we have only a fraction of this number, we cannot prosecute oceanic warfare, as we recently saw in the Red Sea fracas. Now the US is trying to buy its way out of this situation with civilian tankers. Where are we going to find Americans to man these ships when the merchant marine does not have enough people? Will we use untrained foreign nationals, like the cruise ship industry? Meanwhile, we could not run a war in the Arctic, Baltic, Atlantic, and Pacific, without these essential auxiliaries which is what we would be doing if we had a go at the Russia/China combination right now.

What we need is ten years of peace, and good government, to build a 1943-45 fleet, and man it.