U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said Wednesday that Indiana will be essential to modernizing the military branch.

Phelan told Indiana defense industry leaders that they are key to retooling the fleet during a talk and discussion called "Rebuilding America's Navy" at the Northeast Indiana Defense Summit at Purdue University Fort Wayne.

“America’s Navy doesn’t start at sea,” he said. “It starts here where you make things.”

Phelan said he’s been to shipyards around the country and that the United States has some catching up to do.

“Our status as the world's dominant sea power is increasingly being contested and is no longer guaranteed,” he said.

Phelan said the country’s manufacturing base is a third of what it was 30 years ago and that nearly every ship class in the Navy is behin

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