Naval Training Center - Rudder Yearbook (Orlando, FL)

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Today major fleets with Fleet Marine Forces embarked are deployed in both the Atlantic and the Pacitic. Anti-submarine warfare forces and nuclear attack submarines also patrol important areas of the world see. These are the torces which have reacted to crises around the world many times since World War II. It was no accident that tleet forces were ready and close to the scene when crises occurred. It is the business at the tleet to use the freedom ot 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 tleet was ready: tat For continuous air operations over the entire theater; tbl To provide naval guntire tor bombardment and for support at totces ashore; tel To isolate the battlefield trom enemy support by see through use 0! an ocean blockade; ldi To carry the war to the enemy in a new way in the waterways ot the MeKong Delta; tel To land and to maintain about 80,000 Marines in the critical l Corps area on the northern edge at South Vietnam; m And ready to transport millions ot tons ot cargo and equipment and thousands at men across 7,000 miles of sealanes tor the support ot all United States and Free World forces engaged in Vietnam. These are inherent capabilities at sea power. In action, they breathe lite into such words as mobility, flexibility, and versatility. In the years following World War II, 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 tleet marine force. The result is that today the Soviet Union is a major sea power in the tull meaning ot 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 scientitic knowledge that is so necessary tor operation of global see power. The surface tleet ot the Soviet Navy is also growing in power and in its capability to conduct sustained operations tar from home waters, as evidenced by the regular appearance at major Soviet fleet units in the Mediterranean. Her cruisers and destroyers have been equipped with modern missile systems. Her tleet now has an amphibious capability,

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THE UNITED STATES NAVY TODAY i The United States Navy is an instrument of sea power. Its basic mission is national security. By simplest definition, sea power is the sum at a nationls capabilities to implement its interests in the ocean, the Navy's operating environment. The Navy, therefore, is necessarily concerned with all at the nation's interests in that environment, with primary emphasis upon national defense. In the early 1950ls, 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 Iorward-most component of our nuclear deterrent forces. Today all potential targets in the world are within reach of Polaris missiles launched trom tleet ballistic missile submarines. In the early 1970ls, the Poseidon, a new generation of submarine-launched ballistic missiles will join the Ileet. But other nations possess large and modern submarines, many of them capable of launching missiles of various types. This calls Ior anti- submarine warfare tASWI. In the United States Navy, ASW is of the highest priority, second only to the Polaris program. Modern developments in anti-submarine warfare have led tor the first time to the adoption of a strategic offensive concept, that is, the detecting and contronting of enemy or potential enemy submarines where they are, rather than waiting Ior them to come to us. Surveillance Iorces are supported by new mobile weapons systems, including Iixed wing aircraft and helicopters Irom carriers, long range Iand-based patrol aircraft, nuclear attack submarines es- pecially configured Ior anti-submarine warlare, 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 oI 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 II, a supersonic high performance lighter that is also capable of support as an attack aircraft. Other examples are the Grumman A-6 ln- truder, the Iirst attack aircraft capable at delivering large volumes of fire power with precision under all weather conditions, and the A-7 Corsair II, a new attack and close support aircratt. The Navy has also been a leader in the development at air- launched weapons, such as the Bullpup and Shrike air-to-ground mis- siles, and the Sparrow and the tamous 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 at the advantages proved in its application to sub- marines: greater speed at response; longer endurance on station; sustained high speed; and more freedom from shore-based support. Each major war generates new requirements Ior sea power. In World War II, the Navy and Marine Corps developed the amphibious assault Irom a crude operation to a relined ready instrument for assault from the sea. In 1950, the amphibious assault at lnchon, the decisive battle in the Korean War, again validated the Iundamental case for sea power.

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which includes two carrier type ships for the operation of helicopters. And the merchant marine ot the USSR is now the sixth largest in the world, and one oi the most modern. The existence of such a large and potentially hostile foreign naval torce must again be evaluated in our equation of sea power, just as it was during the years preceding World War II. The Navy is concerned not only with its basic mission ot national security, but also with all other national interests in the ocean. Certainly one of the most important national interests In the ocean is its use tor maritime commerce which has been growing at unprecedented rates. As maritime commerce knits the free world into a unified economic complex, new types ot demands will be placed upon marine transport. Defense ot sea lines of communication and protection of ocean shipping are traditional tasks of naval power, and these tasks will increase as the volume and importance ot maritime commerce in- crease. A second area of national interest that is growing and changing dramatically now lies in the way man looks at the ocean. He is in- creasingly turning to the sea for new uses: tood and fresh water; tor minerals and energy; perhaps for a key to weather control; perhaps, even, tor living space. Already about 169A oi world petroleum comes trom beneath the seabed and all of the magnesium used by the United States comes from the sea. And with all this, the total resources of the ocean have scarcely been tapped. Certainly man will continue and even accelerate his move to utilize the ocean. But there are three important points to keep in mind in considering this prospect: First, as man moves into the ocean, he is not moving into some alien extraterrestrial space. He Is extending and expanding the area ol his present world. Second, the knowledge and technology gained by the Navy will contribute to and accelerate thls ex- ! panslon into the ocean. And third, national activities in the ocean will constitute new national interests within the Nsvyls operating environ- ment. It appears certain that new Navy missions, new Navy tasks. and 1 new Navy capabilities will develop. 1 In summary, the United States Navy today Is engaged in im- i plementing our nation's interests through sea power. And sea power means many things. It means security for the ocean commerce that is the very lite blood of our tree economy, and, security for our homeland against attack on the sea or trom the see. For the United States sea power also means the ability to control up to seventy percent oi the earthis surface when our national interests require. Sea power-an instrument of national policy so vital to the lreedom ot the United States and the tree world. The very survival of our nation may well depend upon it! 16