I read somewhere that circa 1912 the USN put one more hull in the water and the US Secretary of the Navy (or similar) immediately sent the First Sea Lord a telegram asking "How this the second biggest navy doing..." but a Google search found this:
Bibliographic information
Title From the Sublime to the Ridiculous
Author Brian(bill) Haley Bem
Publisher Trafford Publishing, 2011
ISBN 1426995768, 9781426995767
Length 272 pages
From page 102:
'I vividly remember being questioned by an American sailor, who asked "How is the second biggest navy in the World" my instance reply was "Not too bad, how is the second best" Which provoked an argument that should not have occurred. '
The Royal Navy was either the biggest and / or best for something like 400 years and probably why we speak English and why all modern navies, including the USN, are modeled on it. The USN is now the biggest and, if your metric for 'best' is naval power, then undoubtedly the USN is the best. Doubt it will be for 400 years though
