It’s been said that the world reserve currency status of the dollar is propped up by America’s aircraft carriers (i.e. the ability to project power around the world). When Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a guided-missile sub and a carrier strike group to steam for the Middle East, Washington’s allies took notice.
But what’s increasingly difficult not to notice is the declining power of the US Navy in recent years. A number of factors play into it, including:
Falling production and astronomical rises in equipment costs: A recent CBO-backed analysis found US shipbuilding to be in a “terrible state” - its worst in a quarter of a century, with the downturn attributed to a shortage of skilled labor, erratic swings in Pentagon priorities, and cost overruns. Speaking of costs, the Navy suffers the same problem as other branches. The newest carrier, the Ford, cost over $13 billion, not counting its F-35 strike fighters - the most expensive weapons project in human history ($2+ trillion and counting).
Recruitment crisis: The Navy is suffering from a long-term dearth in recruitment, missing enlistment goals by over 7,400 sailors in 2023. The causes are legion, from health issues facing young people, to new generations’ rejection of the idea of service as a patriotic duty thanks to decades of US aggression abroad, to DEI and identity politics and mandatory Covid jabs, which thousands of servicemen have quit over in the past three years, refusing to come back.
Dizzying bureaucracy: There are more generals and admirals in the US today, in peacetime, when 2.86 million are under arms, than during World War II, when over 17 million Americans were in uniform and the country was fighting a global two front war. Senior officers draw outsized salaries and pensions compared to grunts, a fact not lost on ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen, and poisoning morale.
Changing face of warfare: The Navy’s inability to thwart even an asymmetric threat like Yemen’s Houthis amid the militia’s missile and drone-based blockade of the Red Sea has prompted serious questions from America's allies about whether the US Goliath isn’t really just an overpriced, outmoded and outmatched emperor with no clothes. Iran’s elite IRGC forces have already warned the approaching US armada that they can be “reached” even in international waters thanks to Iran’s growing fleet of ocean-going vessels.