[joshuacc]

This article covers a lot of the history. https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/why-cant-the-us-build-ships

Basically the US wasn’t great at shipbuilding post civil war due to high costs. WWII was an existential threat so cost was no object, and we coasted on that capacity for a long time.

[allturtles]

Thanks for the link. That article doesn't really support the GP's contention that the Jones Act is the root cause of the U.S.' shipbuilding failures.