WASHINGTON – A senior official who oversees Bath Iron Works urged Congress on Wednesday to boost its investment in shipbuilding not only to stabilize the industry, but also to enhance United States sea power.

“I recommend that the Congress and the administration budget for and build three [guided missile destroyers] a year,” said John Welch, senior vice president of General Dynamics Corp., which owns BIW, during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee subcommittee on sea power.

Welch, joined by representatives from Northrop Grumman Litton Ship Systems and Newport News Shipbuilding, found no oral opposition from senators on the panel when they linked the level of shipbuilding to America’s military readiness.

“It’s clear we’ve been going in the wrong direction given what our military force requirements are,” Maine Sen. Susan Collins said of the steady decline in shipbuilding during the past decade.

The Arleigh Burke class of destroyers (or DDG 51s) feature the Aegis combat system, and the ships are considered the most powerful surface combatants ever put to sea, according to the Navy. The sale of four DDGs to Taiwan, under consideration by the Bush administration, could bolster the workload shared by Bath and the Ingalls shipyard at Pascagoula, Miss.

That would “definitely have a positive impact” on the industry, said Welch.

Welch expressed concern over the Navy’s budget projections, which call for buying only two ships for the next three years and signal a decline from previous years.

One area of debate influencing the number of ships the Navy purchases per year concerns how many operating ships the Navy needs to maintain a strong defense.

Estimates for the number of ships needed to meet national security requirements range from 200 to 360.

“Navy regional commanders have repeatedly warned that the fleet is stretched perilously thin and needs to be increased to 360 ships to meet their present mission requirements,” Collins said. “The U.S. Navy has shrunk from a fleet of 594 ships in 1987 to 315 ships, while during the same period deployments have increased more than 300 percent.”

While agreeing with the estimates that support a 300-ship Navy, Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said President Bush’s budget does not have enough money to “achieve the level of shipbuilding we need.” The Navy builds submarines in Lieberman’s home state.

At issue is how to shape a plan to fund the construction of ships that will stabilize the industry and reduce expenses to the government associated with fluctuations in construction requirements, including the training of an inexperienced work force and higher design and construction costs.

The shipbuilding companies offered a menu of options to stabilize their industry, if implemented.

The funding options offer the Navy an alternative to paying up front in full for the ships they are procuring. Options discussed include incremental funding, multiyear procurement, advanced procurement and a new mechanism the Navy is calling advanced appropriations.