The USN is a powerhouse.
By itself it fields a formidable Air Force, has at its disposal a highly effective Marine Corps that rivals some nations army's in size and dwarfs many in capabilities, and it has a single warship that is capable of laying waste to a small country single handed.
The SSGN. A cruise missile firing Ohio Class Submarine could perform the entire strike mission (I'm guessing) on Syria by itself.
154 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles.
Thats more than the UK has in its entire arsenal (not picking on the UK, just using them to illustrate the point). We have that many on one sub. We have four subs so equipped.
The Navy is sending 5 warships to the area in preparation for this strike.
Its all for show. They could get it done with a single ship...if we were serious about getting the job done and not posturing for all to see. And having said that imagine the shock, awe and fear that would have ensued had we decided to exercise a little OPSEC, have one of our SSGNs pop its entire payload at Syria and then announce to the world that we will not tolerate Chemical Weapons use against civilians.
The American public would be chest thumping the exercise of force for a worthy cause. Europe would be shamed by their inaction. Putin would be shocked at America's audacity...and dictators worldwide would be shitting their pants.
