A fun thought experiment. Here's What You Need to Remember: A bigger navy could withstand combat losses in an anti-access setting and keep fighting. Better a surplus of assets than a deficit. Here's a thought experiment: would America build the U.S. Navy currently plying the seven seas if it were starting from scratch? Color me skeptical. If not, what kind of navy would it build, and how can we approximate that ideal in light of budgetary constraints, a slew of legacy platforms that can't simply be scrapped and replaced, and an organizational culture and history that frown on revolutionary change?