Reagan wanted to get to a 600 ship navy, but didn't reach it (but was close enough). That's neither here nor there, we could compare fleet size, or whatever historically until the cows come home, but at the end of the day, why does the US Navy (run by a department that calls itself defense) need 10 aircraft carriers to protect US citizens? Why does it need 14 ballistic missile submarines and over 50 attack submarines for defense? All branches of our military are far too large, it's an industry that keeps Americans employed, so in that sense it's good, but wouldn't we be better served if at le