So, has anyone asked whether Romney’s strategy for a vastly larger navy includes crossing the T, dreadnaughts, and amphibious assaults? /

The Navy is smaller than it’s been, but mission capabilities are vastly greater with the use of cruise missiles, UAVs, and carrier forces that have more capabilities than a generation ago. The carrier fleet is starting to show its age, and replacements for the oldest carriers now active are going to be slow in coming (and the corollary to the slowing acquisition pace is that the cost per unit for new carrier increases as the shipyards lose out on economies of scale). The harsh pace of operations from 2001 and after takes its toll on equipment and manpower alike - and there is a need to rehab/refit those carriers after time away, but if you’re constantly putting them into military operations, that delays work that can only happen in drydock.

Yet, there’s plenty to be optimistic with the Navy. UAVs are coming to the Navy, and so too apparently are directed energy weapons (the Navy’s tech department now thinks they’re two years away from integrating laser weapons on board some ships that have the generating capacity to do so). Of course, those plans are also dependent on whether the funds will be there to make that happen (and sequestration may further limit integrating new tech).

Yet, if the DoD could get its way and kill the Army tank rehab that Congress wants, the DoD could then free up funds to boost the tech that the Navy wants to integrate into its fleet operations.