Collisions: Did Culture Trump Technology?

Captain William J. Toti, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
During my final active-duty assignment prior to retirement, however, I spent more time on surface ships than on submarines. And I observed many cultural differences in the way the surface ...

This Week in Proceedings Today

August 2017
Collisions: Did Culture Trump Technology?By Captain William J. Toti, U.S. Navy (Retired) Ship Collisions: Address the Underlying Causes, Including CultureBy Lieutenant Commander Erin Patterson, U.S. Navy ReserveCollisions ...

Collisions: Part III—Maintenance

By Captain Kevin Eyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
The discussion regarding the recent collisions of the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and the John S. McCain (DDG-56) has moved beyond “how could this have happened” asked at a micro-level to ...

Collisions: Part II—Operational Pause

By Captain Kevin Eyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral John Richardson has ordered an “operational pause.” Fleet commanders will meet with their respective commands to ensure “we’re taking all appropriate actions to ensure ...

Realize the Great Green Fleet

By Commander Daniel Orchard-Hays, U.S. Navy, and Lieutenant Colonel Laura A. King, U.S. Air Force
August 2017
The U.S. Navy’s initiative could pave the way for a Department of Defense energy program that garners precious energy resources in peacetime and saves lives in war.The Department of ...

Coast Guard Is More Than Cutters

By Lieutenant David Allan Adams Jr., U.S. Coast Guard
August 2017
Since the birth of the modern Coast Guard, the cutter has been the primary tool for Coast Guard men and woman to conduct operations and protect the homeland.

Instill the Fundamentals of Seamanship and Navigation

By Captain Matt Meilstrup and Lieutenant Commander Grant Thomas, U.S. Coast Guard
August 2017
As warships become overreliant on electronic navigation, the Sea Services must return to teaching basic mariner skills.Even on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle (WIX-327)—the oldest ship in ...

Fight Fire with Fire

By Captain Sam J. Tangredi U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Facing growing networks of anti­access warfare systems, the U.S. Navy can regain an early offensive capability by taking conventionally armed intermediate-range ballistic missiles to sea.Attack effectively first. That is ...

Chinese Deliver Presence in Sri Lanka

Captain Dale Rielage, U.S. Navy
August 2017
The U.S. Navy needs to understand that it no longer has a corner on maritime soft power. The PLAN hospital ship Daishan Dao deploys regularly, conducting humanitarian missions in the ...

Bring Back the Dragon Swarms

By Brian J. Dunn
August 2017
The rise of networked enemy surveillance systems and long-range precision strike capabilities make Marine expeditionary unit (MEU)-centered amphibious ready groups (ARGs) too large to avoid attention, and they are too ...

When ASW Didn't Matter

By Commander Daniel Dolan, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
The influential naval theorist Alfred Thayer Mahan lived to see his theory of sea power tested in the first major conflict of the early 20th century. Writing his own Retrospect ...

Social Media is a Weapon

By Lieutenant Commander Seán Carnew, Royal Navy, and Major Jason Furlong, Royal Canadian Air Force
August 2017
Social media has grown into a disruptive technology that must be considered by militaries and governments. Technological innovations that become disruptive can go unnoticed at the time of their emergence ...

Brain-computer interfaces are Game Changers

By Lieutenant Carl Governale, U.S. Navy
August 2017
Artificial intelligence (AI) is approaching a technological inflection point that irrevocably will alter the global perspective. In the coming years, the battlefield will be rife with automated and autonomous systems ...

Editor's Page

August 2017
This month we celebrate Don Walsh’s two decades of doing our “Oceans” column. From diving with Jacques Piccard on Trieste to a depth of 35,798 feet in the Mariana Trench ...

Comment & Discussion

— Captain William J. Toti, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Where are the Cyber Warriors?(See W. J. Toti, p. 13, July 2017 Proceedings)Captain Toti begins with something he knows didn’t happen: President Roosevelt asking the CNO in 1939 what the ...

CEO Notes

August 2017
Annual Meeting & Member Reception Were TerrificAt our Annual Meeting held on 11 May in Washington, D.C., we reported the Naval Institute’s key 2016 results:• We increased membership for ...

Now Hear This—Mine Warfare: Work Dumber, Not Smarter

By Lieutenant Matthew Hipple, U.S. Navy
August 2017
From Italian posts in Syracusian harbors in 415 B.C. to modern Italian smart-mines, mine warfare is naval history’s most painful defensive mission. When not ignored, it is traditionally over-thought. Thucydides ...

