Preserving Peace Through Naval Power
By Peter A. Michel
August 12, 2024
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy’s purpose is to deter war by being ready to fight and win. Deterrence requires that the Navy be highly visible throughout the world’s oceans and seas.
Building and maintaining a world-spanning navy ready to fight and win against any adversary is expensive. War starting because adversaries believe the U.S. Navy is not capable of winning would be much more expensive in blood and money.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States slowed naval spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) with the confidence that it had no meaningful naval competitor. Over time, this has led to a reduction of the number of naval ships in the U.S. fleet. During this same period, the People's Republic of China was building naval ships at a faster pace than the United States and now has a larger naval fleet. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is not only larger than the U.S. Navy, but its ships are in most respects approaching the same level of fighting capability.
Today, the U.S. Navy has a peer naval competitor in the Chinese PLAN and does not have enough resources to counter it and perform its other assigned global duties. Catching up to current requirements, let alone those which might come from China in the future, will be expensive, difficult, and time consuming. Maintaining the current U.S. naval spending as a percentage of GDP will increase the risk of war.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2024/08/12/preserving_peace_through_naval_power_1050924.html
