Seapower/Navy

By GORDON I. PETERSON, Senior Editor

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The mission of the U.S. Navy is to maintain, train, and equip combat-ready naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, and maintaining freedom of the seas.

The Department of the Navy has three principal components: the Navy Department, consisting of executive offices mostly in Washington, D.C.; the operating forces, including the Marine Corps, the reserve components, and, in time of war, the U.S. Coast Guard (in peace, a component of the Department of Transportation); and the shore establishment.

Today's Navy numbers approximately 370,000 active-duty men and women (53,000 officers, 313,000 enlisted, and 4,000 midshipmen); 191,400 Ready Reservists; and just over 195,000 civilian employees. In the active fleet on 6 December 1999, a day typical of most in the Navy's operational schedule, were 316 ships and 4,108 operational aircraft; 52 percent of the fleet (165 ships) was underway from homeport on that same date, with 31 percent (97 ships) forward-deployed and participating in seven exercises or operations.

Of the ships in the U.S. submarine force, about 25 percent (14 submarines) were underway. Port visits were being conducted in 10 countries around the world. The Navy's active fleet--fast approaching its smallest size since 1931--continued to maintain a high operational tempo, one marked by combat operations in NATO's Operation Allied Force and in the skies over Iraq. As Secretary of the Navy Richard J. Danzig observed last year, today's Navy-Marine Corps team is "always there when the nation calls."

Today's forward-deployed Navy-Marine Corps team possesses unrivaled operational and expeditionary capabilities for such missions as sea and area control, power projection, humanitarian assistance, and force sustainment.

A Revolutionary Start

The historical antecedents for today's naval missions and the Navy's organizational structure may be traced directly to the founding of the U.S. Navy on 13 October 1775 during the Revolutionary War.

As the Naval Historical Center aptly states in its monograph on the period, "Beginning with early 1775 actions in coastal waters, followed by Commodore Esek Hopkins' 1776 amphibious assault to capture military stores at New Providence, Bahamas, and reaching a climax in 1781 when French fleet action off the Virginia Capes led to victory at Yorktown, the war at sea was decisive in the nation's struggle for independence." The Center's narrative goes on to explain how small and fragmented American naval forces lacked the capabilities for major fleet engagements, but their contributions--usually in a supporting role--were crucial to failure or success ashore. Numerous British merchant ships were captured to provide vitally needed supplies for the hard-pressed Continental Army. Armed vessels transported Washington's troops and joined in the defense of major port cities. American naval officers carried the fight to sea against the Royal Navy--and beyond to England's shores.

With victory in hand and independence secured, the new republic had, by 1785, sold off the last ships of the Continental Navy. Navies were then, and are today, expensive to build and maintain. The past was prologue, however. The folly of such short-sighted strategic thinking was starkly revealed by the depredations of Mediterranean pirates and by other attacks on U.S. overseas commerce beginning in the 1780s, followed by a confrontation at sea with France during the 1790s, which culminated in the so-called Quasi War with that country in 1798.

The Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress "to provide and maintain a Navy." Congress was eventually moved to action (in 1794) following repeated attacks abroad on the Stars and Stripes. It authorized the procuring and manning of six frigates. Three ships--USS United States, USS Constellation, and USS Constitution--were launched in 1797.

The new United States Navy was born, and its primary mission of defending U.S. commerce overseas would persist until well into the 19th century.

From 1794 until 1798, the Department of War administered U.S. naval affairs. In April 1798, however, facing imminent hostilities with France, Congress established the Department of the Navy in order to meet the need for an executive department responsible solely for, and staffed with persons expert in, naval affairs. Benjamin Stoddert, who served as secretary of the Continental Board of War during the American Revolution, became the first secretary of the Navy.

Another initiative during this formative stage in the Navy's history was the development of a suitable shore establishment to build ships and support the Navy's operating forces. Government shipyards were ordered built in six ports along the eastern seaboard. Stoddert set other management plans in motion, including needed improvements to the Navy's officer corps. The foundation for America's eventual dominance as a global sea power was set in place.

The Secretary of the Navy

Richard J. Danzig, the 71st secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), derives his principal duties and authority from this early beginning two centuries ago. SECNAV is responsible for and, under Title 10 of the United States Code, has the authority to conduct all the affairs of the Department of the Navy, including: recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training, mobilizing, and demobilizing. The secretary also oversees the construction, outfitting, and repair of naval ships, equipment, and facilities, and is responsible for the formulation and implementation of naval policies and programs that are consistent with the national security policies and objectives established by the president and the secretary of Defense.

