I'd argue that you are making a LOT of mistaken assumptions!
Wire size: pry open an old ceiling fixture with fuzzy cloth covered rubber wire and nothing left of the wire color in poor light and it's very easy to misjudge the wire size. And the 'finger bend test' doesn't always work if the wire was work hardened.
Breakers are there to protect the building wiring, NOT people, NOT equipment. If you want to protect people use a GFI, ground circuits, etc. If you want to protect equipment use equipment specific fuses, surge protectors, etc.
11 amp continuous draw on a 15 amp circuit is a 73% continuous load. NEC wants to see no more than 80% anything more than a 100 watt bulb on the 15 amp circuit puts you over the limit. Net: 15 amp circuit is fine, but NOTHING else.Assuming a Navy electrician would do it right is not an assumption I would make. Someone trained for a different environment with a different set of rules may not translate well. Worse than that, they may think "they know how" and do it non code.
The OP has a 50 year old house, who knows who and what has been done to the wiring since it was installed? From her other posts, I suspect the OP lives well out in the country, many of those houses had either no inspection or very loose inspection. Wiring done with salvage materials can be scary.
And the fact that someone has a journeyman or master electrician license does not necessarily mean competance. I got a call from a friend after her electrican with a master license pulled a 4 device entry way switch box completely apart, could not get it back together again, and walked off the jobsite. Left all the wires hanging out of the box. It took hours to trace every wire down, reengineer the various circuits (including a Carter circuit!! ACK!!!!), and reassemble.
My first run in's with the NEC made me feel like they were being anal jerks about some of the rules. After a few run in's with old houses, then rereading relevant sections of the NEC, I now have a lot of respect for the fine points in the code.
GatherNoMoss wrote: