An interesting debate in conservative defense circles is whether the U.S. Navy needs a dramatically increased fleet size. I don’t believe it does. While the Navy needs more than its present, approximate strength of 280 ships, it does not need the 355 ships it currently seeks.

Instead, the Navy must be more efficient and creative in what it does with what ships it has and more strategically minded in what ships it procures. At present, the Navy remains far too comfortable with spreading its procurement across a range of warship classes and types, and its fleet across the world. There are two problems with that approach: mismatched vulnerability-effect balances and financial cost.