Ships using the Panama Canal to sail from Pascagoula, Mississippi in the United States (US)’s east coast to San Diego, California, save an additional distance of 16,457 km as opposed to the longer, more dangerous route through Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America. The sheer magnitude of this distance is hard to fathom. That is more than four times the diameter of the Moon and twice the diameter of Mars. The voyage takes eight days through the canal; through Cape Horn, it takes 26 days.

A particular class of ships makes this voyage — US naval ships and submarines. The USS Santa Fe and the USS Minnesota, both nuclear submarines, the USS Zumwalt, the American navy’s newest and most technologically advanced warship, the USS Omaha and the USS Jackson, both littoral combat ships, are some of the vessels that have transited the canal recently. These ships make regular journeys through the US’s east and west coast to move from shipbuilding sites to future homeports, to upgrade weapons systems in shipyards across coasts, or to join naval exercises on either coast.

This is what makes the Panama Canal the most strategic piece of critical infrastructure for the US outside of its territory. Any delays, obstructions or threats to........

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