Pop quiz: look at this photograph of USS Green Bay (LPD 20), one of the U.S. Navy’s premier amphibious transports, making port in Pearl Harbor late last month. Now look at Green Bay’s rust-streaked ...

Rust does not actually affect the fighting prowess of America’s ships—but it suggests a navy in decline, an image that China has promoted as it builds up its own fleet. The United States Navy is not ...