Why America's Navy Should Cut Back on its Global Commitments

A much smaller fleet is being pushed to do an even more demanding job due to today’s more challenging security environment. As present, the fleet is simply too small to do what is being asked of it and the service must sometime put its foot down and say no. It’s likely the only way to prevent the kinds of accidents we have seen in the Western Pacific over the past year where overworked and undertrained crews have made serious errors that have resulted in damaged ships and serious loss of life. “The Navy's been run hard in the past 16 years of war and the pace is picking up, especially in the Pacific,” Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, told reporters at the Pentagon on November 2.