The oceans are once again becoming a key geopolitical battleground.
In the Indo-Pacific, the aggressive shadow of China is growing. Meanwhile, sea-based drone warfare in the Black Sea between Russia and Ukraine and the Houthi rebels’ disruption of commercial shipping in the Red Sea have become conflict hot spots.
“It’s the end of the pacifist period on the seas,” Dr Steven Wills of the Center for Maritime Strategy, told Business Insider.
The US fleet is still widely considered the world’s most powerful navy due to its 11 aircraft carriers and cutting-edge nuclear submarine capabilities.
However, while maritime pressures have increased, US shipbuilding has stagnated.
“In the early 1990s, the Navy had over 500 ships. But over the course of the 2000s and 2010s, there was a failure to properly follow up naval deployments with enough time for refit, repair, and …