Naval Training Center - Rudder Yearbook (Orlando, FL)

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THE UNITED STATES NAVY TODAY The United States Navy is an instrument of sea power. Its basic mission is national security. By simplest definition, sea power is the sum of a nation's capabilities to implement its interests in the ocean, the Navy's operating environment. The Navy, therefore, is necessarily concerned with all of the nation's interests in that environment, with primary emphasis upon national defense. In the early 1950's, Navy interest led to the adaptation of nuclear energy to a traditional instrument of sea power, the submarine. Today the nuclear powered submarine permits us to carry naval power to the farthest reaches of the oceans. And when missiles were being con- sidered for the delivery of nuclear warheads, the nuclear submarine was logically adapted to missile technology. The result was the Polaris weapon system-mobile, the most nearly invulnerable, and certainly the forward-most component of our nuclear deterrent forces. Today all potential targets in the world are within reach of Polaris missiles launched from fleet ballistic missile submarines. In the early 1970's, the Poseidon, a new generation of submarine-launched ballistic missiles will join the fleet. But other nations possess large and modern submarines, many of them capable of launching missiles of various types. This calls for anti- submarine warfare fASWl. ln the United States Navy, ASW is of the highest priority, second only to the Polaris program. Modern developments in anti-submarine warfare have led for the first time to the adoption of a strategic offensive concept, that is, the detecting and confronting of enemy or potential enemy submarines where they are, rather than waiting for them to come to us. Surveillance forces are supported by new mobile weapons systems, including fixed wing aircraft and helicopters from carriers, long range land-based patrol aircraft, nuclear attack submarines es- pecially configured for anti-submarine warfare, a new generation of es- cort ships, new sensors in the form of advanced sonars, and new ASW weapon systems of all types. To maintain the advantage that we have today requires continuing research and development. Perhaps the most striking development in naval power in the early part of this century was the aircraft carrier. As the nucleus of mobile striking forces, the attack aircraft carrier is capable of launching strikes against land areas anywhere around the seas of the world. Concurrently with the development of the attack aircraft carrier, the Navy developed other modern air weapon systems for use by the NavylMarine Corps team. There is the McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phan- tom Il, a supersonic high performance fighter that is also capable of support as an attack aircraft. Other examples are the Grumman A-6 In- truder, the first attack aircraft capable of delivering large volumes of fire power with precision under all weather conditions, and the A-7 Corsair II, a new attack and close support aircraft. The Navy has also been a leader in the development of air- launched weapons, such as the Bullpup and Shrike air-to-ground mis- siles, and the Sparrow and the famous Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. The newest in fleet operation is the Walleye, a bomb guided by televi- sion which can hit targets with extreme accuracy and effectiveness. Also in development is the Phoenix system, an air-to-air missile system capable of destroying enemy aircraft at greater ranges than any ex- isting air-to-air guided weapon. Nuclear power has now been adapted to the surface fleet, and has brought with it most ofthe advantages proved in its application to sub- marines: greater speed of response, longer endurance on station: sustained high speedy and more freedom from shore-based support. Each major war generates new requirements for sea power. In World War Il, the Navy and Marine Corps developed the amphibious assault from a crude operation to a refined ready instrument for assault from the sea. In 1950, the amphibious assault at lnchon, the decisive battle in the Korean War, again validated the fundamental case for sea power.

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Today major fleets with Fleet Marine Forces embarked are deployed in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Anti-submarine warfare forces and nuclear attack submarines also patrol important areas ofthe world sea. These are the forces which have reacted to crises around the world many times since World War ll. It was no accident that fleet forces were ready and close tothe scene when crises occurred. lt is the business of the fleet to use the freedom of the seas to be where it is needed, when it is needed and with the force that is needed. This then is the reason that all required instruments of sea power could be assembled so rapidly at the outbreak of hostilities in Viet- nam-the fleet was ready: faj For continuous air operations over the entire theater: fbj To provide naval gunfire for bombardment and for support of forces ashore, Qcj To isolate the battlefield from enemy support by sea through use of an ocean blockade, jdj To carry the war to the enemy in a new way in the waterways of the MeKong Delta: fej To land and to maintain about 80,000 Marines in the critical I Corps area on the northern edge of South Vietnam, ffj And ready to transport millions of tons of cargo and equipment and thousands of men across 7,000 miles of sealanes for the support of all United States and Free World forces engaged in Vietnam. These are inherent capabilities of sea power. In action, they breathe life into such words as mobility, flexibility, and versatility. In the years following World War ll, our Navy stood unchallenged in its ability to use and to control the sea. The second largest power in the world today, the Soviet Union, was essentially a land power then. Her naval forces were oriented toward defense of her shores and sup- port of her land forces. This was largely true, in fact, as recently as 1958. Since then, however, the Soviet Union has made a massive invest- ment in her navy and her merchant marine and has re-established her fleet marine force. The result is that today the Soviet Union is a major sea power in the full meaning of the term. In addition to a fleet of about 350 modern submarines, the largest single submarine force the world has ever known, Soviet oceanographic and intelligence ships roam the seas of the world for scientific knowledge that is so necessary for operation of global sea power. The surface fleet of the Soviet Navy is also growing in power and in its capability to conduct sustained operations far from home waters, as evidenced by the regular appearance of major Soviet fleet units in the Mediterranean. Her cruisers and destroyers have been equipped with modern missile systems. Her fleet now has an amphibious capability,