A great deal of young naval officers’ development consists of learning about their systems as they rotate through different shipboard divisions. This technical knowledge is important, but an officer’s real purpose is to become an expert and leader in naval warfare. It is incumbent on every naval officer to educate himself or herself on naval warfare, and one way to do that is to read.
When I asked a fellow officer what books on the Chief of Naval Operations’ (CNO’s) reading lists he had read, he responded, “I didn’t know we did that.
I thought that was a Marine thing.” On a recent surface warfare officer qualification board, I asked what I thought was a simple question: “What was the most recent book you read?” I did not even specify that it needed to be from the CNO’s reading list. The answer was, “I don’t read. I play video games.” At first, I was aghast that this was how this officer spent his free time, but what really got me was that he missed the point of the question. I was not asking what he did in his off time; I wanted to know how he was making himself a better warfighter.
I followed up with, “Tell me about the Battle of Leyte Gulf.” The answer was straight out of the gouge: “Oh, that was the largest naval battle in history.” Knowing trivia about naval battles does not constitute comprehension of the art of naval warfare. If your knowledge of the Battle of Midway is based on the movie, you are not living up to your obligation to either your rank or your sailors. It can be tiring to focus on the Navy 24/7, but that is the job we signed up for.
The best advice I can give to a young ensign or midshipman is to read every book you can on naval warfare and naval history. Beyond that, you should not limit yourself to your specialization when studying. As a surface warfare officer, I am drawn to the works of James Hornfischer, but I could not tell you anything about aviation battles or submarine triumphs beyond the gouge from my own qualification process
As naval officers, we need to do everything we can to prepare for the future wars we might be drawn into. We need to take the initiative to educate ourselves beyond the standard requirements. We should not wait for attendance at a war college, joint professional military education, or a weapons and tactics instructor program to learn about the battles of ages passed or the various subsets of naval warfare. The Battle Efficiency Award does not take into account expertise on naval history, but maybe it should.
Instead of playing video games between watches while on deployment, take Hie time to read a book about our heritage. This is a tough choice to make, but as Hie future of the Navy, junior officers are obligated to ensure we are doing everything we can to carry out the nation’s tasking.
A sign at the Surface Warfare Officers School in Newport, Rhode Island, reads “Open the Book, Read the Book, Do What the Book Says.” Our wardrooms need to amend this slightly for our professional education: Open the Book, Read the Book, Discuss What the Book Says. We often sacrifice officer training in favor of meetings, maintenance spot checks, and space inspections. All of these are valuable, but there needs to be a greater emphasis on the more ethereal aspects of our profession. Do not limit discussion of great battles and heroes to formal boards. Use the time you have with other maritime warfighters to ask questions and pose hypotheticals to each other. Use model ships to physically lay out the events described in books and discuss the actions taken by great surface warriors such as Ernest Evans off Samar Island or the crew of HMS Coventry during the 1982 Falklands campaign.
Dedicating ourselves to our education shows our sailors that not only are we doing everything we can to protect them in combat, but we also are leading by example. When junior officers demonstrate that they are making time for professional development, thirst for knowledge can spread through the ranks. The result will be both personal and professional pride in the warfighting knowledge we gain and the camaraderie we build by having these conversations with each other. As basketball coach Bobby Knight said, “The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”