:
Lebanon landings 1958. Cuban quarantine October-December 1962. Tonkin Gulf incident 1964.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1965-1971

Events:
Carrier strikes on North Vietnam and Market Time Operations begin 1965. Sea Dragon amphibious operations 1966-1968.

Notes:
* = Vietnam era high.
Notes: The dramatic fall in ship numbers after 1968-1969 is due to the decision to limit the use of American military force in Vietnam and the decommissioning of many WWII-era ships.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1972-1978

Events:
Last U.S. forces withdraw from South Vietnam following the ceasefire 1973. South Vietnam falls to North Vietnamese communists 1975.

Notes:
^ = Beginning with FY 78, the fiscal year runs 1 October through 30 September.
* = Post-Vietnam low for surface warships.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1979-1985

Events:
Grenada operation 1983. Attempted peacekeeping in Lebanon 1983.

Notes:
* = Post-Vietnam War low (total active ships).

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1986-1992

Events:
Fall of the Berlin Wall and many East European communist governments, 1989-1990. Gulf mobilization and war, 1990-1991. Dissolution of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War, 1991.

Notes:
^= 1980s high for surface warships.
* = 1980s high for total active ships.
Notes: A rapid decline in force level is evident after the anticommunist revolutions in Eastern Europe and the collapse of the Soviet Union, 1989-1991.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 1993-1999

Notes:

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 2000 to 2006

Dates	9/00	01	02	03	04	05	06
Carriers	12	12	12	12	12	12	12
Cruisers	27	27	27	27	25	23	22
Destroyers	54	53	55	49	48	46	50
Frigates	35	35	33	30	30	30	30
Submarines	56	55	54	54	54	54	54
SSBN	18	18	18	16	14	14	14
SSGN	0	0	0	2	4	4	4
Mine Warfare	18	18	17	17	17	17	16
Amphibious	41	41	41	38	37	37	35
Auxiliary	57	57	56	52	51	45	44
Surface Warships	128	127	127	118	115	111*	114
Total Active	318	316	313	297	292	282	281

 Notes:

* = Low since 1921

To clarify the ship numbers included in this table, the year 2000 entries include active commissioned ships, those in the Naval Reserve Force (NRF) and ships operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC).  Row entries are self-explanatory, with the auxiliary category including combat logistic ships (such as oilers, ammunition, combat store ships), mobile logistics ships (such as submarine tenders) and support ships (such as command, salvage, tugs and research ships).  Command ships have been subsumed into that category and the separate line entry removed.  A new row has been added for guided missile submarines (SSGN).  Post-1999 data provided by N8F.

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U.S. Navy Active Ship Force Levels, 2007 to 2008

Dates	07	09
Carriers	11	11
Cruisers	22	22
Destroyers	52	54
Frigates	30	30
Submarines	53	52
SSBN	14	14
SSGN	4	4
Mine Warfare	14	14
Amphibious	33	36
Auxiliary	46	46
Surface Warships	115	117
Total Active	279*	283

 Notes:

* = Low since 19^th-century

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23 January 2002