U.S. Navy mission and organization

Sea Power, Jan 2002 by Peterson, Gordon I

Today's Navy: "On-Scene, On-Call, and On-Demand"

The mission of the U.S. Navy is to maintain, train, and equip combatready naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom of the seas. The Department of the Navy has three principal components: the Navy Department, consisting of executive offices mostly in Washington, D.C.; the operating forces, including the Marine Corps, the reserve components, and, in time of war, the U.S. Coast Guard (in peace, a component of the Department of Transportation); and the shore establishment.

Today's Navy numbers approximately 380,500 active-duty men and women (53,767 officers, 322,450 enlisted, and 4,279 midshipmen); 153,882 Ready Reservists; and just over 184,000 civilian employees. In the active fleet on 17 December 2001, a day typical of most in the Navy's operational posture, were 318 ships and more than 4,000 operational aircraft; 32 percent of the fleet (101 ships) was underway from homeport on that same date, with 29 percent (91 ships) of them forward-deployed and supporting Operation Enduring Freedom or participating in routine exercises and operations. In the U.S. submarine force, 26 percent (14 submarines) were underway, with 11 percent (six submarines) on deployment.

The active fleet-fast approaching its smallest size since the Great Depression--continued to maintain a high operational tempo during a year marked by the terrorist attacks on 11 September against the World Trade Center in New York City, N.Y., and the Pentagon. These actions by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist network resulted in both the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets immediately assuming an expanded role in defense of the U.S. homeland; combat operations started on 7 October against Afghanistan's Taliban government and the al Qaeda forces in that country.

The Navy-Marine Corps team's role in the opening days of the war on international terrorism, code-named Operation Enduring Freedom, demonstrated exceptional flexibility and combat reach. Expeditionary-warfare missions included sea and area control, strike warfare, humanitarian assistance, and force sustainment. According to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark, the war on international terrorism revealed a combat-credible Navy that is "on-scene, on-call, and on-demand."

Today's Navy also is a force in transition as its capabilities are transformed by the application of sophisticated information technologies and new warfare systems.

A Revolutionary Start

The historical antecedents for today's naval missions and the Navy's organizational structure may be traced directly to the founding of the U.S. Navy on 13 October 1775 during the Revolutionary War.

As the Naval Historical Center aptly states in its monograph on the period, "Beginning with early 1775 actions in coastal waters, followed by Commodore Esek Hopkins' 1776 amphibious assault to capture military stores at New Providence, Bahamas, and reaching a climax in 1781 when French fleet actions off the Virginia Capes led to victory at Yorktown, the war at sea was decisive in the nation's struggle for independence."

The Center's narrative goes on to explain how the small and fragmented Continental naval forces lacked the capabilities for major fleet engagements, but their contributions-usually in a supporting role-were crucial to failure or success ashore. Numerous British merchant ships were captured to provide vitally needed supplies for the hard-pressed Continental Army. Armed vessels transported Washington's troops and joined in the defense of major port cities. American naval officers carried the fight to sea against the British Navy-and beyond to England's shores.

With victory in hand and independence secured, the new republic had, by 1785, sold off the last ships of the Continental Navy. Navies were then, and are today, expensive to build and maintain. The past was prologue, however. The folly of such shortsighted strategic thinking was starkly revealed by the depredations of Mediterranean pirates and by other attacks on U.S. overseas commerce beginning in the 1780s; these were followed by confrontation at sea with France during the 1790s, which culminated in the socalled Quasi War with that country in 1798.

The Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress "to provide and maintain a Navy." Congress eventually was moved to action (in 1794) following repeated attacks abroad on the Stars and Stripes. It authorized the procuring and manning of six frigates. Three ships-USS United States, USS Constellation, and USS Constitution-were launched in 1797.

The new United States Navy was born, and its primary mission of defending U.S. commerce overseas would persist until well into the 19th century. From 1794 until 1798, the Department of War administered U.S. naval affairs. In April 1798, however, facing imminent hostilities with France, Congress established the Department of the Navy in order to meet the need for an executive department responsible solely for, and staffed with people expert in, naval affairs. Benjamin Stoddeft, who served as secretary of the Continental Board of War during the American Revolution, became the first secretary of the Navy.