There was relief in naval circles on three continents recently when President Donald Trump insisted the U.S. is moving “full steam ahead” on the AUKUS security agreement that sends state-of-the-art submarines to Australia and commit’s the U.S. to sharing top secret Navy technology.

Some suspected last spring that the administration might walk away from the joint Australia-United Kingdom-U.S. agreement when it announced it was being reviewed by the Pentagon. The purpose of the review, which is continuing, is to determine whether the U.S. can muster the industrial capacity to produce complex, nuclear-powered submarines fast enough to satisfy both U.S. security requirements and its obligation under AUKUS sell ships, built by Electric Boat in Groton , to Australia.

After meeting at the

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