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To run a naval war the way the UK did in WWII. the Royal Navy never developed underway replenishment until late in the war. Thus, in the Mediterranean the ships were tethered to Alexandria and Gibraltar (Malta was often unavailable due to Axis bombing). In the Bismarck chase King George V and Rodney came close to running out of fuel on their way home.
This means our fleet will be tethered to bases, and this did not work well in the Red Sea fracas. Our Pacific bases are hurriedly being reinforced with advanced anti-missile systems because they would come under heavy attack by China.
The Russians in 1904-5 were hamstrung having to depend on fickle foreign shipping contracts to supply the movement of the Baltic fleet to the Pacific.
Right now we can posture as a nation with a functioning oceanic fleet, just like the UK in the Pacific in December 1941, but this is very dangerous because we are not prepared for war against a first class opponent, after decades of colonial warfare. A smashing defeat along the lines of what happened to Russia in 1904-5 would be a disaster. America was superbly prepared for world war in 1941, with production well underway. The homeland was untouchable. In 1917 the German fleet was contained in the Baltic, with only submarines left as an offensive arm. The movement of the arms and men to Europe was never cut.
The Chinese and Russians developing operations from the Arctic to the South Pacific would put the US in a precarious position. What we need is time, and lots of it.
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