An Argument For Having "Big Ships" In The Navy

The USS George Washington in Busan on July 27. The Pentagon said Thursday the carrier will be in a joint drill in the Yellow Sea. By Song Bong-geun

Japan Leadership Crisis Underscores Importance of Big Ships -- War Is Boring

A domestic political crisis in Japan in May and June nearly shattered the U.S. military’s delicate basing infrastructure in the Pacific — and underscored the enduring need for a robust U.S. Nay aircraft carrier and assault-ship force. The controversy in Japan over the U.S. Marine Corps air station in the town of Futenma came at time when U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was publicly questioning the Navy’s plans to maintain 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and 10 large-deck assault ships through at least 2040.

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My Comment: We are living in the age of accurate and lethal missiles .... so the idea of providing a large and tempting target such as an aircraft carrier may not be the preferred way to go. But politics is what usually determines the direction that a military must go, and in this case it is Japanese politics that is influencing U.S. decisions on what naval assets must be placed in the Pacific.