The war games, dubbed Steadfast Defender 21, are aimed at simulating the 30-nation military organization’s response to an attack on any one of its members.
The painting depicts the Royal Navy second-rate ship of the line Temeraire, which helped win the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, being hauled away by a tug at the end of its life.
Only weeks after Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, four stalwart destroyers demonstrated that there was still plenty of fight left in the U.S. Navy.
Adolf Hitler and other German leaders so thoroughly expected the Reich to fight America that, after the initial delighted outburst, they gave Pearl Harbor scarcely a thought.
The author believes one well-placed cruise missile or even a World War II torpedo could take out a modern aircraft carrier, but 90 years of success suggest these uniquely American weapons are here to stay.