The big stars are the ferocious, Aegis-class destroyers to which the Navy allowed exclusive access, says Mr. Berg, a lifelong Naval history buff.

WSJ: Peter Berg's Juggling Act: 'Battleship' and 'On Freddie Roach'

In the spring, America postponed the sale of four Aegis-class destroyers.

ECONOMIST: The forces across the strait

The Navy, driven to meet a near-term requirement contained in a dramatically changing national ballistic missile defense (BMD) strategy, has, without any supporting analysis, chosen to back-fit and concurrently build more of the 30-year-old-design Aegis Arleigh Burke class DDG51 destroyers with only the most basic BMD capability.

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