"It's the end of the pacifist period on the seas," Dr Steven Wills of the Center for Maritime Strategy, told Business Insider.
The US fleet is still widely considered the world's most powerful navy due to its 11 aircraft carriers and cutting-edge nuclear submarine capabilities.
"They're scrapping more ships than they're building, which means the US Navy is on a downward trajectory, not an upward trajectory," said Dr Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University.
Another piece of the puzzle is shipbuilding capacity.
Expanding American shipbuilding capacity ought to start now, Wills said: "You don't make the arsenal of democracy overnight."
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