And I would invite your attention to all the effort Putin is "putin" into revitalizing the old Soviet fleet, down to trying to regain his old ports from the old allies of the USSR. Putin is looking for a fight, make no mistake about it. An efficient, effective and capable Navy deters that kind of shit, just as they deter any shenanigans (look at what's happening at sea between China and Japan lately) from Beijing.
Ask yourself these questions-how do most goods, everything from natural resources, to foodstuffs, to manufactured goods, get to USA from overseas? How does most of what USA produces get sent abroad? What would happen if those sea lanes of communication were interrupted by some asshole country wanting to give us some shit? How would we respond if we didn't have a Navy to do the "don't even think about it" deterring? With a strongly worded letter?
Funny how when there's a taifun in Indonesia or a natural disaster "where-ever" or the need for a swift noncombatant evacuation, with military force available to deter bloodshed, people want the US Navy to just turn on a dime and show up there with relief aid or an evacuation plan. That can't be done without ships deployed around the globe, preserving our access to those sea lanes of communication I'm talking about.
Like it, or not, our heritage is seafaring, we do most of our trade by sea, and the oceans of the globe are vital to our well being-- and we have command of the sea, and we are interested in keeping those sea lanes OPEN. Mark my words, if we don't have that command, someone else will--and they may not be so pleased to let trade progress quite so freely. There's money to be made in highway robbery, even if those robberies happen at sea (ask the pirates of Somalia).
The Bolivia thing was hyperbolic, but the point is, even BOLIVIA has a Navy (and yes, they are landlocked but they operate on tributaries to the Amazon and Lake Titicaca--many of their ships are gifted USN vessels). Bolivia believes that Chile is denying them access to the sea, and they're not satisfied with the situation at hand. Sea lanes of communication are IMPORTANT, even to landlocked nations.
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