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An excellent summation, Sir! Bravo Zulu!
I suspect that the real problem is threefold:
1. A military that measures its programs in terms of the number of officers who are promoted/rewarded upon its completion;
2. A Congress that measures programs in terms of where things will be built and how much money will flow to the builders (particularly those in the constituencies of influential members);
3. A public that's largely uninformed about the realities of warfare and basically doesn't give a damn as long as they get their bread and circuses.
The lessons learned by the Royal Navy at the beginning of World War 2 (and in various and sundry wars before and since then) are as relevant as ever. When the proverbial brown substance hits the rotary air impeller, you either have enough assets to cope with the challenge - or you become food for the sharks. The millions of tons of shipping lost between 1939 and 1943 bear mute and agonizing testimony to this.
There's another aspect, and that is the increasing emphasis on modular weapons systems and less manpower-intensive ship design. This works just fine in peacetime, when there are few damage control problems and a malfunctioning weapons system is something that can be safely returned to harbor for servicing by manufacturers' technicians. In a shooting war, you have to have weapons systems that work, in fair weather or foul. If they're dependent on the manufacturers to service them in port, rather than user-serviceable at sea, you've just landed yourself in a world of hurt. Ditto for low-manpower crews. Combat damage can be contained and repaired at sea, if it's not too bad . . . and if you have enough bodies to do the work. Failing the latter, you'd better hope the liferafts haven't been demolished by the same missile that's sending your floating home to Davy Jones' locker.
(Oh - and it helps if your ship is built of alloys and metals that don't lend themselves to combustion in the fires caused by an enemy hit. See the Falklands War for elucidation!)
Old lessons . . . but as relevant today as ever.
