The Navy’s advantage over our biggest military adversary, China, is dwindling rapidly. Yet some House leaders overseeing national defense don’t seem too worried about it.
Earlier this month, the chairs of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and the House Armed Services Committee followed up with a misleading, albeit reassuring, qualitative comparison of the two navies with a comforting assurance that our allies will help fight our wars to safeguard our interests. Spoiler alert: They never have, nor will they ever.
The claim that the U.S. Navy’s 298 warships—when augmented by allies Japan, South Korea and Australia—outstrip the Chinese navy’s certainly supports the administration’s desire to cut the Navy down to 280 warships by 2027. It is, however, completely out of step with reality.