The new year of 2012 begins the bicentennial of the War of 1812. Although the United States suffered many setbacks during the conflict (the burning of Washington, D.C., being a particular lowlight), the young U.S. Navy held its own against its more powerful British foe. Fierce engagements between wooden ships and iron men made names such as Perry, Decatur, and Hull American naval legends—and the inspiration for generations of surface sailors.
Our surface warfare coverage this month reminds us that many of the community’s traditions run deep. As Navy Lieutenant Kurt Albaugh and Chief Electronics Technician (Surface Warfare) Jeremy Carriker tell us, “Among the surface Navy’s most useful—and most used—capabilities are its teams of professionals trained to board ships on the high seas.” Their predecessors of 1812 would agree. From the Age of Fighting Sail to the age of drug interdictions, Somali counterpiracy operations, and a host of other worldwide functions, the boarding mission remains a key one for the U.S. Navy. The problem is that boarding-team members must also honor a full slate of regular duties as well, and the boarding capability, crucial though it may be, is rendered somewhat ancillary as a result. The authors provide an inspired solution.
Different eras have had different surface Navy debates, and Proceedings has often served as the forum for discussing them. In our 1985 surface warfare issue, a prescient article foresaw how emerging Tomahawk cruise-missile technology would transform the role of the surface fleet. One of the coauthors of that article, then-Commander, now–retired Navy Captain R. Robinson Harris, is back (this time with Navy Lieutenant Robert McFall) to offer surface-warfare observations for a new age. As Tomahawk redefined the surface fleet’s role in the 1980s and ’90s, the authors observe, so is ballistic-missile defense doing likewise, now and in the immediate future.
The training and education of a new ship’s crew may be the single most important component to her success. Navy Lieutenants Jeremy Crestetto and Jeffrey Coyle, speaking from recent firsthand experience, tell how a vessel’s precommissioning crew has a strong influence years after she has been placed in service, and describe the depth and complexity of effort required to bring a ship to life.
As the Navy looks for ways to pare costs, an officer in the USS Freedom (LCS-1) suggests a re-examination of minimum manning. Lieutenant Johannes Schonberg contends that it is not the size of a crew that matters so much as its training and cross-training—and explains how less can actually mean more.
The War of 1812 demonstrated the vital role the Navy plays in safeguarding American interests at home and abroad. Yet, 200 years later, people still need to be reminded of this important fact. Luckily we have two distinguished naval thinkers in this issue to help spread the word. Gordon England, whose résumé includes service as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, and two terms as Secretary of the Navy, stresses the importance of the nation’s seagoing forces in ensuring economic well-being. In the current climate of tight budgets and Congress looking for convenient places to cut, Secretary England’s message couldn’t come at a more crucial time. And veteran analyst Ron O’Rourke reminds us that naval forces are a “high payoff investment that preserves a lot of options for U.S. leaders.” Because so much of the planet is covered by water, he sees American maritime power as an important asymmetric military advantage—one that can’t be quantified by just counting numbers of ships.
It is my pleasure to announce that frequent Proceedings contributors retired Captain George Galdorisi and Dr. Scott Truver have won the 2011 Surface Navy Association Literary Award for their July article, “From Minimal to Optimal,” in which they answered the questions: How many sailors are too many? How few are too few? According to them, the new Zumwalt-class destroyer apparently has it just right. In other good news, the Runner-Up award goes to Navy Captains William Parker and Cathal O’Connor, who doled out common-sense advice to prospective commanding officers in “Command Performance,” which appeared in the January 2011 issue.
Bravo Zulu to all!