We have 42 active Los Angles class hunter-killer submarines

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. How new is the LA Class, even the newest one?

You should know though that they are actually a wrong target for your wrath... while the sub fleet is actually aging... (and pols in DC do not understand what they are used for), you have classes of ships that are currently being developed that acutally cost north of a billion (so far)... such as the Litoral class ships.

Actually, and submariners will point this out, for the tempo the Navy requires, we need at least eight more.

Now your question should be, can we afford empire? In which case, then it is not the subs that should concern you, again, how new are they? Which also, by the by, puts crews at some risk...

But at the very least, to maintain some security in the high seas and YOUR STANDARD of living, (people will get it when Empire goes away), we need five battle groups... that is carriers, destroyers and all that. Right now we have north of eleven... that is empire.

Mahan's book, even today, should be required reading for land lovers who love the idea of trade.

By the way five battle groups is not Empire... it is just maintaining sea lanes open. Eleven is Empire. If we were NOT a continental country with two major sea coasts, then you could do what oh England does... then again it is silly to buy two new Aircraft carriers, and not have planes for it... but hey, whatever trips their trigger... yup, the brits have TWO carriers that have no planes for... kind of silly to have a platform with nothing to carry, if you ask me. Now that IS a waste of money, but the MOD cannot afford the planes and the silly wabbits retired the Harrier, since those frames were a tad on the old side.