This Week in Proceedings Today

June 2017
Find Proceedings Today in the list of articles on the Proceedings Main Page or find a list of this week's contributions here. No More Port Visits in Hong Kong? By ...

Submariners Must Prepare for War

By Commander Michael Dobbs,U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
The submarine force is overly focused on peacetime missions at the expense of honing the tactical skills and the warrior mentality needed to prevail in combat. During World War II ...

Think Outside the Hull

By Captain Robert C. Rubel, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
Thinking outside the paradigms of hull shapes and numbers of ships can lead to some interesting concepts for fleet design. First and foremost, modern naval warfare is all about missiles. ...

The Midway Story Is Incomplete

By Lieutenant Commander Wolf Melbourne, U.S. Navy
June 2017
It was a golden moment for naval intelligence, but it should not be its apex. “Intelligence alone is not nearly enough when it comes to acting wisely.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky ...

Take on the Toxic Leader

By Captain Greg Stump, U.S. Coast Guard
June 2017
Toxic leaders are poisonous, bad, and/or harmful to an organization or group and cannot be allowed to survive, much less thrive. Individuals who fall into this category often are unable ...

Trust Autonomous Machines

By Commander Phillip E. Pournelle,U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
The Navy must embrace human-machine teaming to expand the employment of unmanned forces or risk defeat in battle. Reversing the U.S. Navy’s trend toward becoming a brittle fleet of a ...

Navy's SPY-6 Radar on Track

By Edward J. Walsh
June 2017
In July, the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) and Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, prime contractor for the SPY-6 air and missile defense radar (AMDR), will ...

Adapt Special Operations Principles to Cyber

By Ensign Nicholas Co, U.S. Navy
June 2017
Capstone Essay Contest Winner—Information Warfare In recent years, rapidly evolving hybrid threats have made necessary the growth of unique U.S. special operations and cyber forces. Although distinct, both forces offer ...

No More Navy Port Visits to Hong Kong?

By Captain William Bray, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
The U.S. Navy has been pulling liberty port calls in Hong Kong for decades. Since 1997, when Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule, the city has remained a ...

Innovate to Return Perry Frigates Faster & Better

By Captain Tony Butera and Captain Dale Rielage, U.S. Navy
June 2017
It is time to shake things up and give the Navy and the nation’s best innovators a chance to more quickly restore and deliver significantly improved Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates ...

The Budget Control Act Is Killing Naval Aviation

By Ensign Alex Sanders, U.S. Navy
June 2017
Capstone Essay Contest Winner—Åviation Since the implementation of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), the U.S. Navy has been forced to make hard decisions among fleet readiness, sailor retention ...

Loss of Confidence: What I Learned

By Captain John Cordle, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
Several times each year, a commanding officer (CO) is relieved because of a “loss of confidence” in his or her ability to command. Too frequently, that announcement is followed by ...

Leaders Need To Tap Into Self-Motivation

By Vice Admiral Al Konetzni Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a part two of a ten-part series on behaviors that Vice Admiral Konetzni learned over his years of service and believes not only apply to successful ...

The Navy Needs Coastal Defense Cruise Missiles

By Commander Rob Brodie, U.S. Navy
June 2017
Until recently, conventional wisdom held that even in an increasingly dangerous world, the United States would prevail in any military showdown. Today, however, many influential people no longer believe U.S ...

Special—Seven Days at Midway

By Captain John W. Crawford Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
The USS Yorktown (CV-5) left Pearl Harbor for Midway on Memorial Day 1942. I had barely managed to get on board the night before. When I graduated from the U.S ...

Editor's Page

By Fred H. Rainbow
June 2017
With Millennials (the ultimate consumers of information) coming of age, members of Generation X assuming command positions—military and civilian—and Boomers readily adapting to the online world, on 2 May the ...

CEO Notes

By Peter H. Daly VADM, USN (Ret.) Life Member and Member since 1978
June 2017
Annual Meeting & Member Reception Were Terrific At our Annual Meeting held on 11 May in Washington, D.C., we reported the Naval Institute’s key 2016 results: • We increased membership ...

Integrating Women: Athena and Beyond

By Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese, PhD
June 2017
The Athena Conference, “Heroines of Past, Present, and Future,” held at the U.S. Naval Academy to celebrate 40 years of women midshipmen, provided the opportunity for women leaders from the ...

Comment and Discussion

June 2017
Too Big to Sink (See J. Vandenengel, pp. 18–23, May 2017 Proceedings) The debate should be about whether the U.S. Navy should be building the current size carriers or smaller ...

Commentary—Remember the Liberty

By Captain Gene Thomas Gomulka, Chaplain Corps, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
It has been 50 years since Israeli air and naval forces attacked the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) on 8 June 1967 during the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. Thirty-four Americans were killed and ...

