Proceedings - September 2024 Vol. 150/9/1,459

The American Sea Power Project Concludes

September 2024

This month brings the conclusion of the American Sea Power Project with the winners of the Future of Naval Warfare Essay Contest.

CEO Notes

September 2024

September brings us back to a familiar routine as vacations end and school begins, and the Naval Institute is proud to support the education of the next generation.

Comment & Discussion

September 2024

Readers respond to articles on aircraft carriers, wargames, and more.

The chemical tanker American Pride, built in the United States for Jones Act cabotage.

What Is the Jones Act?

By Joe Greco

September 2024

The benefits and limitations of the 1920 Merchant Marine Act.

AI solutions can improve the way the military works and fights today. Leaders should stop thinking of it as a science-fiction capability.

AI Is Neither Panacea Nor Plague

By Admiral Charles Richard, U.S. Navy  (Retired), and Dr. Anshu Roy

September 2024

Commentators and pundits do innovation a disservice when they make it unapproachable.

Bring Back Disruptive Thinkers and Radical Ideas

By Commander Reed A. Kitchen, U.S. Navy

September 2024

The Navy’s original grassroots innovation efforts focused heavily on radical ideas and finding talent able to think in an agile, innovative way.

An F/A-18E/F can be mission ready, but it takes other elements—such as human intelligence, training, and performance—to make it lethal.

Readiness Does Not Equal Lethality

By Lieutenant Commander Adam T. Biggs and Captain Tatana Olson, U.S. Navy

September 2024

Lethality has become such a focus of conversation in recent years that it has reached buzzword status.

A chief boatswain’s mate evaluates recruits during basic seamanship training at Recruit Training Command (RTC), Great Lakes, Illinois. Training to develop character and instill technical competence starts at RTC and continues throughout a sailor’s career. Chiefs help to promote sailors by assisting the commanding officer to provide effective documentation of performance.

The Master Chief’s Short Guide to Evaluations

By Master Chief Petty Officer David Fogel, U.S. Navy Reserve

September 2024

Enlisted evaluations communicate one message to two audiences: the commanding officer’s appraisal of an individual’s performance both to the sailor and to selection and screening boards.

Republic of China Armed Forces M60 tanks fire during an exercise.

No One Should Think the War Will Be Short

By Commander Justin Cobb, U.S. Navy

September 2024

The Future of Naval Warfare Essay Contest—First Prize. The idea of a protracted war over Taiwan could deter China.

Diplomacy for Better Stand-In Force Access in Japan

By Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Hough, U.S. Marine Corps

September 2024

The Future of Naval Warfare Essay Contest—Second Prize. Changes to Japan’s legal framework could shorten the approval process to allow U.S. forces to support the nation’s defense.

The bulk carrier Stamford Pioneer, sailing under a Hong King, China, flag. In a War of 2026–like scenario, seizing merchant shipping may be a way for the United States to increase its sealift capacity without building more ships.

Prize Law Can Help the United States Win the War of 2026

By Major Ryan Ratcliffe, U.S. Marine Corps

September 2024

The Future of Naval Warfare Essay Contest—Third Prize. Seizing Chinese-affiliated vessels and redeploying them could aid U.S. victory.

Sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 3 practice helicopter visit, board, search, and seizure activities. During war, enemy-flagged civilian ships and contraband-carrying neutral vessels—as distinguished from enemy warships or neutral ships engaged in hostilities—can lawfully be seized and disposed of through a formal legal process under prize law.

Heave to, and Prepare to be Boarded!

By Commander Benjamin Voce-Gardner, U.S. Navy Reserve, and Captain Sean M. Sullivan, U.S. Navy

September 2024

Prize law has a role to play in modern warfare.

A U.S.-China war could kick off a massive migration event with tens of thousands of refugees attempting to reach the United States by sea or land.

The Homeland Fight in the 2026 U.S.-China Scenario

By Captain Craig Allen Jr., U.S. Coast Guard

September 2024

In a war with China, the Coast Guard would lead the fight at home.

Members of the Rhode Island National Guard train soldiers from the Timor-Leste Defence Force during Dalan Ba Dame 2024, a U.S. Army Pacific exercise.

Mobilize Land Power to Contain China’s Maritime Ambitions

By General Charles Flynn and Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Devine, U.S. Army

September 2024

The U.S. Army’s land-based partnerships will help undermine China at sea.

The USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735) at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in May 2023 in Dry Dock 4 after the dry dock underwent seismic mitigation efforts. Efforts to modernize the public shipyards are underway, but the United States may need an additional yard to sustain naval superiority.

The Case for a Fifth Naval Shipyard

By Lieutenant Jeong Soo Kim, U.S. Navy Reserve

September 2024

A new naval shipyard could solve today’s shipbuilding crisis.

When the William Cramp & Sons shipyard closed in 1927, its workers dispersed. The Navy resurrected the yard in the early 1940s, but it was easier to rebuild the facilities than the skilled workforce—a lesson today’s Navy should take to heart.

The Shipyard Shortage Is a People Problem

By Tyler Pitrof

September 2024

The labor failures of Cramp Shipbuilding offer historic lessons for today.

Ukrainian servicemen prepare to fly a commercially made Ukrainian multipurpose drone, the Leleka-100. Ukraine’s acquisition process eliminates bureaucratic red tape and has allowed more flexibility amid its war with Russia.

