Anyone familiar with the history of the United States knows that in the founding years of the country there was a big struggle between pro-navy and anti-navy advocates. Since then, however, the United States has come to build and operate the largest and most powerful navy in the history of man.

For security purposes, the full American navy is never in one place at one time (not like there would be enough space in a single port…). However, recently a rare event occurred — multiple US Navy ships were docked in Norfolk, Virginia at the same time (Norfolk is the largest naval base in the world). More specifically, six “amphibious ships”, four Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, and one Enterprise-class aircraft carrier were in Norfolk at the same time. Check it out:

(For anyone that doesn’t know, Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are the largest type in the world. The US has a total of ten. Enterprise-class carriers are smaller than Nimitz-class but still larger than the aircraft carriers that other countries have. Enterprise-class carriers are being slowly booted from the US Navy.)

The above sight, in my opinion, is both awesome and scary. It is awesome in the most simplistic, animalistic sense — a sight of raw power, of technologically advanced warships. It is scary in the sense that if the US actually has to ever put these ships into battle (I’m not talking about maritime operations or bullying countries like Iran), then you know we are in World War III; maybe even World War IV or World War V.

[Thanks Enrique, via Gizmodo, US Navy]