re: #250 lostlakehiker

Not quite. The analogy is that physical numbers of ships isn’t the important thing. Quality trumps quantity; technology allows a smaller number of ships to do ever more incredible things.

UAVs now allow a constant presence over target. The Navy is scheduled to begin using UAVs from carrier ops, giving them an option that until now has been primarily Army/Air Force/CIA. Add to that the existing Navy, while smaller than it has been since before WWI is technologically superior in every way to that early US Navy. The 1916 version of the US Navy was first coming to grips with aircraft (the USS Langley was still a few years away from being converted from an oiler into the first operational carrier). Comparing the Navy now to the Navy then is beyond apples to oranges; it’s apples to a completely different universe. That was the point being made.

Technology has allowed the Navy to reduce its manpower needs too - the newest Aegis ships can do more with fewer people manning those ships - all while allowing even more mission capabilities (and more flexibility).