false

 

No were not.

And its imminent.

Is our Navy ready for a looming Pacific war?

"We can no longer fight on two major fronts — China must be the focus."

(The was the lesson of the combined Afghan and Iraq 2.0 campaigns. Trust me Russia and China both took notice.)

"Here are the metrics: a declining ship count (now 296, with 39 marked for decommissioning, versus a 355 congressional requirement, against China’s fleet of 355 ships that is expanding to 420); aviation readiness of just 67 percent; and degraded infrastructure (installations maintained at 50-70 percent)."

(Chinas navy is newer and will be fighting (Taiwan) 220 miles off its shores. Ournavy is older and will be fighting across the vast expanses of the Pacific. 

Taiwan marked with the arrow a lil over 220 miles from the coast of mainland China. It's not a pretty picture.)

"R&D is important but the threat of a conflict in the Pacific is not 10 years out — it’s immediate. For how many conflicts have we not been ready, either having been caught by surprise or having underestimated our adversary? We need urgency."

"Can the United States deploy a ready force to win a war in the Pacific if called upon today? If not, we need to set new priorities."

(Currently? Today? Right now? I dont  think we can and there are lots of people who would agree with that sentiment.)

"The cost of offsetting rising water on the Eastern Seaboard worsens the problem."

(remember when you though climate change was a myth?)

"Lethality is the main thing that should be taken into consideration, especially when capital is limited. The Navy should sacrifice something to achieve optimum readiness/lethality for the taxpayers’ investment."

"Be bold, act now! We don’t have the luxury of bureaucratic timelines for decisions. The threat in the Indo-Pacific is looming."

Article written by:

Rear Adm. (Ret.) Charles A. Williams is a former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment and Hudson Institute fellow

Like a lot of other things?

Unfortunately?

It's already to late.