Just when you think things can’t be more disturbing. While we’re spending billions of dollars we don’t have in Ukraine the U.S. Navy is outnumbered by Chinese ships and will get worse every year. We don’t seem to have the capacity to repair what we have let alone build new ships either. This is a recipe for disaster as we goad Russia into WWIII.
Eighty years after Midway, the U.S. is on track to face disadvantages against China. Beijing has commanded more ships than Washington since 2015, and the U.S. deficit is growing: The Navy’s budget proposal would retire 24 ships next year while adding only nine replacements. America’s ships may be more capable than China’s, but they have global responsibilities, are outnumbered, and would have few if any reinforcements in a crisis. As the U.S. Navy shrinks from 297 to 280 ships over the next five years, it plans to acquire about 10 new ships a year. It is unlikely that the seven U.S. shipyards that can produce bigger warships will be able to make up for combat losses, especially if they are also repairing ships that have been damaged in combat.
Even in peacetime, the military is struggling to keep up with needed repairs. The USS George Washington should have completed a four-year overhaul in August; the Navy now hopes to be finished by March 2023, nearly two years late.
America’s Troubling Lesson from Midway – WSJ
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