Free Republic

In an address just over a year ago, President George W. Bush argued that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour was, in some ways, a blessing in disguise. The surprise attack sunk or crippled eight battleships, the backbone of the US Pacific fleet, forcing the navy to rely on its flotilla of aircraft carriers to fight its way back across the ocean. The next 60 years saw the carrier battle group go from an afterthought to the centre of what would become the most powerful maritime force the world has ever seen. America's military is once again set to make...