WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- The US Navy plans to expand its 281-ship fleet to 313 vessels by 2020, reversing years of decline in naval shipbuilding, The New York Times quoted US defense officials as saying on Monday.

    The plan, made by Admiral Michael G. Mullen, who took over as chief of naval operations last summer, envisages a major shipbuilding program that would increase the Navy's fleet by 32 vessels and cost more than 13 billion US dollars a year -- 3 billion dollars more than the current shipbuilding annual budget, the report said.

    The Navy's fleet reached its Cold War peak of 568 warships in 1987 and has been steadily shrinking since then. Mullen's proposal would reverse that, expanding the fleet to as many as 325 ships over the next decade, with new ships put into service before some older vessels are retired, and finally settling at 313 ships between 2015 and 2020.

    The plan calls for the building of 55 small, fast vessels called "littoral" combat ships, which are being designed to allow the Navy to operate in shallow coastal areas where mines and terrorist bombing are a growing threat, and 19 CG(X) vessels, a new cruiser designed for missile defense, the report said.

    Navy officials said they have scaled back their goals for a new destroyer, the DD(X), whose primary purpose would be to support major combat operations on land. The Navy once wanted 23 to 33 DD(X) vessels, but Mullen has decided on only seven, the officials said. The reduction is due in part to the ship's spiraling cost, now estimated at 2 to 3 billion dollars per ship.

    The proposal also calls for the building of 31 amphibious assault ships, which can be used to ferry marines ashore or support humanitarian operations, and would also reduce the fleet's more than 50 attack submarines to 48, the officials said.

    Defense Department officials acknowledged that with financial pressures mounting and the overall Navy budget not likely to increase, their plans could come apart unless they could trim costs in other areas, the report said.

    The Navy is planning to squeeze money from personnel and other accounts, and ask shipyards to hold down costs, even if it means removing certain capabilities, the Times reported. Enditem