"Your editorial 'The Shrinking U.S. Navy" (April 5) focuses on the number of ships that the U.S. Navy is commissioning and retiring rather than their capability. The inconvenient truth is that our Navy has 12 carrier groups and all are now obsolete. The Chinese have developed an antiship ballistic missile (ASBM), the DF-21D, nicknamed the "carrier killer." It has a range of 1,200 miles and can fly at speeds higher than Mach 5. During descent to the target, it can fly at Mach 10. That's like launching one in Chicago and hitting the Statue of Liberty three minutes later.
We have no missile-defense systems that can counter the DF-21D. The Navy has a ballistic-missile-defense system, but the problem is it doesn't work. Last year the Navy performed a test in which it tried to intercept two ASBMs. It couldn't hit either one. This was a planned test -- the Navy knew when the missiles were coming, from what direction and how many. Imagine a surprise attack on a carrier with 20 missiles incoming at the same time.
It is virtually impossible for our top Navy brass to admit that we have spent so much on carrier fleets that are now obsolete, but that is where we are right now. Rather than building more of the same, our Navy should transition to submarines that can launch drones and to small, fast boats that can launch torpedoes and missiles. That will be the naval warfare of the future.
Col. Colin Meyer, USA (Ret.)
Madison, Ind." [1]
1. Navy's Big Carrier Groups Are Sitting Ducks
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 15 Apr 2022: A.14.
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