The "War nerd" failed to realise that "Ships currently have no defense against a ballistic missile attack" is only the first half of a sentence, the second half of that sentence is omitted by the Naval Institute, which is "therefore, congress should give more funding to the development of shipborne missile defence."
That is infact, agreeing to the what is been said, "Ships as of now are vulnerable to ASM."
Chinese Navy rightly or just by pure coincidence, does not have big ships compared to US.
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Nuclear aircraft carriers (CVN)
U.S. = 11 China = 0
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VSTOL/helicopter carriers (LHA/LHD)
U.S. = 11 China = 0
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Guided missile cruisers (CG)
U.S. = 22 China = 0
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Destroyers (DDG/DD)
U.S. = 60 China = 27
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Frigates (FF/FFG)
U.S. = 30 China = 48
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Ballistic missile submarines (nuclear)(SSBN)
U.S. = 14 China = 3
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Attack/cruiser missile submarines (nuclear)
(SSN/SSGN)
U.S. = 57 China = 6
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Attack submarine (non-nuclear) (SS/SSK)
U.S. = 0 China = 55