Alistair Gunn wrote in message ...
In sci.military.naval Louis V. Spielman twisted the electrons to say:
There is no greater waste of money than a SECOND RATE NAVY.

Depends upon how you're getting to "second rate" - do you mean overall or
merely in comparison to the perceived threat level? After all, I think
it's fair to say that if you mean overall then the USN is "first rate"
and no-one else manages better than "second rate"[1].

Eg: I reckon it's pretty impossible to imagine the armed forces of the
UK successfully repelling a full-blown assault by the US (well, without
saying to the president "we have Trident, which cities won't the US
miss?" grins), however I also think it's unlikely that the US will be
attempting to invade the UK in the near future!

Since it's impossible to imagine the UK repelling the
Washington Redskins Football team, whether or not they
can repel the US military is somewhat beside the point.