Proceedings - October 2024 Vol. 150/10/1,460

The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) transits the Strait of San Juan de Fuca escorted by U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft and U.S. Coast Guard screening escort vessels.

Submarines: Can’t Get Enough of Them

October 2024

Our annual focus on the submarine force. U.S. Navy nuclear-powered fast-attack and guided-missile submarines are sometimes referred to as the “queens of the chessboard.”

CEO Notes

October 2024

Don’t miss “Securing the Nation: Energy Security, Fortifying the Defense Industrial Base, and Strengthening Infrastructure Resilience”—on Thursday, 17 October, from 8:45 am to 3:30 pm.

Comment & Discussion

October 2024

Readers respond to articles on hospital ships, surface warfare, and more.

U.S. Navy Fast-Attack Submarines

By Brian O'Rourke

October 2024

The submarine force has a variety of tools from which to choose.

The United States rapidly mobilized its manufacturing might during World War II. In a U.S.-China conflict, it would have to do so again.

An Industrial Mobilization Plan to Deter or Defeat China

By Vice Admiral John Morgan, U.S. Navy (Retired)

October 2024

The United States has neglected one imperative for victory: planning for rapid military industrial mobilization.

The Navy needs a long-term mentoring program that connects junior officers with midcareer officers who can show them the significance of their service.

Officer Mentors Can Help Retention

By Lieutenant Commander Andrew Kramer, U.S. Navy

October 2024

Connecting junior officers too busy to see the impact of their work with midgrade officers within their warfare communities could aid retention.

The Isaac Peral is the first of four S-80-class submarines, but Spain may need more to meet all its security needs.

The Spanish Navy Needs More Submarines

By Commander Augusto Conte de los Ríos, Spanish Navy

October 2024

Spain’s geostrategic situation and current global events call for more submarines.

U.S. Naval Submarine School students go through surface survival training at the school’s Pressurized Submarine Escape Training facility as part of Basic Enlisted Submarine School in July 2024. Submarine sailors should train with escape systems more frequently to master their last best chance for survival in combat.

The Submarine Force Must Increase Escape Training

By Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Harris, U.S. Navy

October 2024

Navy submarine sailors should train with submarine escape systems more frequently to master their last best chance for survival in combat.

During her recent two-year deployment, the USS Florida (SSGN-728) spent time in every geographic combatant command area of operations. Here, she conducts a brief logistics stop in Naples, Italy, in August 2023.

Maintaining Undersea Superiority: Status Report

By Vice Admiral Robert M. Gaucher, U.S. Navy

October 2024

The U.S. submarine force remains ready to deliver warfighting capability today and in the future.

The container ship X-Press Pearl burns near Colombo, Sri Lanka.

How Submarines Can Shut Down Trade

By Lieutenant Brant Verhulst, U.S. Navy

October 2024

A new sub-launched antiship missile could impose sea denial on merchant shipping.

The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine USS Kentucky (SSBN-737) pulls into port in Busan, the first time an SSBN has made a port call in South Korea in 40 years. Using the submarine leg of the triad as a show of force demonstrates resolve and assures U.S. allies and deters adversaries such as China who have shown signs of building up their nuclear arsenal.

Strategic Shifts Require Reshaping the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal

By Joseph Labrum

October 2024

The United States must recalibrate its nuclear-deterrence posture.

A classic of naval fiction, Mr. Roberts expresses a timeless truth of Navy life: Dreary jobs must be done. They need leaders who build sailors’ professional pride and improve quality of life.

Thanks for Everything, Mister Roberts

By Captain Joel I. Holwitt, U.S. Navy

October 2024

This classic of naval fiction offers advice to officers leading submarines in the shipyard.

The Zhaishan Tunnel on Kinmen Island, Taiwan, was used to conceal small boats during the Chinese Civil War. Tunnels that have been opened to tourism should be converted back to military use.

Plan to Fight Underground to Win in Taiwan

By E. Sean Rooney, Nicholas Setliff, Shiela Berger, and Brandon Breece

October 2024

Subterranean operations could significantly attrit an invading PLA force.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Inazuma during a U.S.-Japan bilateral exercise.

The United States Needs Japan in a Fight for Taiwan

By Lieutenant Austyn Sutton, U.S. Navy

October 2024

The United States should work through diplomatic and military channels to ensure Japan’s commitment to the defense of Taiwan.

U.S. Marines and soldiers from 3rd Royal Australian Regiment load onto landing craft at King Beach in Bowen, Australia. This is the type of site at which a temporary expedient naval facility could be constructed.

Create Temporary Expedient Naval Facilities to Win in the Pacific

By Lieutenant Colonels Michael Manning and Timothy Warren, U.S. Marine Corps

October 2024

Temporary expedient naval facilities would provide alternative embarkation sites in case of primary port disruptions.

The USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) conducts a fueling at sea with the USNS Pecos (T-AO-197)—an underway replenishment oiler with a primarily civilian crew—during Rim of the Pacific 2024. Civilian mariners provide critical logistical support to the Navy, but their numbers are dwindling.

Reestablish the U.S. Maritime Service

By Wade Heath

October 2024

The United States must grow the merchant mariner force now, before conflict begins.

The American Pride, a Jones Act product tanker built by Philly Shipyard. The Merchant Marine supports U.S. economic growth and prosperity, national security, and global competitiveness. The nation must invest in its fleet and its mariners.