During his first year in office, Danzig worked closely with afloat and shore commanders to improve the way Sailors and Marines live, work, and fight. His top priorities are: (1) to support personnel and quality-of-life programs; (2) to update Navy strategy and programs to adjust to the land-attack implications of "Forward ... From the Sea;" (3) to achieve more synergy between the Navy and Marine Corps; and (4) to implement aggressive information-technology programs across the entire Navy-Marine Corps spectrum.

The Department of the Navy consists of two uniformed services: the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Within the Office of the Secretary, four assistant secretaries of the Navy have functional responsibilities for policy formulation and oversight related to the full spectrum of the tasks of organizing, building, outfitting, manning, and training the Navy and Marine Corps of today and tomorrow.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development, and Acquisition) H. Lee Buchanan III, for example, is the Department's acquisition executive responsible for all research, development, and procurement of defense systems for the Navy and Marine Corps. His staff oversees the sea services' aviation, ship, weapons, and systems acquisition programs. The Department of the Navy's senior uniformed staffs, serving under the chief of naval operations and the commandant of the Marine Corps, assist by defining force-structure requirements in their roles as warfare-resource sponsors--guiding the direction of and priority for Navy and Marine Corps acquisition programs as part of the service's overall strategy-formulation, resource-allocation, and budgeting processes.

Program executive officers (PEOs), assisted by individual program managers, exercise day-to-day responsibility on behalf of the secretary of the Navy on research, development, and acquisition matters relating to the Department of the Navy's ship, aircraft, weapons, and systems acquisition programs. The PEOs have a dual reporting chain to the Navy's top civilian and uniformed leadership. In addition to their direct-reporting relationship to the secretary for the execution of acquisition matters, they report to the chief of naval operations (or, for Marine Corps acquisition programs, the commandant of the Marine Corps) through their cognizant system commands on matters relating to the life-cycle support of deployed ships, aircraft, weapons, and systems.

The secretary's three additional principal civilian assistants oversee responsibilities for Navy shore installations and environmental matters, financial management, and manpower and reserve affairs. Other staff assistants provide expert support in legal, program-appraisal, legislative-affairs, public-affairs, and criminal-investigative matters.

The Chief of Naval Operations

Adm. Jay L. Johnson, the present chief of naval operations (CNO), is the senior naval officer in the Department of the Navy. He is serving in the final year of his appointment. The CNO is responsible to the secretary of the Navy for the command, use of resources, and operating efficiency of the operating forces of the Navy and of the Navy shore activities assigned by the secretary.

The post of CNO was established by Act of Congress in 1915 on the eve of World War I, and Adm. William S. Benson was appointed as the first CNO. During World War II, Adm. Ernest J. King held the dual titles of CNO and commander in chief, U.S. Fleet, directing the worldwide operations of the Navy in coordination with the nation's other armed services and with U.S. allies.

As noted in the official history of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the need for a formal joint-command structure was apparent at the end of World War II, and the wartime JCS arrangement offered a workable model. The first legislative step was the passage of the National Security Act of 1947, which formally established the Joint Chiefs of Staff and laid the foundation for the series of legislative and executive changes that produced today's U.S. defense organization.

As a member of the Joint Chiefs, the CNO is the principal naval advisor to the president and to the secretary of the Navy on the conduct of war, and the principal advisor and naval executive to the secretary on the conduct of activities of the Department of the Navy. The CNO's assistants include the vice chief of naval operations (VCNO), the deputy chiefs of naval operations (DCNOs), and a number of other ranking officers. These officers and their staffs are assigned to and part of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV). The CNO's responsibilities as a member of the JCS take precedence over all of his other assigned duties.

With the active development and acquisition of new long-range, highly accurate, and all-weather weapons systems and the ability to use networked information systems to share information instantaneously over broad geographic areas, Johnson has spearheaded a transformation in the Navy's operational capabilities. In his view, the Navy's continued forward presence and the ongoing development of global-economic interdependence will make the 21st century "a naval century."

The Commandant of the Marine Corps

Just as the CNO "wears two hats"--as both a service chief and a member of the JCS--Gen. James L. Jones Jr., the 32nd commandant of the Marine Corps, offers advice to the president, the secretary of Defense, and the National Security Council as a member of the Joint Chiefs. Jones also serves as the senior officer in the Marine Corps with responsibilities to the secretary of the Navy for the leadership, management, and administration of the Corps, as well as the operating efficiency of Marine Corps forces and shore activities.

