A Hi or Lo Navy

Throughout the Cold War , to keep adequate numbers of ships available, the US Navy established a hi-lo mix in the quality of its warships. There were giant supercarriers, escorted by large cruisers and nuclear attack submarines, along with hundreds of cheaper and less capable destroyers and frigates. During the 1980’s, the frigates proved quite useful escorting merchant vessels during the Persian Gulf Wars.
Amazingly, after the fall of Soviet Union, with no foreseeable threat against the expensive carriers, cruisers, and submarines, the US began discarding wholesale its lo-end warships, which was just what was needed in the new littoral warfare as practiced in the Gulf. Billion dollar Aegis ships and $5 billion aircraft carriers are still being purchased, even as the Navy sinks to less than 300 ships.
When Al Quedi struck the twin towers in 2001, what vessel was called on to protect our ports and intercept vessels carrying WMDs? It was the venerable frigates the Navy considered useless in modern warfare.