Recently, former governor Nikki Haley weighed in on the ongoing naval competition that is being waged between the United States and China. She expressed concern over the fact that China “has the largest naval fleet in the world. They have 370 ships. They’ll have 400 ships in two years. We won’t even have 350 ships in two decades.”
Haley was right to highlight the disparity, and any error on her part was in understating the problem. The United States Navy has fewer ships than at any time since before World War I, and it’s likely to shrink more before it gets bigger, if indeed it ever expands at all. The Navy’s current plan is to reach 319, 328, or 367 ships by 2053, depending upon which option the administration chooses. But when a plan is so indefinite about the ultimate goal — and has a completion date 30 years into the future — it’s not a serious proposal; rather, it’s Washington’s way of signaling that the current generation of political leaders isn’t committed to naval expansion.
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