I served during a very transitional time for the US Navy as far as it's combat function was concerned. The mission is still the same; presence, projection of power and to protect the trade lanes.
But the fact is that naval warfare has never at anytime in history been a clean affair particularly when ships squared off and went toe to toe. The cleanest it may have been if one can call it clean was in WWII with the advent of carrier warfare.
Sad to say that technology has in a sense taken theoretic naval warfare backwards in the sense that no surface or SS ship for that matter is immune to today's weaponry. The punches will be thrown and the ship and crew will have to bear them. Any old "salt" will tell you that because he knows that that ship is his home and their is no retreat for a sailor.
I can second most of what YT has to say ( I never had any faith in CIWS. Seen it miss in practice too many times, always had trouble tracking and engaging multiple targets). It doesn't sound pretty but he presents a very realistic picture of it. This doesn't mean that the US Navy cannot dish it out. Since WWII, it's strength and ability to project still lie in the carrier force and air superiority.
Further more, the one thing that everyone overlooks (because the combat side of it is so much more interesting) is logistic capability. Ours is doing just fine and without logistics any military force will not last. The ability to SUSTAIN OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS is, has been, and always will be the deciding factor..
The true strength of any seagoing vessel is in the training and effectiveness of it's damage control teams. The US Navy has learned some hard lessons in this area over the decades (Forrestal, Stark, Ranger, etc.) You guys never here about it back home but "excrement" happens out at sea.
I've seen my share of shipboard fires both below decks and on the flight deck. I know, it doesn't compare to a missile impact but at least up to the time when I was still a fleet sailor, I can say that our guys were always 4-0 in this respect and took control of some potentially very bad situations.
As long as a ship can stay afloat and maintain propulsion and steering there is always the age old option of boarding an enemy vessel. And that's when a sailor gets to take out a lot of pent up aggression. I don't see this as being beyond possibility even in today's modern times when two fleets are faced with the possibility of obliterating each other from afar.
Whoever is left standing when all the long range high tech toys are exhausted will either disengage or go in up close and personal like to finish business just like the old days of sail. That's the job. Ugly, ugly business.