If I remember correctly, most American companies went offshore to avoid maritime union rules that put them at a competitive disadvantage. So they reflagged mostly to Liberia and Panama. To enter US waters they must still be in compliance with USCG regs.

That loss of shipping resulted in loss of ship building. So now maritime states' congressional reps do all they can to convince the USN to scrap older vessels and build lots of new specialized vessels. So the Naval vessels are becoming not unlike GM automobiles. Expense bloated by lack of serious competition, exorbitant union labor, parts and supplies from as many states in the union as congress can force, building ships that the Navy doesn't need for a war that was never fought. What is needed is a littoral capacity, not deep blue surface vessels.