The commandant's leadership position dates to November 1775, when the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, passed a resolution affirming that "two Battalions of Marines be raised" for service as landing forces with the Continental Navy. That resolution officially established the Continental Marines and marked the birth date of the Corps. The nation's first Marines distinguished themselves in a number of important operations, including the Corps' first amphibious raid--into the Bahamas in March 1776, under the command of Capt. (later Maj.) Samuel Nicholas.

Nicholas, who was the first commissioned officer in the Continental Marines, remained the senior Marine officer throughout the American Revolution and is considered to be the first Marine commandant.

During the early months of his assignment as commandant, Jones has pledged to pay more attention to the Corps' operating forces to ensure they remain properly manned, ready, and successful. He also has emphasized that all Marines and their families deserve a decent quality of life. In his view, today's Marine Corps is the best he has seen in his 33 years of service.

Navy Operating Forces

The Navy's operating forces ("the fleet") are composed of ships and aircraft assigned to the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific Fleets, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, and the Military Sealift Command. Additional operating units fall under the command of the chief of naval reserve, the Naval Special Warfare Command, and Operational Test and Evaluation forces.

The Navy's three four-star fleet commanders in chief (CINCs) for Navy operating forces--the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, and U.S. Pacific Fleet--have a dual chain of command. Administratively, they report to the CNO and provide, train, and equip naval forces. Operationally, they provide naval forces and report to the appropriate regional unified commanders in chief for U.S. combatant commands.

As units of the Navy enter the geographical area of responsibility of a particular Navy CINC, they are operationally assigned (or "chopped") to the appropriate numbered fleet.

All Navy units also have an administrative chain of command, with the various ships reporting to the appropriate type commander (air, surface, or submarine).

The United States Atlantic Fleet

The U.S. Atlantic Fleet provides fully trained, combat-ready forces to support U.S. and NATO commanders in regions of conflict throughout the world. From the Adriatic Sea to the Arabian Gulf, Atlantic Fleet units respond to National Command Authority tasking. Recent conflicts involving Atlantic Fleet units include Operation Allied Force in the Adriatic Sea and Operation Desert Fox in the Persian Gulf.

Led by Adm. Vernon E. Clark, the Atlantic Fleet consists of over 118,000 Sailors and Marines, 186 ships, and 1,300 aircraft. Additionally, there are 18 major shore stations providing training, maintenance, and logistics support, as well as support to Navy and Marine Corps families.

The Atlantic Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) encompasses a massive geographic expanse that includes the area of the Atlantic Ocean from the North Pole to the South Pole, the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean waters from Central and South America to the Galapagos Islands. Additionally, the Norwegian, Greenland, and Barents Seas, and the waters around Africa extending to the Cape of Good Hope, fall within the fleet's AOR.

The primary operational unit in the Atlantic Fleet is the Second Fleet. It is responsible for operational taskings as well as for training carrier battle groups and amphibious ready groups for forward deployments overseas.

Atlantic Fleet forces are supported by type commanders responsible for readiness support, logistics support, and administrative management. The type commanders include air, surface, submarine, and Marine forces for the Atlantic Fleet. All are headquartered in Norfolk, Va.

While providing combat-ready forces to theater commanders in the world's hotspots is a primary responsibility, the Atlantic Fleet also joins NATO forces in supporting the Standing Naval Forces Atlantic, a permanent squadron of destroyers and frigates representing NATO forces in the Atlantic region. Additionally, Atlantic Fleet units participate annually in UNITAS, a deployment to South America. This yearly deployment not only creates unique training opportunities with South American navies but also spreads goodwill to the South American allies of the United States.

The Atlantic Fleet also is working to further regionalize its shore-infrastructure management through three regional commanders--in New London, Conn., Norfolk, Va., and Jacksonville, Fla. Additionally, a comprehensive review of afloat forces' workload and training has been chartered by the CNO to reduce the demands placed upon Navy people during their Interdeployment Training Cycles (IDTCs).

On a daily basis, a high percentage of the Atlantic Fleet is either deployed overseas, conducting underway exercises in preparation for deployment, or involved in another phase of the IDTC. Recent joint initiatives between the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets have led to a major change in the way business is conducted for surface ships and aircraft squadrons in the IDTC. Many inspections and administrative requirements have been eliminated or reduced in order to provide flexibility to unit commanders.

Adding to the Atlantic Fleet's exciting new direction is a focus on new concepts like Smart Ship, Smart Work, and Smart Tool. All are unique management approaches and applications of technology that encourage the Navy's leadership to maximize the professionalism of their team while enhancing the professional experience of Atlantic Fleet Sailors.

