The world's most powerful naval force, the US Navy, is running out of sailors, and now 17 ships are being benched because we just don't have the manpower to keep them afloat.

Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation for the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital that we're lacking the Merchant Marines needed to keep things moving out on the high seas.

'The problem, of course, is the ships are at sea, away from home port 12 months of the year,' Montgomery explained. 'So you need two crews … we're desperately short of the number of people.'

'There's a lack of experienced merchant mariners to crew the ships, and this is really a clear danger to national security,' he said.

So now the plan is to put these 17 ships into something called "extended maintenance," which is just military-speak for, we're mothballing these babies because we don't have the people to run them. And by doing this, they'll free up about 700 mariners to shuffle around to other ships.

Montgomery also points out something that sounds obvious but apparently isn't: While our sailors are out there on the warships, it's the Merchant Marines who are hauling the stuff that keeps those warships going: Ammo, fuel, etc.

Let alone the fact that, as he explained, 90% of trade happens by ship, not by air.

And what about the Navy's aging fleet, with some ships that are over 50 years old?! Well, with 48 ships set for decommission over the next four years, they've got a 30-year shipbuilding plan.

Yeah, let me know how that works out!

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