Those three dark blobs are most of the operational firepower of the NZ Navy. They were hanging around for a few days doing whatever it is you do when you fire up a big ship and drive it around for a while.

They were maybe a mile or two off shore… hard to judge. And they looked a lot bigger and more impressive in person. But still… as an armada they don’t inspire a sense of shock and awe.

You can almost feel some sympathy for complaints from certain people that some countries don’t take their own defense seriously enough.

But then again… what if we had this many ships prowling around Auckland, and the same number covering Wellington and Christchurch? We would probably have enough sea-to-air missiles to resist a few drone barrages from smacking into those cities. And then? We go into our bunkers and wait for the dust to settle.

In other words, it’s not practical for NZ to defend itself against a superpower excursion.

Instead, we have to rely on the rule of law and the hope that our potential adversaries think we’re more useful as a source of agricultural products, hiking vacations, movie landscapes, and nurturing English-language boarding schools.