U.S. Naval Forces Europe

The Commander In Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Europe (CINCUSNAVEUR), Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., provides overall command and operational control of all U.S. naval forces assigned to the commander in chief, U.S. European Command (USCINCEUR). From his headquarters in London, CINCUSNAVEUR coordinates with other U.S. and allied forces operating within the European Command's area of responsibility to accomplish the command's assigned operational missions.

In addition, as a naval component commander, CINCUSNAVEUR develops operational plans and policy, and coordinates logistics, communications, legal, and administrative support among the U.S. naval forces operating in the USCINCEUR area of responsibility--which encompasses Europe and its contiguous waters, the Mediterranean Sea, and the continent of Africa.

Given this broad geographical focus on multiple regions of vital interest to the United States, NAVEUR forces often take center stage during international crises and contingencies. Navy and Marine Corps forward-deployed ships, aircraft, and units figure significantly in NATO maritime-interdiction and "no-fly" enforcement operations in Bosnia and over northern Iraq. Among the command's other missions are noncombatant-emergency evacuations of U.S. citizens and third-country foreign nationals from strife-torn nations in the region, counterterrorist strikes, and humanitarian assistance. American dip-lomatic objectives are advanced steadily by port calls aimed at furthering the U.S. engagement strategy throughout the command's AOR, including visits and exercises with the new democracies in the Baltic and Black Sea regions.

Of historical note: CINCUSNAVEUR headquarters is located adjacent to the American Embassy in an unobtrusive red-brick building in London at No. 20 Grosvenor Square. Occupied initially by Rear Adm. Robert L. Ghormley and his U.S. Navy staff in June 1941, the building stands close to where one of the first U.S. residents of the square, John Adams, the first U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, maintained a combination residence and embassy (from 1785 to 1788). A plaque in the headquarters building commemorates Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's periodic use of the building during his command of allied forces in Europe during World War II.

CINCUSNAVEUR's principal operating forces are composed of the ships and aircraft of the U.S. Sixth Fleet operating in the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea, and adjacent areas. Divided into task forces, U.S. naval forces forward-deployed to the Sixth Fleet usually include an aircraft carrier battle group, an amphibious ready group, a Marine expeditionary unit, and various support ships, land-based patrol aircraft, and nuclear-powered submarines.

U.S. Sixth Fleet participation in NATO operations and exercises is a key element of U.S. naval operations in the region. With the breakup of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, the fleet developed a systematic approach to forward-presence operations that matched the changing security environment of Europe. Today, this "Theater Naval Strategy of Forward Presence, Peacetime Engagement, and Power Projection" includes exercises and operations promoting interoperability and mutual cooperation among Mediterranean and Black Sea littoral nations.

Unchanged in this post-Cold War period is the fleet's commitment to NATO, combat readiness, and the capability to respond to crisis situations. Recent Sixth Fleet operations include combat operations against the Former Republic of Yugoslavia during NATO's Operation Allied Force; humanitarian and security missions in conjunction with NATO operations in Kosovo in 1999; maritime peace-implementation operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina during Operation Joint Endeavor; and the evacuation of U.S. and other civilians caught in Liberia's civil war (Operation Assured Response) and fleeing from strife-torn Albania (Operation Silver Wake).

In September 1995, U.S. naval forces operating in the Adriatic conducted sustained air operations and the first-ever launch of cruise missiles in the Mediterranean area. These operations (Operation Deliberate Force) helped bring warring parties from Bosnia-Herzegovina to the peace table. A planned and coordinated series of bilateral and multilateral exercises, ranging from the Black Sea to the western Mediterranean, typically rounds out Sixth Fleet operations.

U.S. Pacific Fleet

The Navy's third four-star CINC, Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, commands a Pacific Fleet with a geographic area of responsibility covering more than 50 percent of the earth's surface--just over 100 million square miles. Each day, Pacific Fleet ships are at sea in the Pacific, Indian, and Arctic Oceans, from the West Coast of the United States to the Arabian Gulf. The Pacific Fleet is the world's largest naval command, extending from the West Coast of the United States to the eastern shoreline of Africa, and from the North Pole to the South Pole--an area encompassing two oceans and touching six continents, and home to more than half the population of the world.

The Pacific Fleet, with its U.S. Third and U.S. Seventh Fleets, numbers approximately 193 ships, 1,400 aircraft, and 220,900 Sailors, Marines, and civilian Navy employees. Together they keep the sea lanes open, deter aggression, ensure regional stability, and support humanitarian-relief activities--providing a stabilizing influence in a vast ocean area during periods of tension and conflict.

