Since World War II, the U.S. Navy has been the dominant sea power and one of its primary missions is ensuring that every nation has freedom to ship goods on the world’s oceans. The on-going attempt by the Houthis to shut down merchant ship traffic through the Red Sea, Russia’s deployment of ships into the Atlantic and Pacific and Iran’s threats to close the Straits of Hormuz is a political, military and economic challenge. Since 90% of the worlds goods that move between continents goes by sea, the actions of the Houthis and rapid growth of the People’s Republic of China’s Navy and its aggressive behavior in Asia and Africa has once again raised the issue of sea power and its importance.