The real numbers behind today's fleet.

• Author: Mabus, Ray
• Position: NAVY PERSPECTIVE

* What should Americans conclude when they hear conflicting claims about the U.S. Navy being too large or shrinking too much? History and the facts prove both claims wrong, and the argument is misleading. The size of our fleet matters because we live in a maritime-centric world. And what's just as important as numbers of ships is what those numbers mean today.

So here are some numbers to consider: about 70 percent of our planet is covered by water; 80 percent of Earth's population lives within an hour's drive to the sea; 90 percent of global trade is seaborne; and 95 percent of voice and data are carried via undersea cables.

Since the end of World War II, the Navy's presence has kept international sea lanes open around the world. For the first time in human history, we've protected trade and commerce not just for ourselves and our allies, but for everyone. Today, $9 trillion in goods are traded globally by sea, supporting 40 million jobs in the U.S. alone and benefiting nearly every consumer on Earth.

In every response from high-end combat to disaster relief, our naval assets arrive there faster and stay longer. We bring whatever we need with us and we act without having to ask anyone's permission because our ships are sovereign U.S. territory. The Navy demonstrated this capability when the only strikes for the first 54 days of the air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria came from Navy F/A-18 Hornets off the USS George HW. Bush in the Arabian Gulf. Land-based fighters could not participate until host nations approved.

That is presence, the unrivaled advantage that the Navy and Marine Corps team uniquely provide our nation. People and platforms can be surged, but you cannot surge trust and there is no way to build trust other than being there. Maintaining that presence requires gray hulls on the horizon.

On Sept. 11, 2001, our fleet stood at 316 ships. Less than eight years later, despite one of the great military buildups in American history, the fleet had declined to 278 ships. After I took office in 2009, it became clear our shipbuilding program had been neglected.

In the five years before 2009, the Navy put just 27 ships under contract, not nearly enough to keep our fleet from shrinking, and not enough to keep our shipyards going. In my first five years in office, we put 70 ships under contract, more than the last three Navy secretaries combined.

We've done this, while challenged by constrained budgets and fiscal...