President's forum - US Navy Seapower 21

Naval War College Review, Spring, 2003

"A man without a vision is like a ship's commander without a destination."

THIS APPROPRIATELY NAUTICAL QUOTE comes from business pioneer I. C. Penney, who reflected on the importance of vision nearly a century ago. As Mr. Penney astutely noted, a man without a vision is largely adrift, but this can be said with equal certainty about an organization. A bold step has been taken by the Navy's leadership to provide direction by crafting a comprehensive vision for the future of the service--"Seapower 21." In June 2002, for the first time in a public forum, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Vein Clark, presented his vision for the U.S. Navy in a speech delivered at the Naval War College: "My thoughts on this ["Seapower 21"] have been evolving over the last couple of years through my visits to the War College, discussions with the Strategic Studies Group here, talking to the people at the Navy Warfare Development Command, talking to special groups set up by the President of the Naval War College here, working with groups in Washington, and talking about what our future is all about."

The details of this Navy vision have been widely published, and I will not attempt to reiterate them here (readers can find an executive presentation and an explanatory article at www.nwc.navy.mil). I would, however, like to reflect rather broadly on the degree to which this new vision is both revolutionary and transformational.

"Seapower 21" describes a future Navy that will provide the nation with a triad of capabilities that are unique to the naval service. These capabilities are designed to meet the challenges brought about by the political, strategic, and technological changes that have occurred since the fall of communism and the onset of the Terror War.

Three fundamental concepts constitute the CNO's vision of the nation's maritime capabilities for the future:

* Sea Strike: the ability to project precise and persistent offensive power from the sea

* Sea Shield: the ability to extend defensive assurance throughout the world

* Sea Basing: The ability to enhance operational independence and support for joint forces.

Aspects of each of these concepts will be recognized by naval strategists and operators as traditional missions for the Navy. On closer examination, however, "Seapower 21" provides a vision of the future in which the service has significantly transformed how it views itself and how it can contribute to solving national challenges.

Navy Roles and Missions--with a Difference!

Sea Strike. For over two centuries American sailors have reached inland from the sea to influence events ashore. Sometimes it has been direct influence, through cannon fire against a coastal fort or by putting sailors and Marines ashore. In other cases, the influence was more indirect in nature, through maritime blockade and other means of interrupting seaborne commerce. The concept of Sea Strike recognizes that technology now allows naval forces to influence decisively events ashore, with a reach farther inland than was ever imagined by Mahan, Corbett, or even more recent naval strategists. Operational commanders will employ strike aircraft, cruise missiles, long-range gunfire, special operations forces, information operations, Marine (and other-service) ground forces, and other offensive capabilities from a secure and tactically agile afloat support base.

This capability has already been clearly demonstrated during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, where Navy and Marine Corps forces repeatedly and effectively engaged enemy forces in Afghanistan from ships operating hundreds of miles from their targets. In the first seventy-six days of operations, the United States flew 6,500 strike missions over Afghanistan, of which 75 percent were flown by Navy carrier-based aircraft. New systems and capabilities will provide the ability to strike or capture vital areas even farther inland in support of national objectives.

In the future, the Marines, supported from ships at sea, may be called upon to seize an inland airfield, hold it for a period of time, and ultimately turn it over to follow-on army and air forces. This was exactly the case in the closing months of 2001 when, during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, the first conventional forces to be engaged in Afghanistan were U.S. Marines from Task Force 58. They established a forward operating base on a desert airstrip south of Kandahar and held this position until relieved more than sixty days later by elements of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division. Such operations hark back to the operational concept of Marines "seizing and holding bases"--a concept that was planned (and gamed at the Naval War College) before World War II and then executed brilliantly in the Pacific campaigns of that war. The concepts embodied in Sea Strike take the traditional Navy/Marine Corps capabilities and significantly extend them in range, flexibility, lethality, and endurance.

Sea Shield. Since the days of John Paul Jones, the essence of naval defense has been the defense of ships and, later, aircraft from attack. The mission was largely "force protection," safeguarding the fleet so that it could carry out its offensive missions. This traditional "defense of the fleet" mission will continue to be important, especially in facing a terrorist threat, but the concept of Sea Shield extends naval defensive firepower far beyond the task force, "projecting" defensive power deep inland. It will provide a defensive umbrella for forces ashore in a contested theater and even on American shores themselves. Senior Navy leaders have stated, "Sea Shield will provide a layered defense to protect the homeland, sustain access to contested littorals, and project a defense umbrella over coalition partners and joint forces ashore in distant theaters" (Vice Admiral Mike Bucchi, USN, and Vice Admiral Mike Mullen, USN, "Sea Shield: Projecting Global Defensive Assurance," U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, N ovember 2002, pp. 56-59).