The capture of Nicolás Maduro — and the accompanying admirable demonstration of advanced U.S. military proficiency — stand in contrast to President Trump’s delayed action against Iran: With major U.S. naval forces committed elsewhere, U.S. options are constrained. Yet just as the Navy needs more ships, not fewer, the service plans to retire the USS Nimitz. The 50-year-old carrier’s final deployment included stints in the Indo-Pacific and Middle East, providing the U.S. with flexibility and deterrence credibility against Iran during its war with Israel this summer.
Pulling a key warship from the fleet just as the U.S. needs even more combat power indicates that the Navy is already losing a war of attrition — not against an enemy, but against its own bureaucracy. The Navy offered no explanation for why USS Nimitz — like the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise — could not have remained in service for one year past its scheduled date of retirement. Righting the ship demands not only the significantly larger defense budget Trump has floated, but a serious cultural change in the service that puts combat readiness back at its core.
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