Book Reviews

June 2017
Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World's Ocean Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Retired). Penguin Press, 2017. 384 pp. Illus. Biblio. Index. $28. Reviewed by Captain Peter M ...

It Is Time for Digital Deckplate Leadership

By Mass Communications Chief Hendrick Simoes, U.S. Navy
June 2017
First Prize—Spring Enlisted Prize Essay Contest (Sponsored with Textron Systems) Enlisted leaders must engage and guide Sailors in the digital realm. I don’t have a good answer for you,” the ...

Naval Institute Foundation

June 2017
Recent Honorary and Memorial Gifts Gifts of support to the Naval Institute have been made in the name of the following: In honor of: A. Denis Clift, by Keith Hahn ...

Outflank China in the South China Sea

By Lieutenant Brett Wessley, U.S. Navy
June 2017
Throughout the history of warfare, the advantage has constantly swung between offense and defense, with new technologies and innovative tactics displacing old doctrines and war plans. The defensive advantage of ...

Leadership Forum—Embrace the Dark Side of Leadership

By Captain Rafiel Deon Warfield, U.S. Marine Corps
June 2017
Enforcing discipline and order is a hallmark of great leadership and must be put before befriending subordinates. History teaches us that leaders who successfully command armies and navies are extraordinary ...

Stop Politicizing Ship Names (Part II)

By Colonel Mark Cancian, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Retired)
June 2017
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The May Proceedings includes an excellent article by James Young—“We Must Change How We Name Ships”—about the politicization of naming Navy ships. My purpose is to be more ...

Bring Back Fleet Battle Problems

Captain Dale Rielage, U.S. Navy
June 2017
By Captain Dale C. Rielage, U.S. Navy With the urgent need to rebuild the fleet’s capability and competence in sea control, a gap in the fleet’s operational repertoire has become ...

Good Riddance to Rotational Crews

By Captain John Cordle, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
I have heard it said that the “turning radius” of an idea is around 30 years. At that point, it becomes “new” again, and the reasons why it was dropped ...

Defense Acquisition Processes Are the Enemy

By Captain William J. Toti, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
Most senior defense leaders recognize the acquisition process is a national security problem. On 18 May 2017, Representative Max Thornberry (D-TX), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, introduced legislation ...

Don't Share Intel with the Bear

Captain Dave Hanson, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
Russian interference in our elections is an issue that should rise above partisan politics. Instead of discussing what sanctions to levy on the Russians for their behavior and to deter ...

80-Year-Old Drydocks Don't Cut It

Lieutenant Sean Getway, U.S. Navy
June 2017
The age of the Navy’s existing infrastructure continues to degrade shore repair capabilities. Naval yard infrastructure is more than 60 years old on average, and our dry docks average more ...

Reduce U.S. Ground Forces in Korea?

By Captain Steve F. Kime, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
China’s role in deterring Kim Jong-un from developing a long-range nuclear delivery capability is very important. But it is how the United States responds to the North’s threat to destroy ...

Defense Acquisition Needs New Blood

By Lieutenant Colonel Steve Waugh, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)
June 2017
Active-duty professionals cannot fathom why they have had five different cell phones with dramatically increasing capability, yet they still carry radios their fathers used. The Department of Defense (DOD) is ...

End Piracy in the Gulf of Aden

Rear Admiral Terry McKnight, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
The international community made great strides in reducing Somali piracy during the past ten years, and the U.S. Navy played a key role in that effort. It would be unfortunate ...

Make Navy Selection Boards Transparent

By Lieutenant Commander Collin Fox, U.S. Navy
June 2017
Debriefs are emphasized across the naval service. In Navy warfare communities, there is a focus on taking a hard look at what happened and why. Air Wing Fallon exercise debriefs ...

Marines Must Embrace Counter-Insurgency Ops

By Second Lieutenant Nicholas Wilcox, U.S. Marine Corps
June 2017
Capstone Essay Contest Winner—Marine On the night of 6 April 2017, President Donald Trump ordered a Navy Tomahawk cruise missile attack on the Syrian Air Force airfield from which the ...

Now Hear This—LCS Needs a Win

By Lieutenant Commander Michael P. Chien, U.S. Coast Guard
June 2017
The littoral combat ship (LCS) program needs a venue where the Navy can develop, train, and refine the ship’s roles and capabilities. The dynamic operating environment of Joint Interagency Task ...

Establish a Navy Strategy Board

By Captain Kevin Eyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
June 2017
Historically, each Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) has arrived in office with the apparent conviction that he had a fundamental vision of something critical yet insufficiently appreciated by others. The ...

From Our Archives

June 2017
Navy Lieutenant Dale S. “Chubby” Lyons shows his artificial leg, which he finally convinced his superior officers would not interfere with his performance as a naval aviator. He proved his ...

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