The sinking of the Russian naval flagship Moscow in the Black Sea first caused an amused smile on the face of many Americans. Whether the vessel was destroyed by Ukrainians or – less likely – it sank due to a non-combat explosion of ammunition on board, the result is humiliation and a failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort. If you are a defender of Ukraine’s defenders, it is difficult not to have some satisfaction, wrote the news portal The Week. The strongest yet fragile? But the truth is, even the US fleet can be more vulnerable than people think. For several years now, starting with the two different collisions of ships involving the USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald in 2017, a number of reports have emerged suggesting that the US Navy is overloaded, overworked and poorly maintained, and therefore still more vulnerable to the serious role of guarding the world’s oceans. A February report by the US Government’s GAO provides unsightly details of how naval personnel are struggling to keep ships running properly. “Crew members have said they have been waiting for some spare parts – such as electrical safety devices – for two years. They have similar problems finding other materials, such as filters, special types of oil and protective clothing,” the GAO said. “Ten of the sixteen ship crews we met said they had resorted to cannibalizing the parts – that is, they had taken functional parts from other ships whose functionality had been weakened – so that their ships could remain in service,” the inspection report added. office. Although America has a navy that is considered the strongest in the world (China has the largest, but many of its ships are smaller), it is clearly fragile. And that’s the problem. Current (in) readiness “The US Navy is on the verge of strategic bankruptcy,” wrote Christopher Dougherty, a former Deputy Secretary of Defense, last year. “His fleet is not large enough to meet the day-to-day global requirements of the navy. Due to repeated deployments and lagging behind in maintenance, the fleet is also ill-prepared to meet these requirements safely and cannot expand rapidly in an emergency. ” Even without similar problems, the question arises as to whether the US Navy’s fleet is built for the modern world. Just as aircraft carriers once replaced earlier warships as the back of the fleet, there are now doubts as to whether the US aircraft carrier-based fleet is too vulnerable to a new generation of Chinese anti-ship ballistic missiles. And these questions are likely to be even more relevant if it turns out that the Ukrainians have actually eliminated Moscow with their new Neptune rocket. America is learning that the overwhelming power of its armed forces may not always be so overwhelming. The sinking of Moscow is a sign that such a lesson could also apply to the US Navy. And if such an insight came in a more difficult way, it could have catastrophic consequences.