2009 Almanac Highlights

U.S. Navy Organization and Missions

As it enters 2009, the U.S. Navy is a globally engaged force, active in nearly every theater of the world. It has participated in operations ranging from NATO counterpiracy efforts off the Horn of Africa to humanitarian aid in war-torn Georgia and in the storm-ravaged Dominican Republic. Naval special warfare teams, along with joint and allied special operations forces, are in combat with militants in the Afghan highlands and helping to check the advance of al-Qaida elsewhere.
More than 61,000 of the Navy’s 332,000 personnel are deployed, including 15,000 Sailors in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead told an audience at the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Wayne, Pa., Oct. 19. He noted that his service is “stretched around the world” in peaceful engagement with allies, helping those in need and in combat.

The cost of maintaining the current high operational tempo, coupled with budget constraints, have stressed the battle force. For example, while U.S. law requires the Navy to maintain a force structure of 11 aircraft carriers, the service is working with Congress to plan for a 33-month period (2012-2015) when the carrier force will be reduced to 10.

As relevant now as they were 100 years ago, the capabilities of power projection, sea control and global forward presence remain among the Navy’s enduring contributions to the nation. This year marks the centennial of the moment the U.S. Navy emerged as a global power. In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt was at Hampton Roads, Va., to witness the triumphant homecoming of the Great White Fleet from its circumnavigation of the globe. Between December 1907 and February 1909, four squadrons of battleships made a voyage that demonstrated the American fleet’s power projection capability and served as a model for the current policy of global engagement.

In his annual posture statement to Congress, Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter underscored the significance of the Great White Fleet’s historic voyage, reminding members that “worldwide presence, credible deterrence and dissuasion, projection of power from naval platforms anywhere on the globe and the ability to prevail at sea are the critical, most fundamental elements of the Navy and Marine Corps strategic posture.”

From Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command is demonstrating presence, deterrence and power projection in operations that span the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Off the east coast of Africa, U.S. warships have joined a multinational coalition in Combined Task Force (CTF) 150 to counter the rise of piracy in Somalia’s lawless Puntland state.

In the northern Arabian Gulf, the Navy has partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard, and allies such as the U.K. Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy, in CTF 158, whose mission is to work with the Iraqi Navy and other authorities to protect Iraq’s oil infrastructure (93 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product), ports and territorial rights.

In the Mediterranean, the Sixth Fleet and U.S. Naval Forces Europe contribute to NATO’s Operation Active Endeavor. Since 2001, NATO and partners, including Ukraine and the Russian Federation, have tracked more than 92,000 vessels and boarded approximately 150 in an effort to check international terrorism and monitor potential sea routes for weapons proliferation. Last summer, the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force delivered humanitarian aid to the Georgian ports of Batumi and Poti on the Black Sea, in Operation Assured Delivery. The airlift and sealift brought more than 2 million pounds of supplies to the region during the South Ossetia crisis.
In East Timor, U.S. Pacific Fleet and the hospital ship USNS Mercy made the Navy’s presence felt during the Pacific Partnership program. Between April and September, Mercy visited Pacific Rim nations to provide medical and civil engineering support. In East Timor, Mercy’s medical staff of 500 treated 10,000 patients, while personnel from Mobile Construction Battalion 133 and Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 worked with regional allies and local agencies to renovate schools and other infrastructure.

In September, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup, returning home from a seven-month deployment to the Middle East with the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, commemorated the Great White Fleet’s centennial with a port call to Albany, Australia. Such visits are crucial to the Navy’s engagement strategy and strengthen ties with allies.
While the fleet’s policy of forward engagement often leverages “soft power” to acknowledge partnerships and help those in need, the Navy remains, first and foremost, a warfighting organization. With today’s high operational tempo, the service continues to make changes in manning, training and equipment to become more efficient and effective in core competencies like sea control and strike warfare.

Innovations such as the Fleet Response Plan — which emphasizes deployed and nondeployed force readiness to enable Navy ships to more rapidly surge in response to crises — have become part of the fleet’s culture. Other concepts, such as multicrewing vessels under the Sea Swap program to enable ships to remain at sea longer between availabilities, still are in their infancy.

New weapon systems, including upgrades and some game-changing technologies that will alter the calculus of the maritime battle space, have come online this year. For example, the Navy’s new electronic warfare aircraft, the EA-18G Growler, is undergoing operational evaluation. Soon, these jets, based on the Super Hornet airframe, will replace the aging EA-6B, providing the naval air force with a penetrating, tactical electronic warfare platform capable of keeping pace with the fastest strike aircraft in the fleet.

In its surface warfare community, the Navy continues development of a family of new combatants designed to meet the requirements of the national maritime strategy. The scaled-back acquisition of DDG 1000 — a new class of destroyers designed for deep strike land-attack operations — proceeds, with materiel and construction contracts let at two U.S. shipyards. When built, the 600-foot, 15,000-ton Zumwalt and sister ship, Michael Monsoor, will be centerpieces of the Navy’s strategy to dominate the littoral battle space.

In September, the Navy accepted the first anti-submarine warfare mission module for the Littoral Combat Ship program. The newly commissioned USS Freedom, and fraternal twin ship USS Independence, are heterogeneous designs for warships with versatile capabilities, especially suited to littoral operations. A parallel program is developing mission modules for anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and anti-surface warfare.

Based at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va., the Navy’s newest combatant command, Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC), which already has delivered combat capability to support wartime deployments, debuted at the international Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise last summer. RIMPAC ’08 showcased some of the NECC’s units and core competencies, including explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), maritime expeditionary security, and mobile diving and salvage.

Founded in 2006, NECC is responsible for the readiness of 40,000 Sailors deployed on operations including afloat and ashore anti-terrorism force protection, EOD and humanitarian assistance. One of the NECC’s premier elements is the Riverine Force, which includes three riverine squadrons under one riverine group commander. The flexible, deployable force of Sailors and specialized craft boasts equipment, concepts of operation and doctrine that draw upon lessons learned from the Vietnam-era Joint Task Force 117 and similar operations. In late 2008, Riverine Squadron 1 relieved its fellows in Al Anbar province, Iraq, marking the fourth overseas deployment for the new brown water navy.

Status of the Navy
As of October 2008, 129 ships (46 percent of the fleet) were underway away from homeport. One hundred four ships are deployed overseas, along with 61,092 personnel (double the number deployed in 2007). The total force includes 332,436 active duty (including 51,477 officers and 276,511 enlisted) and 6,438 mobilized reserves. The Department of the Navy also includes 184,335 civilian employees. The fleet comprises a deployable battle force of 283 ships and submarines and more than 3,700 operational aircraft.

Legacy
The modern U.S. Navy harks back to the founding of the Continental Navy Oct. 13, 1775. After the American Revolution, the cost of maintaining the Navy proved unacceptable to the leaders of the new republic, which sold the small fleet and was without naval power until the 1780s. Then, confrontations with Mediterranean pirates and France threatened American commercial interests abroad.

In 1789, the U.S. Constitution empowered Congress “to provide and maintain a Navy.” Thus, the First U.S. Congress, meeting at Federal Hall in New York City, authorized the procurement and manning of six frigates. Three ships, United States, Constellation and Constitution, were launched in 1797 and the U.S. Navy was born. In April 1798, the Fifth U.S. Congress established the Department of the Navy and President John Adams appointed Benjamin Stoddert as its first secretary.

The Secretary of the Navy
Donald C. Winter is the 74th secretary of the Navy. Winter is a former aerospace industry executive and has been a program manager with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Navy secretary oversees all of the affairs of the department, including recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, mobilizing and demobilizing fleet units. Additionally, the secretary is responsible for the construction, outfitting and repair of naval ships, equipment and facilities, and the development and implementation of policy. Four assistant secretaries are assigned functional responsibilities for policy and oversight. Among them, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) Sean J. Stackley is responsible for the Navy’s $50 billion technology investment portfolio.

The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)
Adm. Gary Roughead, the 29th CNO, is a veteran surface warfare officer with experience in Atlantic and Pacific Fleets. He also is a former commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy. The CNO, a four-star flag officer and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the Navy’s senior uniformed commander. The CNO answers to the secretary of the Navy for the command, management and resourcing of the Navy’s operating forces.

Vice CNO Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, a strike fighter pilot and former Blue Angel, is the service’s representative on the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, a Defense Department body responsible for vetting the requirements of acquisition programs that develop and deliver weapon systems to the operational force.

Organization and Missions
The Navy’s operating forces comprise the ships and aircraft assigned to the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, U.S. Naval Forces Europe and U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, as well as those of the Military Sealift Command. Additional operating units fall under the command of the chief of Naval Reserve, and the Naval Special Warfare Command. The Navy’s fleet and force commands report to the CNO to man, train and equip naval units for operational service. When preparing for, and while on, deployment, naval units report to the fleet commanders and to regional combatant commanders. For some administrative and logistical support, fleet units also are connected stateside with appropriate type commanders (for aviation, surface and submarine support).

■ Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command; U.S. Second Fleet; U.S. Fourth Fleet
Headquartered in Norfolk, Va., and led by Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, Fleet Forces Command is responsible for manning, equipping and training all operational units in the Navy. Fleet Forces Command is the senior organization responsible for maintaining the readiness of all fleets forces, on both coasts, and those based overseas. The organization also is a combatant command, assuming the legacy of the former U.S. Atlantic Fleet, supporting U.S. and NATO operations in the Western Hemisphere.

The command’s geographic area of responsibility includes the Atlantic Ocean from the North to the South Poles, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean waters from Central and South America to the Galapagos Islands. Fleet Forces Command also is the naval component commander for U.S. Northern Command, the Defense Department’s joint command tasked with homeland defense.

Vice Adm. Melvin G. Williams Jr. commands U.S. Second Fleet, which is responsible for training Atlantic-based forces for worldwide deployment and developing fleet command-and-control doctrine and procedures.

In 2008, U.S. Fourth Fleet was established in Mayport, Fla. Under the command of Rear Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, it oversees the increasing naval engagement with nations in South America and the Caribbean.

■ Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMUSPACFLT); U.S. Third Fleet; U.S. Seventh Fleet
COMUSPACFLT is the world’s largest fleet command, responsible for a battle force of 180 ships (more than 63 percent of the Navy’s total battle force) and operating over more than half the Earth’s surface. Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Robert F. Willard manages more than 125,000 Sailors, Marines and civilian employees serving in U.S. Third Fleet, under Vice Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III, and U.S. Seventh Fleet, under Vice Adm. John M. Bird.

Headquartered at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, COMUSPACFLT directs fleet activities at San Diego and at Sasebo, Japan. Among the most powerful instruments of national policy, the fleet projects stabilizing power to potential conflict areas including Korea, the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean. COMUSPACFLT’s strike groups also contribute combat capability to ongoing operations in the Arabian Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

■ Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command; U.S. Fifth Fleet
Naval Forces Central Command, headquartered at Bahrain and led by Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, contributes to coalition sea power in operations throughout the Middle East, from the eastern Mediterranean to the Horn of Africa, the Arabian Gulf and Central Asia. U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility includes 27 nations, encompassing 7.5 million square miles, four major bodies of water and three strategic choke points, through which pass approximately 80 percent of the world’s oil. U.S. Central Command directs Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and ongoing deployments in Iraq. Its naval component includes three coalition task forces: CTF 150, in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean; CTF 152 in the southern and central Arabian Gulf; and CTF 158 in the northern Arabian Gulf.

■ Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe
(COMUSNAVEUR); Commander U.S. Sixth Fleet
Based at Naples, Italy, COMUSNAVEUR and Commander, Allied Joint Force Command, Adm. Mark P. Fitzgerald, leads a dynamic organization that provides naval forces for U.S. European Command and NATO. The command is responsible for naval operations in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea region, as well as off the west coast of Africa. Naval Forces Europe also developed the manning and logistics requirements to support the new U.S. Africa Command, which was established in October 2008. U.S. Africa Command, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany, focuses on security cooperation initiatives and trans-Sahara counterterrorism intelligence operations (including maritime aerial reconnaissance), especially in the Islamic Maghreb region.

■ Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC)
Vice Adm. Robert T. Conway, based at the Washington Navy Yard, leads an organization that is responsible for all naval shore installations. CNIC manages and improves more than 100 bases and stations in 10 regions of the continental United States and seven regions overseas.

■ Bureau of Personnel (BUPERS); Commander, Navy Personnel Command
BUPERS, led by Vice Adm. Mark E. Ferguson III, the chief of naval personnel, is responsible for the recruitment and retention of the Navy’s people. Headquartered at Washington and Millington, Tenn., the Navy Personnel Command, under Rear Adm. Edward Masso, oversees the assignment, pay, advancement and promotion processes for all enlisted rates and the officer corps.

■ Naval Education and Training Command (NETC)
Rear Adm. Gary R. Jones directs the Navy’s consolidated continuing education program, responsible for developing Sailors’ and Marines’ professional knowledge and skills. The organization is large and geographically dispersed, including: the Naval Education Training Professional Development Technology Center; Naval Service Training Command; Recruit Training Command, Naval Station Great Lakes, Chicago; Officer Training Command, Newport, Naval Station Newport, R.I.; Officer Candidate School; Limited Duty Officer/Chief Warrant Officer School; Direct Commission Officer School; the Seaman to Admiral-21 Program; and the Naval Personnel Development Command.

The NETC provides courses for every rating and specialization, at shore facilities and aboard ship. Each day, more than 47,000 military, civilian and foreign students are in training in more than 3,600 courses at 30 installations. The NETC also supervises 57 Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) units at colleges and universities throughout the United States, and 570 Junior NROTC units at civilian high schools in 43 states, Washington, Guam, Italy and Japan.

■ Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED)
Vice Adm. Adam M. Robinson Jr., surgeon general of the Navy and chief of BUMED, is responsible for the health care of 700,000 active duty Navy and Marine Corps service members, and 2.6 million retired and family members. In 2008, the military medical establishment was focused on providing services to meet urgent war-related health care requirements, including programs to treat traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and other issues that have been highlighted by the experience of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The operational tempo for naval medicine is intense. To date, 90 percent of the Navy’s general surgery active duty medical corps officers have deployed, as have 72 percent of its active duty psychiatrists. From the reserve component, the Navy has deployed 85 percent of its anesthesiologists and 50 percent of its oral surgeons. BUMED has 157 medical treatment facilities and 140 dental treatment facilities worldwide, as well as shipboard services.

■ Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR)
Based at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Vice Adm. David J. Venlet’s organization is responsible for developing, procuring and supporting aircraft and weapon systems for the naval air forces of the Navy and Marine Corps. NAVAIR comprises two main divisions, one for aircraft and weapons, and the other for training, testing and support facilities. NAVAIR manages more than 28,000 personnel at facilities across the United States, including the weapons systems ranges at China Lake and Point Mugu, Calif.; aircraft programs at Patuxent River; training systems at Orlando, Fla.; support facilities at Lakehurst, N.J.; and supply and maintenance facilities at Jacksonville, Fla., North Island, Calif., and Cherry Point, N.C. Overseas, NAVAIR manages aviation support facilities at Atsugi, Japan, and Naples, Italy.

■ Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA)
From his headquarters at the Washington Navy Yard, Vice Adm. Kevin M. McCoy leads the largest of the Navy’s five systems commands. NAVSEA develops and procures naval ships, submarines and their weapon systems. Additionally, NAVSEA and its field activities (including those of the supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair, the Naval Surface Warfare Center enterprise and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center enterprise) provide fleet logistics support at public naval shipyards across the nation, including Norfolk, Va.; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Portsmouth, Maine; and Puget Sound, Wash. NAVSEA accounts for nearly one-fifth of the Navy’s budget, an investment portfolio of approximately $20 billion.

■ Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR)
Based at San Diego, Rear Adm. Michael C. Bachmann manages 7,600 personnel and an annual budget of more than $6 billion, providing information technology engineering services for networked command and control, communication and space systems, and their products (such as intelligence data and imagery). SPAWAR’s field activities include the Systems Centers at San Diego, Charleston, S.C., New Orleans and Norfolk, Va.

■ Naval Facilities Engineering Command
(NAVFAC)
Based at the Washington Navy Yard, Rear Adm. W. Greg Shear, chief of Naval Engineers, is responsible for public works, family housing and public utilities at Department of the Navy facilities throughout the world. NAVFAC has 12 components, including the Engineering Service Center and the Naval Facilities Expeditionary Logistics Center, both at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, Calif. NAVFAC also is the administrative home of the Naval Construction Force, the Seabees.

■ Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP)
Rear Adm. Michael J. Lyden leads the Navy Supply Corps, based at Mechanicsburg, Pa. NAVSUP provides a variety of support services, including supply chain management, contracting, regional transportation, warehousing, fuel, integrated logistics, fleet postal services, foreign military sales case management and the Navy’s food service program. The NAVSUP work force includes more than 3,400 active and reserve supply corps officers and more than 27,000 enlisted personnel.