Nobody Asked Me But. . . Sexual Assault: Not in our Navy

By Ensign Bridget Kennedy, U.S. Navy
August 2017
Last year, 1,483 Navy personnel reported being sexually assaulted. That is enough sailors to man four-and-a-half Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. Along with those 1,483 sexual assault victims, there were 1,483 ...

Leadership Forum—Developing Leaders of Character


By Admiral James M. Loy, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired), and Dr. Ira Martin

August 2017
Leadership and character cut across the individual and organizational levels of management and learning. Dr. Ira Martin, Leader in Residence at the Coast Guard Academy’s Institute for Leadership (IFL), interviewed ...

Shorten the Navy Work Week

By Captain John Cordle, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Navy leadership prides itself on keeping fleet manning as one its top priorities. What many on active duty today may not understand, however, that to save costs—under the umbrella of ...

Book Reviews

August 2017
Optimizing CyberdeterrenceRobert Mandel. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2017. 289 pp. Biblio. Index. $32.89.Reviewed by Captain William Toti, U.S. Navy (Retired) and Colonel Ed Keegan, U.S. Air Force (Retired)If you ...

Professional Notes—Clinical Decision Support Can Save Lives

By Commander Jonathan A. Forsberg, Medical Corps, U.S. Navy
August 2017
In 2015, then-President Barack Obama launched the Precision Medicine Initiative,1 establishing ethical and technical rules of engagement for using health-related data to drive more effective and individualized care. The goal ...

Professional Notes—The Navy Needs HUMINT

By Lynn Wright, Mark A. Assur, and Brennan McKernan
August 2017
The Navy’s information and intelligence needs demand diverse approaches, with a focus on understanding potential adversaries and operating environments. In recent decades, however, the Navy has become increasingly reliant on ...

Combat Fleets

By Eric Wertheim
August 2017
In April, Indonesia commissioned into service Raden Eddy Martadinata, the first of two planned SIGMA 10514 frigates. The new 345-foot ship was fitted together by PT PAL shipyard in Indonesia ...

Fire Scout UAV Prepares for LCS

By Edward J. Walsh
August 2017
The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and Northrop Grumman’s Tactical Autonomous Systems business unit are preparing for a second phase of dynamic interface testing for the MQ-8C Fire Scout vertical ...

Fitzgerald: There But for the Grace of God Go I

By Captain Kevin Eyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Regarding the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), the churn in the national media seems to have resolved to mourning the dead and wondering how things could have gone so terribly wrong. Speculation ...

British Aircraft Carriers Return

By Norman Friedman
August 2017
The first of Great Britain’s two new aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth, began sea trials in May. She and her sister ship, Prince of Wales, represent the revival of Royal ...

Leadership Is Listening First

By Vice Admiral A.H. Konetzni, Jr., U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
Editor’s Note: This is Part 3 of a 10-part series on behaviors that Vice Admiral Konetzni learned over his years of service and believes not only apply to successful individuals ...

Collisions: Part I—What Are the Root Causes?

By Captain Kevin Eyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
August 2017
In the past two months, two major U.S. warships have collided with merchant vessels. In both cases, lives were lost; personnel were injured; and ships sustained major damages. In both ...

We Have Been At War a Long Time

Captain John Byron, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
August 2017
If your kids or grandkids are 16 years old or younger, they live in a nation that has been at war continuously since they were born.If you entered the U.S ...

From our Archive

August 2017
A Piasecki XHRP-1 “Rescuer” tandem rotor helicopter comes in for a landing at the Piasecki Helicopter Corporation’s headquarters at Morton, Pennsylvania, on 18 May 1949.Note: This and other photographs and ...

Navy Boost Phase Intercept Could Counter North Korea

By Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Samuel S. Lacinski, U.S. Navy
August 2017
Recent developments indicate that North Korea is on the verge of fielding a nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the continental United States. These recent trends—punctuated by an ...

Navy Boost Phase Could Counter North Korea: Part Two

By Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Samuel S. Lacinski, U.S. Navy
August 2017
To read Part One of this series, please click here. Developing boost-phase intercept capabilities is key to an integrated, layered missile defense system, especially given the rapid advances in North ...

Fake Bugles Hit Wrong Note

Musician First Class Kurt Zemaitaitis, U.S. Navy
August 2017
I am frequently asked how I remain composed while performing Taps at funerals. It’s not always easy. If played slowly, it can last about one minute. To make that melancholy ...

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