The British empire spanned the world to an overt extent far greater than the present American empire. It did so with a fleet that was as big as the next 2 navies combined. There were a lot of naval powers around in the early 19th century.
I ask again, who are you expecting to fight with your navy?
Is this the early 1800s anymore? Is the British Empire still a thing anymore?
In the early 1800s did the United States stretch across the Continent to the Pacific Ocean?
Nope, does not apply. Stay on target.
The evidence that it was the right call is 70 years of peace on the seas. The US Navy has been largely untouchable in all that time.
What do you propose as an alternative that has the range, vision and firepower of a carrier battle group?
Oh, the Navy was very touchable. But it is largely MAD that kept the peace since the end of WWII. Thankfully nobody wanted to try and tangle with nations that had nuclear weapons.
It is not like no nations have attacked the US Navy in 70 years. But it was always kept small scale if they did.
Then we would need to spend a lot more money to do so because personnel cost money. Military personnel are very expensive (although becoming less so with the Blended Retirement System that every member of Congress and Presidents should have had to go on too since they decided it was a good way to save money).
Not really, because the vast majority of people who join the military only serve a single 4-6 year term then get out. Therefore, no retirement at all.
Out of those I went to school with, I know of around 15 that joined the military. 2 of them as Officers. I am the only one of those that served long enough to collect retirement.
Well, if you saying that the Navy is too small. How much bigger should it be to make you feel comfortable?
Please also realize that one of today's carrier groups is more powerful than all the ships a few decades ago combined.
I did not say that, do not put words in my mouth.
But a carrier group can not do everything, and it requires a lot of support ships to operate.
Myself, I think a better long term solution would be a return to the fleets we saw during the Reagan Administration. Less carriers, and instead put more into the Amphibious Warfare groups. Build "Battleships" as the capital ship, with amphibious assets (including LHAs) to give more capabilities.
And please notice that "Battleships" is in quotes. Far to many obsesses on the exact class (BB) and do not understand that it is more of a role than an actual class of ship.