Established 1936 – John A. Collins, President

EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON, GRAND RAPIDS DOWNTOWN

Big E's Sports Grille

710 Monroe Avenue NW, Grand Rapids

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026 – 7:00 AM

Where do our Navy ships come from? It is obvious that they don’t come from a Cracker Jack box, even though there is a sailor on the packaging. Ships are built In shipyards, and the few remaining American shipyards cannot currently build the kind and number of ships that the United States needs for survival.

There is a light on the horizon. though. Paul Chardoul will focus that light on some promising recent proposals that could turn the shipbuilding industry around.

Invocation: Eric Nelson
Introduction: Jeff Kissinger

Shipbuilding 

1. “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
   ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery
2. “Yard after yard passed by, the berths empty, the grass growing about the sinking keel blocks. And now only the gaunt, dumb poles and groups of men, workless, watching in silence the bitter passage of the vessel.” ~ George Blake, The Shipbuilders