The Pacific Fleet's contribution to the Navy's heritage dates back to 1821 and the establishment that year of the Pacific Squadron, the first permanent U.S. naval presence in the region. This small force initially confined its activities to the waters off South America, but expanded its scope to include the Western Pacific in 1835, when the East India Squadron joined the force.

From its headquarters at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, today's U.S. Pacific Fleet has increased operations with friendly and allied navies, thereby ensuring freedom of the seas for all nations. The Pacific Fleet's AOR also include the Indian Ocean, where aircraft carrier battle groups operate in support of U.S. national interests. U.S. Pacific Fleet Navy and Marine Corps assets are regularly assigned to the operational control of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and the U.S. Fifth Fleet for deployments to the Persian Gulf and North Arabian Sea. There, these forces play a critical role in enforcing U.S. and U.N. policy for Iraq, including maritime interdiction and enforcement of "no-fly" operations. Pacific Fleet units were engaged in numerous reactionary combat strikes against Iraq during 1999.

Pacific Fleet units operating with the U.S. Seventh Fleet provide critical capabilities in the Western Pacific, bolstering U.S. forward presence throughout the region in peace, crisis, or war. Reciprocal port visits--with China, for example--have proved to be an effective way to enhance military-to-military understanding and relations. The U.S. Pacific Command's commander in chief, Adm. Dennis Blair, describes the goal of these contacts as mutual understanding and openness.

People are the key to the success of the Pacific Fleet. Every minute of each day, dedicated men and women are deployed and on watch protecting U.S. interests and promoting stability, peace, and prosperity throughout the region.

Military Sealift Command

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command serves as the ocean-transportation provider for DOD in peacetime and in war. The command's more than 110 noncombatant ships operate in nearly every time zone of the world and are key to the U.S. military's success in projecting a powerful global presence "Forward ... From the Sea."

Sealift is MSC's primary mission. In wartime, more than 95 percent of the equipment and supplies needed by U.S. forces moves by sea. In addition, MSC provides combat-logistics support to the U.S. Navy fleet, special ocean-missions support to U.S. government agencies, and afloat prepositioning of U.S. military supplies and equipment in strategic areas overseas.

MSC is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has area commands in Norfolk, Va.; San Diego, Calif.; Naples, Italy; Yokohama, Japan; and Bahrain. Rear Adm. Gordon S. Holder leads a work force of more than 7,200 employees worldwide, the vast majority of whom are assigned to seagoing jobs. MSC's work force is made up of primarily civil service personnel, but also includes military as well as contractor personnel.

MSC ships, unlike other U.S. Navy ships, are crewed by civilians. Some ships also have a small military contingent assigned to carry out specialized military functions such as communications and supply operations. In wartime, the number of contractor-employed mariners can expand to double the peacetime number, and more than 800 MSC reservists can be mobilized.

MSC is one of three component commands reporting to the joint-service U.S. Transportation Command, known as USTRANSCOM, which is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. USTRANSCOM is under the command of a four-star general officer who is responsible for the coordination of all common-user DOD air, land, and sea transportation worldwide.

A number of international crises throughout the last decade have underscored the vital role of MSC in the execution of U.S. national strategy. During the Persian Gulf War, more than 230 ships, both U.S. government-owned and chartered commercial vessels, transported more than 12 million tons of combat equipment and supplies, the largest part of the allied arsenal that defeated Iraqi aggression.

In the years following the Persian Gulf War, MSC has seen a proliferation of requests for its sea transportation services--ranging from support of U.S. and allied peacekeeping forces in both Bosnia and Kosovo to an array of humanitarian and disaster-relief efforts.

MSC's role in combat-logistics support to the U.S. Navy fleet also has grown. A sealift-expansion program that started in the late 1990s will add 19 new and converted ships to MSC's inventory by 2002. MSC's impressive ocean-transportation resources will remain key elements in U.S. combat readiness in the 21st century.

The Shore Establishment

The shore establishment is the third major component of the Navy's organizational structure. The shore establishment's activities and commands report to the CNO. They support the fleet through such activities and functions as the repair of ships, aircraft, weapons, machinery, and electronics; communications; the recruitment, training, and education of naval personnel; legal services; intelligence, meteorological, and oceanographic support; the development of naval doctrine; storage and supply support for repair parts, fuel, and munitions; and medical and dental care for active-duty personnel, retirees, and their families.

Recruiting and retaining the highest-quality Sailors, both enlisted and officer, remain the highest priorities for the Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS). Vice Admiral Norbert R. Ryan Jr., leads the Bureau, serving as both chief of naval personnel and deputy CNO (manpower and personnel). The BUPERS team--located in Washington, D.C., and Millington, Tenn.--oversees Navy recruiting, assignment policies and programs, and the enlisted advancement and officer promotion processes as well as personnel pay, bonus, and retention policies. BUPERS' principal goal is to provide well-prepared Sailors to the fleet, in the proper numbers, on time, and in the most cost-effective manner possible.

Similarly, the Chief of Naval Education and Training (CNET), Vice Adm. John W. Craine Jr., is responsible to the CNO for the education and training of Navy and Marine Corps personnel, both officer and enlisted. CNET oversees a network of training and education programs throughout the United States and on ships at sea. One of the largest shore commands in the Navy, CNET is composed of approximately 29,600 military, civilian, and contract personnel stationed at 169 activities nationwide. CNET has a daily average of more than 43,800 military, civilian, and foreign students in training in more than 3,400 different courses on any given day.

CNET also supervises and manages 57 Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) units at colleges and universities throughout the United States and 434 Naval Junior ROTC units at civilian high schools in 43 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, Italy, and Japan.

As a key contributor to naval readiness, CNET's training responsibility includes recruit training, specialized skills training, precommissioning training for officers, warfare-specialty training, and fleet individual and team training. CNET also trains students from foreign nations in various enlisted skills and provides officer flight training for a number of U.S. allies.

Navy Medicine

The 33rd surgeon general of the Navy, Medical Corps Vice Adm. Richard A. Nelson, leads a team focused on providing high-quality health care and customer service to approximately 570,000 active-duty Navy and Marine Corps personnel and an additional two million retired and family members--at a little more than half the national per-capita-average cost for medical care. At the same time, Navy health-care professionals also provide medical support during contingency, humanitarian, and joint operations around the world.

The central concept of providing health-care programs that protect U.S. fighting forces is called Force Health Protection (FHP). It is a focused and integrated approach to protect and sustain the service's most important resource--its service members. It is designed to improve existing health, proactively address medical concerns, and provide care for any illness or injury that does occur. FHP changes the focus of military medicine from one of casualty care alone to an emphasis on fitness and monitoring forces engaged in military operations. It thrusts preventive medicine to the forefront of ensuring readiness for deployment. It captures the culture shift that is taking place throughout Navy medicine--a shift from episodic responsive care to a fit, healthy lifestyle that results in a ready, capable individual.

Medical care at U.S. Navy facilities continues to improve. In recent years, average objective accreditation scores for Navy hospitals were in the 90th percentile--significantly exceeding the average scores for civilian hospitals. Navy medicine continues to find innovative ways to provide convenient and cost-effective medical and dental care to service members. Pierside clinics, deployments of health-care practitioners with the operating forces, and new programs at recruit-training activities all save valuable time and help to keep U.S. Sailors and Marines in good health.

Navy medicine is applying new technology to deliver specialty consultation in remote areas and to improve the ability to provide quality health care for forward-deployed operating forces and at remote medical-treatment facilities. Cutting-edge telemedicine technology developed on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, Navy medicine's operational testbed, is now being applied to support operational medical services on other ships and at facilities ashore. Navy medicine continues to search for new research breakthroughs, such as the recent scientific discoveries in DNA vaccines for malaria, that will result in healthier lives.

The Systems Commands

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), commanded by Vice Adm. George P. Nanos Jr., is the Navy's central activity for designing, engineering, integrating, building, and procuring U.S. naval ships, shipboard weapons, and combat systems. Its expertise in these areas historically stems from the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair and the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, created in 1842, and the Bureau of Ships, established in 1940. NAVSEA's responsibilities also include the maintenance, repair, modernization, and conversion of in-service ships and their weapons and combat systems. Additionally, it provides technical, industrial, and logistics support for naval ships and ensures the proper design and development of the total ship, including contractor-furnished shipboard systems.

Other important NAVSEA functions include introduction of ships to the fleet; the Navy's salvage-and-diving operation; explosive-ordnance safety and disposal; coordination of naval ship conversion and repair for both DOD and the MSC; and support of ship construction for the Maritime Administration.

NAVSEA is the largest of the five Navy systems commands. Its fiscal year 2000 budget of about $20 billion accounts for approximately 23.5 percent of the Navy's budget of $84.9 billion. This budget places NAVSEA among the nation's top business enterprises when comparing the value of assets, number of employees, and budget (using Fortune Magazine criteria).

NAVSEA manages 139 acquisition programs, which are assigned to the command's seven affiliated Program Executive Officers (PEOs) and various headquarters elements. NAVSEA also administers more than 1,400 foreign military sales cases worth about $16.7 billion and involving 80 countries and four NATO organizations.

The Naval Aviation Systems Command (NAVAIR) team, led by Vice Adm. John A. Lockard, partners with industry to develop, acquire, and support naval aeronautical and related technology systems for the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. NAVAIR is composed of six elements working as a fully coordinated team: the Naval Air Systems Command, the Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP), and four naval aviation PEOs.

The latter are responsible for the acquisition and full life-cycle management of most of the aircraft and weapons used by the fleet. NAVAIR (headquarters, product centers, and naval aviation depots) oversees all weapons programs not managed by the PEOs and provides all of the functional support that the PEOs and their program management teams require--including acquisition management, contracting, research and engineering, test and evaluation, logistics, industrial support, corporate operations, and shore-station management.

The NAVICP is responsible for providing spare and repair parts throughout the life cycle of all naval weapons systems. Although it retains its core capabilities in-house, the NAVAIR team executes most of its work (nearly 80 percent) by contracting with private industry.

Approximately 31,600 civilian and military personnel are assigned to NAVAIR, its four affiliated PEOs, and facilities currently located at eight major sites throughout the United States. NAVAIR manages more than 148 acquisition programs and supports more than 4,100 active aircraft in the Navy and Marine Corps inventory.

The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), commanded by Rear Adm. John A. Gauss, stands as a leader in infusing advanced technology into the fleet. SPAWAR also develops joint-interoperable modeling and simulation products, and delivers operational systems that greatly enhance training, operational assessment, and acquisition.

SPAWAR has additional responsibilities to provide management-information systems, infrastructure, and communications applications for Navy force-wide combat-support systems. These systems allow commanders to integrate tactical information with key combat support logistics data in both joint- and coalition-warfare environments.

SPAWAR also develops systems to ensure that the U.S. national-security, DOD, and Navy leadership has accurate, reliable, secure, and timely information. High-bandwidth communications between afloat and ashore platforms in near real time is essential to success in combat. The SPAWAR team also develops and fields high-capacity interoperable systems that are affordable, integrated, flexible, and seamless in the joint- and coalition-warfare environments. The SPAWAR mission also includes developing and acquiring undersea-surveillance systems, global weather- and oceanographic-forecasting systems, and navigational systems.

The primary mission of the Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) is to provide U.S. naval forces with quality supplies and services--at the right place, the right time, and the right price. The command's vision for the 21st century is that a single request by the customer will activate a global network of sources and solutions that delivers best-value products and services--in short, One-Touch Supply.

A principal readiness asset for naval forces, NAVSUP's professional and diverse team delivers information, material, services, and quality-of-life products. Its worldwide work force of more than 9,000 employees manages logistics programs in the areas of supply operations, contracting, conventional ordnance, resale, fuel, transportation, security assistance, food service, and other quality-of-life programs. Rear Adm. Keith W. Lippert was named commander, Naval Supply Systems Command, and the 41st chief of the Navy Supply Corps in August 1999.

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), commanded by Rear Adm. Louis M. Smith, manages the planning, design, and construction of facilities for U.S. Navy activities around the world. NAVFAC provides technical, engineering, and program-management support for public works, family housing, and public utilities for the Department of the Navy. It also acquires and disposes of the Department of the Navy's real estate, and is the program manager for Navy bachelor housing.

NAVFAC provides technical, engineering, and program-management support to expedite the realignment and closure of naval bases. NAVFAC also manages all of the Navy Department's shoreside environmental projects and programs. Through its Engineering Field Divisions, Engineering Field Activities, and the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center, NAVFAC provides the technical expertise needed to support the Navy's environmental initiatives and to interface with numerous legislative and regulatory agencies. It also manages a natural-resource program to enhance the environmental qualities of its land, forests, and wildlife.

NAVFAC's tasks are accomplished by the command's global field activities of Engineering Field Divisions, Engineering Field Activities, the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center, the Seabee Logistics Center, and the Navy Crane Center.

NAVFAC's annual volume of business is approximately $8 billion. Of that amount, more than $4.3 billion is in fixed-price, competitively bid military construction-and-repair contracts awarded to private businesses. About $1.9 billion is expended at public works centers, of which $1 billion is in contracts awarded within the private sector. NAVFAC and its subordinate commands around the world employ about 18,000 civilian and military personnel. *

Naval War College

On 6 October 1884, Secretary of the Navy William E. Chandler signed General Order 325, which began simply by stating: "A college is hereby established for an advanced course of professional study for naval officers, to be known as the Naval War College." The order went on to assign Commodore Stephen B. Luce to duty as president of the College, which is located on Coaster's Harbor Island, Newport, R.I.

Such were the humble beginnings of what is now the oldest continuing institution of its kind in the world. Under the leadership of its current president, Vice Adm. Arthur K. Cebrowski, the Naval War College mission was expanded in 1998 to encompass the Naval Warfare Development Command. CNO Adm. Jay L. Johnson described the reorganization as opening a new era in the College's history by providing a focus with direct linkages to the fleet for the development of Navy doctrine and innovation at the Navy's senior service school.

Now in its second century of service, the Naval War College continues to prepare its students not only for their next assignments, but also for the remainder of their careers. It does this by providing them with professional military educations based on intellectual flexibility--which flows from a clear understanding of the fundamental principles that have governed national-security affairs in peace and in war throughout history. McCarty Little Hall, the War College's first major addition to the campus since the early 1970s, will be the Navy's premier wargaming facility for years to come. As a strategic maritime-research center, it will house the front line of strategic research, decision support, and gaming as the Navy prepares its leaders for the next century. The $19 million research center is a three-story structure that encompasses approximately 103,000 square feet of classrooms and support/administrative offices.

Academically, the faculty is divided into three teaching departments--Strategy and Policy, National Security Decision Making, and Joint Military Operations--under a dean of academics, who also directs the interdepartmental electives program. The school's research activities are drawn together in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies. The student body is subdivided into four resident colleges and one nonresident college:

College of Naval Warfare: Senior-level resident school attended by senior-grade officers from all five U.S. military services and civilians from a number of U.S. government agencies.

College of Naval Command and Staff: Intermediate-level resident school attended by mid-grade officers from all five U.S. services and civilians from a number of U.S. government agencies.

Naval Command College: Senior-level resident international school attended by senior-grade naval officers from up to 35 nations annually.

Naval Staff College: Intermediate-level resident international school attended by mid-grade naval officers from some 25 nations in each of two classes per year.

College of Continuing Education: Intermediate-level nonresident school intended to extend the Naval War College program to U.S. naval/military officers and eligible DOD civilian employees who are unable to attend resident courses.

The Naval War College currently offers courses of study leading to a diploma from each of its five colleges. In March 1991, the College was accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges to award a Master of Arts degree in national security and strategic studies. In October 1990, Congress determined that the Naval War College would be the only senior service college in the United States authorized and accredited to confer a graduate degree for a one-year course of instruction. In addition, U.S. military officers graduating from the Colleges of Naval Warfare and Naval Command and Staff are considered to have completed the first phase of requirements for the Joint Professional Military Education program, as set forth by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Additional information on the Naval War College may be obtained at its homepage: www.nwc.navy.mil.

U.S. Naval Academy

The U.S. Naval Academy, founded in 1845, is the undergraduate college of the Navy. Its beautiful and modern buildings and facilities along the Severn River in Annapolis, Md., are designed to meet the academic, athletic, and extracurricular needs of the future officer corps of the Navy. Approximately 1,200 men and women enter the Naval Academy each year. About three fourths of all entering midshipmen complete the academically demanding curriculum, and upon graduation are commissioned as officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. Vice Adm. John R. Ryan currently serves as the Academy's superintendent.

Degrees and Majors: Midshipmen may major in any of 19 principal fields of study: eight in engineering, seven in science and mathematics, and four in the humanities, all leading to a Bachelor of Science degree. All midshipmen also must complete a core curriculum designed to give future naval officers a solid foundation in leadership and character development, naval science, and the humanities.

Costs: Tuition, room, and board expenses are borne by the government. Graduates assume an obligation of five years of active service when they are commissioned. Midshipmen are paid a stipend of $600 per month to cover the cost of uniforms, books, equipment, and personal needs.

Admission Criteria: Candidates must be U.S. citizens, single (without children and not pregnant), at least 17, and cannot have reached the age of 23 on 1 July of their year of admission to the Academy. They also must be officially nominated, meet the Academy's academic, medical, and physical requirements, and be found to be of good moral character. For more detailed information: call (410) 293­4361; or write to Head of Candidate Guidance, U.S. Naval Academy, 117 Decatur Road, Annapolis, Md. 21402. Additional information may be found on the Academy's homepage: www.usna.edu.