I read the article and that headline is clickbait as fuck.

it's clickbait in the same way that vietnam defeated the us in that war they had that one time

probably the purpose of the us navy above all else is to protect shipping. like yes they're set up to fight other navies and project power, but at the end of the day, that's all so that nobody can fuck with the country's logistics.

and even given how much money gets shoveled into it, it completely failed to do so against a group of fighters with a shoestring budget.

all it takes is a handful of persistent mosquitoes to ruin the whole thing and have the entire party pick up their gear

when i go to a picnic i don't normally bring my billion-dollar mosquito killing machine, and when i do, i expect it to protect me