The poor man's aircraft carrier was effective but the same goes for a pick up truck with a good driver and trigger man in the back against a tank these days. Maybe the west could reduce their spending on multi billion dollar projects and subsidize the cost of bread for the people instead? Maybe not ..without the war preparedness and threat how do you build out something that will one day be used upon your own citizenry on a global scale to have absolute economic, cultural,and whatever other form of total control over them? Could be just a conspiracy theory though.