The Theodore Roosevelt and Nimitz Carrier Strike Groups steam in formation on scheduled deployments to the 7th Fleet area of operations. (U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Elliot Schaudt)
Jerry Hendrix, The Atlantic: The Age of American Naval Dominance Is Over
The United States has ceded the oceans to its enemies. We can no longer take freedom of the seas for granted.
Very few Americans—or, for that matter, very few people on the planet—can remember a time when freedom of the seas was in question. But for most of human history, there was no such guarantee. Pirates, predatory states, and the fleets of great powers did as they pleased. The current reality, which dates only to the end of World War II, makes possible the commercial shipping that handles more than 80 percent of all global trade by volume—oil and natural gas, grain and raw ores, manufactured goods of every kind. Because freedom of the seas, in our lifetime, has seemed like a default condition, it is easy to think of it—if we think of it at all—as akin to Earth’s rotation or the force of gravity: as just the way things are, rather than as a man-made construct that needs to be maintained and enforced.
But what if the safe transit of ships could no longer be assumed? What if the oceans were no longer free?
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WNU Editor: The above article makes the case on why America needs a strong navy. But will the White House and Congress spend the money to make it happen? If the recent budget request for the US Navy and Marine Corps is any indication (link here), the answer is no.
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