Even the famous "Progressive" Republican Teddy Roosevelt built the Great White Fleet referenced in this article from a century ago.
The US is first, and foremost, a maritime nation. If we surrender the seas...or are forced out...we will soon cease to exist as an independent nation.
We need 50-60 "Frigate" class warships today in addition to the existing fleet. And NO the LCS is not what I'm referencing...too capable, therefore too expensive. Real Frigates.
We also need another 25 Virginia class subs...and 40-50 of those really neat and small German conventional subs for littoral work.
And NO Carriers and large Amphibs are not an anachronism. They are the heavy lifters of Power Projection.
Twelve Carrier Battle Groups (7-8 deployable at any given time) is stretching things) are not sufficient because we can't get 10 to sea when we need them. Fifteen is the right number.
And the Amphibious Ready Groups? Seven is not NEARLY enough for these amazingly capable platforms. Put 5 of them together with a couple of carriers and you can put a full Marine Expeditionary Division ashore for 30 days without any outside assistance. How many countries in the world can stop THAT? Five or six?
And now the boomers. While the Trident boats are sufficient in number (12 with 3-4 at sea at any given time) they are aging. Still, the most capable and effective/feared Strategic Force in the world...but we have to start building their replacements.
Put all together, we have some catching up to do. Naval procurement is not the biggest portion of the Navy's budget...it's OPERATING EXPENSES.
We could increase the Navy's portion of the $700bil defense budget by $30bil/yr and achieve ALL of the above. Add another $80/bil per year and you have the trained and paid sailors to make it happen.
$100-$120bil/yr ASCERTAINS our standing and security in the world.
You forgot to add a Large Gun capacity, as well. There are times and places when air-delivery can’t be done.
The LCS isn’t capable of anything except burning a lot of fuel going fast.