Air Craft carriers and jets were proven in WW2 to be the big differentiator. US took note and has more than the entire world combined. 'Battle force ships' is a

Air Craft carriers and jets were proven in WW2 to be the big differentiator. US took note and has more than the entire world combined. 'Battle force ships' is a very loose term and your source only includes navy resources. You forget we have Army, Air force, Marines and not to forget coast guard that all have their own watercraft. Also, don't know if you've been seeing some of the new SWISS ships the US have been developing. Very small, hyper fast ships with a crew of 6 or less with a crazy amount of firepower in terms of AA, 50 cal, even torpedos. Those aren't categorized as 'Battle Force Ships'. Also, despite the huge waste that is inherent in it - no one has bases like the US does. We have forward operating bases all over the middle east, geographically separated units all over east europe, africa, asian pacific, and military bases all over europe and every key point of the united states. Nasa never quite got launches down but we do have some of the most advanced satellite, imagery and other military instruments. look up number of military spacecraft by country. Whether it's moral or not is an entirely different question, but there is a reason the international monetary fund has a weight 44% USD; It's not because all the other countries like us that's for sure.