Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
Actually we took very few losses in the initial months, or even the initial years, of both those conflicts.
Bob, you made this statement in reference to WWI and WWII. It is not true in the case of WWII. The Asiatic Fleet was wiped out, the Philippines and other islands were lost and the merchant fleet on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts was slaughtered by a handful of U-Boats. Most every place the Axis forces could get at us, they wiped us out.

Your belief that we were shaping WWI and WWII through engagement and other forms of diplomacy before our entry into those conflicts is silly. We were trying doing some things to influence the outcome as best we could, especially in WWII, but to say we were shaping things is silly.

Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
China does not need a large navy now any more than we did in the last 80 years of the 1800s. Our commercial fleet sailed under British protection then, and Chinese merchants sail under US protection today.
Agreed. Cogently stated. I will use it, with attribution, over on the China and the South China Sea thread.