What’s with Trump’s war against the US Navy?

August is traditionally silly season for news stories, and President Trump does not disappoint. So far, he has insisted that the Navy go back to using steam, decreed that the Strait of Hormuz will be a U.S. territory, and demanded that new aircraft carriers be redesigned to make them look “better.”

The Hormuz thing is just weird. For one thing, for a country to own a territory, it must permanently physically occupy and control it. You can’t occupy a body of water, and certainly not permanently. Trump’s blockade — which doesn’t actually control the strait — is no help. Eventually, the Fifth Fleet, like the USS Abraham Lincoln, is going to have to sail away, whereas Iran is physically right there and not going anywhere. 

More fundamentally, you cannot win a conflict by simply declaring victory. Trump started the Iran war without thinking through the consequences and has painted himself into a corner. That he is “claiming” the Strait of Hormuz rather than wrestling with the very serious problems we now face is a real concern. Perhaps he will next order the U.S. Navy to gather seashells, a la Caligula. 

Trump’s fixation on steam catapults for aircraft carriers goes back to his first term. He has now decreed that the new electromagnetic catapults already in use are “no good” and that new carriers should go back to steam. It is not entirely clear where all this is coming from, but it is possible that Trump’s analysis is based........

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