Agile Acquisition Now: Lessons from Ukraine

By Johannes Schmidt

September 2024

A decentralized acquisition culture could allow the United States to more quickly build formidable air and sea fleets.

Infantrymen of the U.S. Army 442nd Regimental Combat Team hike up a muddy road in the Chambois Sector, France, on 14 October 1944. Some Japanese Americans were permitted to join the military in segregated units, of which the 442nd was among the most famous. Inset: Two color guards and color bearers of the 442nd stand at attention, while their citations are read in the Bruyeres area, France, where many of their comrades fell.

How the 442nd Regimental Combat Team Overcame Racism During War

By Lieutenant Commander George Onoyama Hageman, U.S. Navy Reserve

September 2024

Diversity & inclusion Essay Contest—First Prize, Sponsored by RTX. Despite facing racism and internment camps at home, this Japanese-American unit fought bravely for its country.

Admiral Baker in Ukraine teaching Advanced Trauma Life Support, a standardized approach to trauma patient care in the “golden hour.”

Teaching Casualty Care in Ukraine

By Rear Admiral Michael S. Baker, U.S. Navy (Retired)

September 2024

Developed and supervised by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), ATLS provides a standardized system for evaluating and treating trauma victims.

Captain Brett Crozier, the former commanding officer of the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), was relieved of duty in 2020 after a letter to Navy leaders asking for help as COVID-19 spread throughout his ship was leaked to the press. Although his removal was met with backlash, an investigation found Crozier had not removed infected sailors from his ship fast enough and used “questionable judgment” when releasing sailors from quarantine.

Learn from ‘Losses of Confidence’

By Captains John P. Cordle and Bill Shafley, U.S. Navy (Retired)

September 2024

It is time to start looking at these “loss of confidence” events more carefully and feed the lessons back into formal training programs.

The U.S. Army’s first maneuver support vessel-light (MSV-L), the USAV SSG Elroy F. Wells, shown here in 2022, replaces the Vietnam-era landing craft-mechanized 8 (“mike” boat). The MSV-L is a good option as a fast landing craft for the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment in Okinawa.

Marines on Okinawa Require Faster Landing Craft

By Major General Nozomu Yoshitomi, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (Retired)

September 2024

In a Taiwan contingency, the Marine Corps will require faster and smaller landing craft to maneuver in the Okinawa prefecture and be an effective stand-in force.

U.S. Marines patrol through a jungle as part of training in Palawan, Philippines. Infantry battalions, particularly those now within littoral combat teams, need more training in scouting and patrolling to make their units capable sensor webs.

Infantry Battalions as Sensor Webs for the Fleet

By Major Zachary Schwartz, U.S. Marine Corps

September 2024

The infantry battalion as part of the stand-in forces can simultaneously serve the maritime team as a sensor network through scouting and patrolling.

A Coast Guard rescue swimmer leaps into the ocean astern of the Marine Protector-class patrol boat USCGC Shrike (WPB-87342). All Coast Guard operations will benefit from the improvements needed to complete the service’s technological revolution.

Finish the Coast Guard’s Tech Revolution

By Lieutenant Commander Joseph Kidwell, U.S. Coast Guard

September 2024

The Coast Guard C5I community has not clearly defined the service's technological revolution's end state and key tasks required to get there.

Book Reviews

September 2024

Experts review The Struggle for Taiwan, Urban Battlefields, and other new and noteworthy books.

Where We Were

September 2024

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

In this solid field of ice in the Bering Sea, two icebreakers try a tandem method of breaking ice. Ramming, backing, and ramming again, the vessels try forcing their way, side-by-side, in a parallel line.

From Our Archive

September 2024

In this solid field of ice in the Bering Sea, two icebreakers try a tandem method of breaking ice.

Revolution: Global Shipping Decarbonization

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)

September 2024

The global shipping enterprise is undergoing a profound transition to reduce carbon emissions and contribute to a more sustainable future.

In His Own Words: Former Secretary of the Navy Sean O’Keefe

September 2024

Having my parents’ names on the Celestial Wall will honor their memory and make them an enduring part of the naval service and the mission of the Institute.

The Battle of Manila Bay and Irwin’s Shoes

By A. Denis Clift

September 2024

In these edited excerpts from his 1920 article, Beach put his memories of the Battle of Manila Bay in perspective.

Asked & Answered

September 2024

If you could add one book to the Chief of Naval Operations’ professional reading library or Commandant of the Marine Corps’ professional reading list, what would it be and why?

A person guiding a helicopter landing on a ship.

Stopping Cyberattacks In Mid-Battle

September 2024

Suppose, during a battle at sea— with missiles flying—an adversary is trying to disrupt a ship’s sensor- fusion system, so that it mischaracterizes what the sensors are seeing. With current cybersecurity methods, it could take minutes or even hours for analysts to determine that the system is being attacked. And by then it might be too late.

The USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) operates in the vicinity of the Luzon Strait, in August 2024. Commerce raiding predates the Peloponnesian Wars, but in a future conflict it may help throttle Beijing’s true center of gravity: their control of 1.4 billion people. China relies on uninterrupted overseas trade and stable economic growth and it simply cannot afford a long war.

The Surface Navy and the Long War

By Ralph G. Francisco

September 2024

China relies on uninterrupted overseas trade and simply cannot afford a long war. Allied surface forces can and should establish sea control—just not where one might expect.