Although the United States of America contains a vast area of land, almost all of its allies and trading partners are overseas, and those interests require a powerful navy to support them.

The US Navy possessed some of the largest and most modern battleships in the world at the outbreak of World War Two, and despite losses during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, was able to maintain a powerful presence in the Pacific. However, in the vast reaches of that ocean the battleship was no longer the king of battle. It was fortunate for the Americans that the handful of aircraft carriers then in service with the US Navy escaped destruction; given later events it is doubtful that a pure battleship force could have defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy.