Last night, in the final presidential candidates’ debate before the election, President Obama said patronizingly and insultingly – as if Mitt Romney were an ignorant moron:

You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military’s changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.

Part of the audience laughed.

But which of the two debaters was displaying ignorance?

This is from Commentary, by Jonathan S. Tobin:

Contrary to the president’s assertion, the creation of aircraft carriers and submarines did not mean that we needed fewer ships. Quite the contrary. Aircraft carriers need just as many if not more supporting vessels than the obsolete battleships that are no longer under commission. So do subs.The decline in naval strength compromises America’s ability to project power abroad.

And there is danger of war right now in the Persian Gulf and the South China Sea.

Furthermore, US soldiers still use bayonets. And though warhorses may be fewer now, they too are still used – have been used with devastating effect in Afghanistan.

Here’s a video about that:

And here’s a picture of US soldiers battle-ready with fixed bayonets in Iraq: