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The MOC

The Center for Maritime Strategy’s online journal, The MOC – Maritime Operations Center – critically engages with pressing defense issues, particularly focusing on the maritime domain.

The Return of Infernal Machines to Naval Warfare

15 November 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills
The term “infernal machine” has been used to label many warfare innovations but in naval warfare it was often used to describes mines or torpedoes in the 19th century. As these weapons became more capable, they were seen as a serious threat to capital ships in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The torpedo boat menace was written about extensively in popular novels of the day, and the weapon was seen as a “game changer” for weaker powers unable to build large, armored warships.

The Administration’s National Defense Strategy Hinges on the Navy

3 November 2022
By Benjamin Mainardi
Released on October 27, the Biden Administration’s first National Defense Strategy(NDS), including the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review and Missile Defense Review, included little surprising information. The document is replete with language that has marked nearly every national security discussion by the Administration – “allies and partners” is mentioned no less than 117 times and “deterrence” 167 times. Consistent with the Administration’s National Security Strategy, it has fully enshrined integrated deterrence and campaigning as the Administration’s capstone concepts for its national security posture.

The Navy and the New NDS: Opportunities and Challenges

1 November 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills
The unclassified National Defense Strategy (NDS), along with the latest Nuclear Posture Review, and National Missile Defense Review (MDR) document have now been released by the Biden administration. How do their provisions affect the Navy, specifically the CNO’s 2022 Navigation Plan and Force Design 2045 concept?

Combatting Mental Health Trauma and The Impact on Sailors at Sea

26 October 2022
By John Bui
The number of veterans receiving mental health care have increased by 90% from fiscal year 2006-2019, as reported by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) from the Department of Veteran Affairs. Suicide prevention remains a number one priority for Veteran Affairs (VA), as the VA projects a 32% increase in outpatient mental health care over the next 10 years.

Putin’s Buzz Bombs Won’t Help Him Win in Ukraine

20 October 2022
By Admiral James G. Foggo
This week revealed another new challenge in Ukraine’s defense of its sovereign territory – vicious drone attacks against civilian targets in Kyiv. Dozens of attacks on energy infrastructure and indiscriminate strikes on civilian targets occurred in just one day. Some drones were shot down before reaching their destinations, but the many of them made it to their intended targets. This begs the question, what is the way forward from here?

Plugged In: How the 21st Century Sailor Communicates

18 October 2022
By RDML Kavon Hakimzadeh
21st century Sailors’ use of social media to post their concerns is democratizing the Navy. In fact, it is reversing the traditional roles of leader and follower. Just this year, social media posts about a fuel leak at Red Hill, suicides on USS George Washington, and slow repairs to bachelor quarters at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center have consumed significant senior Navy leadership bandwidth. Their time is being spent responding to Congressional and media inquiries into Sailor concerns posted on Reddit. Social media posts by “followers” who do not feel they are being heard are driving leadership actions. This, in turn, is setting the priorities for the focus of Navy leaders.

South Korea Must be a “Global Pivotal State” by Advancing Liberal Democratic Values at Seas

7 October 2022
By Andrew Park
During the presidential campaign in early 2022, Yoon pledged to make his country a “global pivotal state” by “no longer being confined to the Korean Peninsula” and “advancing freedom, peace, and prosperity through liberal democratic values.” Unlike his predecessor who maintained ‘strategic ambiguity’ between the U.S. and China during most of his tenure, Yoon revitalized the alliance by fully expanding the scope and scale of military exercises and restoring the eroded readiness of the alliance

SAMs to Syria: Can the Marines Weaken Putin on Another Front?

5 October 2022
By Michael D. Purzycki
U.S. support to Ukraine in its battle against the Russian invasion has paid dividends. The world has been impressed by recent Ukrainian battlefield gains, made possible by a wide array of U.S. equipment. By all means, the U.S. and its allies should continue aiding Ukrainian forces.

American Maritime Strategy Prior to the Second World War and the Myths of US Isolationism?

29 September 2022
By Connor L. Mitchell
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered these words in his famous Fireside Chat, colloquially referred to as his ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ speech, in December of 1940, a year prior to America’s entry into the Second World War. Much of this sentiment is echoed today by a majority of American citizens who wish to see a democratic Ukraine successfully defend itself against the authoritarian Russian Federation. In fact, the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 is soon to be in effect in October of this year.

An 11 Carrier Navy in a 20 Carrier World?

27 September 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills
Back in March, 1987, as the Senate contemplated the last two-carrier “block buy” that later became the USS George Washington and USS Abraham Lincoln, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Plans, Policies and Operations Vice Admiral Hank Mustin confronted a phalanx of arguably one of the more august Senate Armed Services Committee groups – Ted Kennedy, John Warner, Carl Levin, John McCain, Bill Cohen and many others – with a startling claim that “since 1947 11 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs have validated carrier requirements in excess of 20” for wartime requirements.

Chip Diplomacy: Semiconductors and the Threat of Conflict

22 September 2022
By Michael Barth
Tensions continue to rise between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Biden administration’s decision to keep many of the Trump-era tariffs until China lives up to its trade commitments, the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act), and a dramatic increase in the number and size of Chinese military operations in proximity to Taiwan may leave one asking if escalated rivalry or war between the two great powers is possible, or even inevitable. It is unlikely that war will arise due to the PRC’s human rights violations or mutual trade issues, as the economic and human costs would be staggering. However…

No Air Superiority Means no Sea Control: The Case of the Black Sea Fleet

20 September 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills
A recent Politico article on the challenges facing the Russian Black Sea Fleet gets at some of the problems Russian naval forces face in the war against Ukraine but stops short of identifying the real issue which is a lack of air superiority in the Black Sea littoral. Russia made a key operational error in force allocation when it diverted the bulk of its air defense warships to the Mediterranean Sea instead of keeping them in the Baltic to ensure air defense of Russian maritime resupply efforts. The Politico article suggests that losses to Russian amphibious ships are the worst result of Black Sea Fleet impotency, but the real casualty is the ability of the Fleet itself to protect itself, which in turn affects all its other operations.

No, there is no Military Industrial Complex

6 September 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills
There remains a retro view of the defense industry from the Cold War that suggests such firms are well funded, overcharge the taxpayers and do not give good value in the products they produce. Nothing could be further from the truth. The “warfare state” from the last period of great power rivalry with the Soviet Union died in the 1990’s. Defense companies, especially U.S. defense shipbuilders face an uphill challenge in maintaining a qualified, ready workforce in the face of undefined fleet force structure planning, funding problems incurred in periods such as sequestration, and the fact that shipbuilding is hard, but complex work. 

Welcome Aboard to the USS Constellation

2 September 2022
By Admiral James G. Foggo
These immortal words of the Father of the American Navy were not only prophetic but largely practical. When King Louis XVI of France gifted the former French merchant vessel, Duc de Duras, to the Continental Navy on February 4, 1779, Captain John Paul Jones renamed the frigate Bonhomme Richard in honor of Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanac.” Captain Jones made good use of the vessel to defeat the Royal Navy frigate HMS Serapis in battle off Flamborough Head on 23 September 1779. Jones’ spectacular victory is celebrated to this day by every new Plebe at the Naval Academy in their required memorization of Reef Points.

Training, Building and Retaining our Shipyard Industrial Workforce

31 August 2022
By CMS Staff
With all the challenges in the world today, it goes without saying that America, an island nation, needs a powerful Navy. A lot of effort goes into our Constitutional requirement to “maintain a Navy,” and that means a robust warfighting platforms or ships and well-trained crews to sail them. Before we get there, however, we need a shipbuilding industrial base—shipyards and machines that bend metal and produce the finest warship in the world. In addition to the Sailors needed to fight these ships, we also need shipyard workers to build these vessels.

The Navy is a Deployment Machine

18 August 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills
There has been much discord of late regarding the mission of the United States Navy, how that mission should be accomplished and what force structure of ships, submarines, aircraft, and other components ought to execute those assignments. There is an increasing chorus of voices in Congress that the Navy must grow in response to a rising Chinese threat and the return of a revanchist Russia seeking renewed influence in its near abroad.

East and West of Suez: What if the Canal Closes?

16 August 2022
By Michael D. Purzycki
In 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Fearing a loss of their power in the Middle East, Britain and France joined with Israel to invade the Sinai Peninsula. Much of the world, including the United States, condemned the invasion, and USS President Dwight D. Eisenhower pressured Britain and France to withdraw.
It was a humiliating result for two countries that still thought of themselves as great powers. For Britain, the Sinai War marked a turning point in its attitude toward overseas power projection.

RIMPAC: The Navy’s Real Impact in the International Arena

10 August 2022
By Andrew Park
Despite recent budgetary hiccups and attacks, the Navy has prevailed once again by proving its crucial importance in the era of great power competition by successfully conducting the world’s largest military exercise, the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). With participation by military forces of ‘like-minded’ nations from not only the Indo-Pacific but also Europe, Middle East, and North and South America, the biannual exercise is a platform through which the Navy leads other service branches and several dozen nations to enhance interoperability among participating armed forces, as a means of promoting stability in the region to the benefit of all participants

Blockade the Belt and Road or Taipei Airlift?

9 August 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills

A New York Times article on recent Chinese military exercises asked what the U.S. response would be if the People’s Republic of China (PRC) blockaded Taiwan by air and sea for an extended period. The U.S. has several options from the more hard-edge in a counter-blockade of vulnerable Chinese seaborne commodities to a Cold War favorite of airlifting supplies into a beleaguered city. Chinese imports of protein and hydrocarbons are vital to both peacetime civilian existence as well as the maintenance of Beijing’s war machine

Responding to the Russia-UN Ukrainian Grain Export Plan

8 August 2022
By Bradford Dismukes, CAPT, USNR (ret.)

On July 22, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Nations signed agreements to move Ukrainian grain through the blockade to world markets. The following day, Russia launched a cruise missile attack on Odesa’s port despite its commitment not to do so, agreed to just hours before. These developments require immediate response by the U.S., NATO, and the EU. Outlined here are proposals for the shape of that response and the ideas that underlie them.

A Timeless U.S. Navy Strategy

2 August 2022
By Captain Anthony Cowden

The Maritime Strategy of 1986 was published in a time when the U.S. Navy actually got to say how it would be strategically employed to meet the maritime interests of the nation. However, with the passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act and the ascendancy of “Joint,” that is no longer the case.

NAVPLAN 2022’s Budget Requirement: An Elusive Necessity?

28 July 2022
By Benjamin E. Mainardi

In his recently released, updated Navigation Plan (NAVPLAN), Chief of Naval Operations Michael Gilday stated that “the Navy will require 3-5% sustained budget growth above actual inflation. Short of that, we will prioritize modernization over preserving force structure.” This assertion, bolded in the document as it is here, challenges Congress and the Administration to match their rhetoric with their funding priorities.

NAVPLAN 2022: Laying the Groundwork for the Future Force

26 July 2022
By Admiral James G. Foggo & Dr. Steven Wills

The U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations has published his new Navigation Plan, laying the cornerstone for the future fleet of 2045, and delivers integrated, all-domain naval power. It is a comprehensive plan that tackles the challenges of readiness, capacity, capabilities, and sailor issues, consistent with FRAGO 2019 and NAVPLAN 2021. While the Navy has achieved initial success, the long-term plan requires time and more money to execute as the service plans a combat capable fleet out through 2045.

Time to Update the Salvo Equations

21 July 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills

The Salvo Model of Modern Missile Combat was first fully articulated in print by their primary developer; the late Naval Postgraduate School Professor Captain Wayne P. Hughes, U.S. Navy (retired) in 1995. The product of Hughes’ research into pulsed combat actions from the Second World War through the advent of the cruise missile age, the “Salvo Equations” have since become a standard method of understanding cruise missile combat in the 21st century.

A Lesson in Force Design on a Tight Budget from Jackie Fisher

18 July 2022
By Dr. Steven Wills

There have been few, historical naval leaders more iconoclastic in their thinking and execution then Admiral Sir John Fisher of the U.K. Royal Navy. Known in the service as “Jackie” or “Jack” (synonymous with that of the average British sailor known as Jack Tar,” Fisher was no ordinary admiral such as were common in the late 19th and early 29th century Royal Navy.

The Sea Services’ Strategy Imperative

12 July 2022
By Benjamin E. Mainardi

The United States has produced three maritime “strategies” since the beginning of the twenty-first century: A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower (2007), Forward, Engaged, Ready: A Cooperative Strategy for21st Century Seapower (2015), and Advantage at Sea: Prevailing with Integrated All-Domain Naval Power (2020). Fundamentally, however, these publications are not strategies. They are, in fact, vague declaratory white papers reiterating the general aims of the President, most frequently expressed through each’s National Security Strategy, and later contextualized with the maritime language of the Sea Services.

The First of the Dominoes has Fallen in the Growing World Food Crisis

12 July 2022
By Admiral James G. Foggo and Dr. Ian Ralby

The horrific terrorist attacks that rocked the national capital of Colombo on Easter Sunday in 2019 did not cause Sri Lanka to collapse.  Nor did China’s takeover of Sri Lankan sovereign territory through impossible loan terms on a port deal that left the country smaller and hopelessly in debt. Instead, it was the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that fomented widespread civil unrest and led to the resignations of both the President and Prime Minister on 9 July 2022. Sadly, this outcome was foreseeable.  

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