Bill Hamblet photo

From the Editor’s Desk

By Bill Hamblet
January 2021
We begin this year with our annual focus on the surface navy, timed to coincide with the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium (11–14 January).
Surface Image

CEO Notes

VADM Peter H. Daly, USN (Ret.)
January 2021
This issue includes the opening chapter of the American Sea Power Project—a project that continues the Naval Institute’s long legacy of thought leadership.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), left, and the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in the Arabian Sea in March.

No Margin Left

By Megan Eckstein, Deputy Editor, USNI News
January 2021
Overworked aircraft carriers struggle to maintain deployments after decades of overuse.
The role of a “mustang” differs from that of a chief petty officer. Limited duty officer and chief warrant officer are programs that provide managers and technical specialists to the fleet.

So You Want to Be an Officer

By Chief Boatswain’s Mate Jeff Bayless, U.S. Navy (Retired)
January 2021
As we make rank, rub elbows with a tribe of mentors, and take on different roles and responsibilities, the drive to promote motivates us—we all want to climb the ladder.
With adequate planning, training, and experience as an integrated unit, an LCS surface action group could be a formidable offensive weapon.

Deploy the LCS in Packs

By Lieutenant Commander Christopher Pratt, U.S. Navy
January 2021
With adequate planning, training, and experience as an integrated unit, an LCS surface action group could be a formidable offensive weapon.
Having unloaded aircraft and weapons in preparation for selected restricted availability (SRA) maintenance in Yokosuka in December 1981, the USS Midway (CV-41) instead reloaded and headed for the coast of Korea.

Standing Ready Off Korea

By Senior Chief Petty Officer Robert Stuart, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired)
January 2021
The USS Midway (CV-41) was planned to be in port for an extended work period on the carrier.
A U.S. Navy destroyer escorts a United Nations convoy somewhere in the North Atlantic on 30 June 1943. A heavy roll in rough seas.

Where We Were

January 2021
In “Psychology and the Navy,” Lieutenant F. H. Gilmer, U.S. Navy, wrote, “the human mind is the greatest machine in the world.
Wind turbines on the Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm, off the coast of Cumbria, England, in the Irish Sea.

Global Offshore Wind Energy: Emerging Ocean Use

By Captain Lawson W. Brigham, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired)
January 2021
The offshore wind industry is a newcomer to the use of the oceans and seabed when compared with historic maritime sectors such as fishing, shipping, and offshore hydrocarbon development.
When the USS Houston (CL-81) suffered two Japanese torpedo attacks just two days apart in October 1944, then-Commander George Miller led the damage-control parties that kept the light cruiser afloat.

Rivets Flying Like Bullets

By A. Denis Clift
January 2021
Then-Commander George H. Miller, damage control officer in the USS Houston (CL-81), recalls the Japanese attack—the first of two on 14 and 16 October 1944.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) sails in formation with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Akizuki-class destroyer JS Teruzuki (DD-116) and Arleigh Burke–class destroyer USS Mustin (DDG-89) in the Philippine Sea.

The Navy’s Next Four Years

By John Kroger
January 2021
The next four years will be critical for the U.S. Navy as the nation faces new challenges. The next administration should focus on six priorities.
USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) fires an SM-6 missile

What Got Us Here Won’t Get Us There

By Vice Admiral Roy Kitchener, Rear Admiral Brad Cooper, and Rear Admiral Paul Schlise, U.S. Navy
January 2021
A key to deterring great power adversaries is to demonstrate the ability to win the high-end fight.
Though smugglers might still find existing trafficking methods superior to unmanned systems, the Coast Guard must be prepared to counter the technology with creative solutions.

The War on Drugs on Autopilot

By Lieutenants Jasper Campbell and James Martin, U.S. Coast Guard
January 2021
The Coast Guard must be ready for the potential impact of autonomous vessel technology on its highest visibility mission: counternarcotics

The U.S. Naval Institute is a private, self-supporting, not-for-profit professional society that publishes Proceedings as part of the open forum it maintains for the Sea Services. The Naval Institute is not an agency of the U.S. government; the opinions expressed in these pages are the personal views of the authors.