Smart Move

Congress today voted not to scrap any carriers, the backbone of the US Navy fleet:

Lawmakers say the USS John F. Kennedy, based in Florida and commissioned in 1968, is the candidate to be retired because of its age and the fact that it is only one of two conventionally operated carriers left in a fleet of mostly nuclear-powered vessels. The plan to shut down a carrier was included in the president's proposal for the budget year that begins Oct. 1.

The carrier plan has become a high-stakes, highly political fight on Capitol Hill.

While the press play it as a political fight, from what I've read it was more of a preparedness for battle fight. This Navy vet is happy they've decided to keep the carrier fleet intact for the time being as nothing will make a dictator sit up and take notice like a carrier with eighty jets sitting off his coastline.