Although the doctrine that the sea by its nature must be free to all was eventually upheld, most commentators did recognize that, as a practical matter, a coastal state needed to exercise some jurisdiction in the waters adjacent to its shores. Two different concepts developed—that the area of jurisdiction should be limited to cannon-shot range, and that the area should be a much greater belt of uniform width adjacent to the coast—and in the late 18th century these concepts coalesced in a compromise view that proposed a fixed limit of 3 nautical miles (1 marine league, or 3.45 statute miles [5.5 km]). In 1793 the United States adopted three miles for neutrality purposes, but although many other maritime states during the 19th century came to recognize the same limit, it never won such universal acceptance as to become an undisputed rule of international law.

In the course of this historical development, it became settled that the belt of territorial waters, together with the seabed and subsoil beneath it and the airspace above, is under the sovereignty of the coastal state. This sovereignty is qualified only by a right of innocent passage—that is, peaceful transit not prejudicial to the good order or security of the coastal state—for merchant vessels of other nations. The right of innocent passage does not apply to submerged submarines or to aircraft, nor does it include a right to fish.

The previous range was 3 miles circa 1793, then 12 miles for decades prior to 1982, then people tried to ignore the problem from 1982 to 2026. Currently, Houthis on shoestring budgets can effectively hit ships 60 to 150 miles away, and Iranians can effectively hit ships 180 miles away.

This brings us back to how a system collapses because its ruling elite obstinately clings to an ideology that is no longer fit for purpose.

The military-industrial-congressional complex was bought and paid for decades ago. The civilian and military authorities may have ideological difference, but perhaps all of their ideological positions are no longer fit for purpose.

Postscript: Years ago, a US Navy vet told me that the old Navy had mottoes like, “A sailor does the right thing, even when no one is looking, regardless of personal consequences,” but due to a zero-defects mentality and political correctness that had to be revised to something like, “A sailor must make sure the brass are not looking when he does the right thing.”

First, the US economy is too small to sustain our current military. Hence the epidemic of deferred maintenance in all branches, the Navy especially. Deferred maintenance is capital consumption, and it is a way of disguising the actual reduction in the size of the Navy. The Stennis has been in dry dock for over 5 years.

Second, the deficiencies of the US Navy are nowhere more apparent than in its inability to suppress the Houthis. Two separate carrier strike groups were sent against the Houthis, and were forced to retire after exhausting their offensive and defensive missiles. One group lost three F18′s due to accidents and friendly fire. They left the Houthis in unchallenged control of the Red Sea. The recent embarrassing image of the USS Bush strike group circumnavigating all of Africa in order to avoid the Houthis is a further illustration of US naval incompetence.

If the US Navy has to run away from the Houthis, just how do they think they will be able to confront the Russians, the Chinese, or even the Iranians. They can’t.

Vandenengel is also wrong about the size of the Chinese economy. Its total economy is at least 50% larger than the US’, and its manufacturing economy is at least twice the size of the US’, and very much more modern and comprehensive.

He is even wrong about the relative sizes of various navies. The largest navy, by hull count, and including combat support ships, is the Russian navy, with over 700 hulls. However, the Russian navy is heavily frigate and corvette heavy, and oriented towards the defense of their enormous coast line. That said, Russian naval combatants are much more heavily armed than are American ships, and they carry hypersonic missiles, which the US Navy does not have.