Democracy Dies in Darkness

Opinion A big Navy is vital. A more lethal one would be even better.

By the
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January 4, 2024 at 3:36 p.m. EST
The USS Gerald R. Ford in the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Oct. 11. (U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 6th Fleet/REUTERS)
5 min
correction

An earlier version of this editorial misidentified San Diego as the location of one of the Navy’s four shipyards. The correct location is Bremerton, Wash. This version has been updated.

On the last day of 2023, Navy helicopters took fire from — and then sank — three Houthi gunboats that attacked a private container ship in the Red Sea. The Navy had been contending for weeks with drones launched by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, but this was the first time the rebels had fired directly on U.S. forces. Ten Houthis paid for that decision with their lives.