Rebuild the Merchant Marine

By Commander Sonha Gomez, U.S. Coast Guard

October 2024

The United States must invest more in its merchant fleet and its people.

The museum ship USS Constellation is the 1854-built sloop-of-war, not the 1797-built frigate. The history of the two ships was obscured for decades, and many still do not know the true origins of the ship moored in Baltimore.

The Constellation Controversy and the Navy’s Culture

By Rob Doane, Pauline Shanks Kaurin, and Evan Wilson

October 2024

The naming of the Navy’s new frigate class prompts questions over its namesake museum ship’s murky history.

One of the main strategic assets of Kaliningrad Oblast is the port at Baltiysk, home to the main base of the Russian Baltic Fleet and the only Russian port said to be free from ice all year round.

The Strategic Relevance of Kaliningrad

By Dr. Paolo Pizzolo

October 2024

The Kaliningrad Oblast has been an unpredictable dilemma and an obstacle to Euro-Atlantic integration of the Baltic region since 1991.

The USS California (SSN-781) returns to homeport in Groton, Connecticut, on 14 February 2024 after a deployment. Leaders in the submarine community can be drivers of retention because leadership styles affect a submariner’s quality of life.

Retention Is a Leadership Problem

By Lieutenant William Parker, U.S. Navy

October 2024

Leaders are the driver when it comes to retention, and leadership styles can affect quality of life.

The author’s illustration of a P-8A Poseidon launching four uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) scouts. Large numbers of small UAVs deployed into the battlespace would complicate and dilute an adversary’s antiscouting screen.

Improve Scouting with Expendable UAVs

By Matthew S. Cosner

October 2024

One way the Navy could address its scouting challenge is by pairing maritime patrol aircraft with inexpensive uncrewed aerial vehicles.

The Virginia-class attack submarine Mississippi (SSN-782) in the Atlantic Ocean. Advances in quantum mechanics technology can increase a submarine’s navigational accuracy without position recalibration.

Quantum Navigation for Submarine Warfare

By Marc Habel

October 2024

Quantum navigation is not just a technological advancement, it also is the key for submarines to achieve ultimate autonomy.

The V-BAT 128 unmanned aerial system performs a vertical landing on the flight deck of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD-24). Assuming a V-BAT costs $500,000, the Marine Corps could purchase almost 278 V-BATs for the price of eight MQ-9A Reaper drones.

Maximize the Marine Corps’ Value in the First Island Chain

By Captains Sean Harper and Patrick Reilly and Major Aaron Barlow, U.S. Marine Corps

October 2024

The Marine Corps should consider investments in attritable, cost-effective platforms with low size, weight, and power to improve maritime domain awareness and logistical supportability.

Book Reviews

October 2024

Experts review World on the Brink, Purpose and Power, and other new and noteworthy books.

Where We Were

October 2024

A look back at the October issues of Proceedings from 1924, 1949, and 1974.

Crewmen of the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Queenfish (SSN-651) hold a safety line for scuba divers in a rubber raft near the North Pole. The divers are preparing to observe and photograph the underside of the ice.

From Our Archive

October 2024

Crewmen of the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Queenfish (SSN-651) hold a safety line for scuba divers in a rubber raft near the North Pole.

The frigate Istanbul, pictured on Turkish Armed Forces Day on 30 August 2024.

MILGEM Evolution: The Istanbul-class Turkish National Frigate

By Eric Wertheim

October 2024

Turkey’s new Istanbul-class frigates are the most advanced ships yet to stem from the 20-year-old MILGEM National Ship program.

At Leyte, the outnumbered and outgunned destroyers and destroyer escorts of Taffy 3 fought so tenaciously the Japanese fleet assembled against them was certain it was facing U.S. battleships and cruisers.

Why I Celebrate The Battle Of Leyte Gulf

By Rear Admiral Mike Shatynski, U.S. Navy (Retired)

October 2024

In the Battle of Leyte Gulf, we see the best of the U.S. Navy.

Asked & Answered

October 2024

What was the biggest morale booster you enjoyed on a hard submarine patrol or other naval deployment, and why?

A key capability that Force Recon teams offer in challenging and varied terrain is the ability to provide observation, information, and targeting capabilities.

Force Recon RXR Fleet Integration: Refining Force Structure

By Major Gregory L. Pack, U.S. Marine Corps

October 2024

The successful collaboration between 2d Force Company as part of Task Force 61/2 and Sixth Fleet is a model for naval integration. Reprinted with permission from the Marine Corps Association.

Damaged buildings in Beirut, Lebanon, from Israeli air strikes against Hassan Nasrallah.

A Closer Look at Israel’s Use of 80 Bunker-Buster JDAMs in Beirut

By Commander Graham Scarbro, U.S. Navy

October 2024

A U.S. Navy aviator and TOPGUN graduate looks at the 27 Sep Israeli Air Force strike that took out Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassrallah.

Navy

What We Can Learn About a War in Asia Today from World War II

By Admiral James Stavridis, U.S. Navy (Retired)

October 2024

We don’t have to imagine how horrific a war in Asia between great powers would be. We need only look back to the inferno of World War II.

Pacific war

USS Annapolis (SSN 70) at U.S. Naval Base Guam.

Public-Private Partnerships Will Be Critical to the Digital Transformation Needed in Both Pillars of AUKUS

October 2024

To achieve its goals, AUKUS will need to establish a global network of trusted public-private partnerships across the three nations, who are all at various stages of IT infrastructure modernization and transformation, that prioritizes the strategic use and scaling of technology.