Naval Training Center - Rudder Yearbook (Orlando, FL)

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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

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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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UNITED STATES NAVAL HERITAGE From the days of wooden sailing ships with black-powder guns to todayts nuclear powered combatants armed with missiles and jet eir- craft; the heritage of our modern Navy has been established by courageous and dedicated seafaring men. Their individual maritime achievements are woven into a brilliant tapestry of collective ac- complishments which have made the United States Navy the vital in- strument of national defense that it is today. To John Paul Jones went the honor of first hoisting the Stars and Stripes over an American man-of-wer, the USS RANGER, and of first receiving a national salute in Quiberon Bay on February 14, 1778, from France. In command of BONHOMME RICHARD he defeated and cap- tured the British man-of-war SERAPIS off Flemborough Head, giving our Navy its famous retort to an invitation to surrender I have not yet begun to fighti' With such inspiration thousands of American sellers have followed in his wake, making individual courage the collective spirit of our Navy. Commodore Edward Preble likewise filled his officers and men with es- prit and fighting courage. Some of Preble'e boys became the great leaders of the War of 1812, Stephen Decatur, James Lawrence, and Thomas MacDonough. Perry swept the British sea power off Lake Erie. Hull and Bainbridge in CONSTITUTION, along with Decatur in UNITED STATES, established American naval power on the high seas during the first year of the War of 1812. As our nation grew in stature in the world family, so dld our naval officers grow in stature as diplomats. Typical of their exploits were Commodore Matthew Galbraith Perryts negotiations with the Emperor of Japan in 1853-54. Bon Homme Richard vs Serapis-23 Sept 1779