Are American Warships Obsolete? Preview

U.S. Navy Third Fleet

From New Wars:

Today the small USN is facing ever greater operational tempos, with its fleet less than half the size of the 600 ship Navy of 20 years ago. There is growing concern as well that we may be facing a new block obsolescence, not of aged ships but from numerous mounting threats using micro-chip technology, with such high tech and small weapons in the hands of our enemies. In his article recent, “The Pentagon’s Wasting Assets“, Andrew F. Krepinevich Jr. explains:

In the real world, Iran and other states can buy high-speed, sea-skimming ASCMs in quantity. In confined waters near shore, U.S. warships would have little warning time to defend against these weapons. The same can be said of high-speed suicide boats packed with explosives, which can hide among commercial vessels. Widely available modern sea mines are far more difficult to detect than were those plaguing the U.S. fleet during the 1991 Gulf War. Quiet diesel submarines operating in noisy waters, such as the Strait of Hormuz, are very difficult to detect. Iran’s possession of all of these weapons and vessels suggests that the Persian Gulf — the jugular of the world’s oil supply — could become a no-go zone for the U.S. Navy.

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My Comment: After spending tens of billions .... if not hundreds of billions in the past 2 decades ..... we are now finally having a serious discussion of the U.S. Navy.

I look forward to New Wars next installment.