“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”– Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises  The U.S. Navy is on the verge of strategic bankruptcy. Its fleet isn’t large enough to meet global day-to-day demands for naval forces. Due to repeated deployments and maintenance backlogs, the fleet also isn’t ready enough to meet these demands safely, nor can it quickly surge in an emergency. Finally, the fleet isn’t capable enough to meet the challenges posed by China’s increasingly modern and aggressive People’s Liberation Army Navy. How did this happen to a force that, as recently … Continue reading Gradually and Then Suddenly: Explaining the Navy’s Strategic Bankruptcy