USS Ronald Reagan - Nimitz Class Star Destroy... er Super CarrierA natural question might be, how many aircraft carriers do others have? Well, to begin with, it appears building and maintaining an aircraft carrier is a pretty big job. So far, out of the 195 countries in the world only 5 have aircraft carriers; the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Russia (although China is considering building one). France has one, Italy has two, Britain has Two and Russia has one. We have 11.
We have nearly twice as many carriers as the rest of the world combined has. We could lose 6 and still have as many as the rest of the world. Its clear we can reduce the size of our defense spending without increasing the risk to our country. Each costs 4.5 billion dollars. Think of how many kids that could put through college.
Listen, I love aircraft carriers, I hope my enthusiasm for the technology and sheer scope of them is clear; but it is important to understand what we're spending our resources on. We don't need to fight ANY of the countries that have aircraft carriers. France, the UK and Italy are close allies. And any war with Russia would be short and nuclear.
In short, we have a Navy that is not necessary for the world as it is. That is fat we can trim. It is better spent on domestic investments, like health-care or rebuilding infrastructure.
