I’ve written a lot about the history of Navy Day in the past including this article from 2019
This is the 75th anniversary of that last Navy Day and the criticality of having a strong navy is becoming clearer with every passing day.
The country finds itself once more with a fleet that is powerful on paper but growing weaker by the day.
Looking at the geopolitical situation, we are facing threats that were only hypothetical just five years ago.
North, South, East and West
Our borders are under assault every day and many experts feel that the breaching that has been allowed to remain virtually unchecked for the past four years has allowed agents to enter and infiltrate our nation. One very dedicated person could wreak havoc in a very short time from. The release of electronic devices designed to interrupt communications is a very real threat. Coupled with over the horizon hacking networks run by adversarial nations, the complicated defenses we rely on could be temporarily or permanently blinded. All of that could come at a critical juncture of real assaults on the nations we rely on for mutual defense. China has made it very clear that they wish to take back Taiwan. Russia has indicated its desire to recapture its previous slave states in Europe as well as in the islands near Japan and even Alaska. North Korea has made it abundantly clear that given a chance, South Korea would join in the misery that is what the population of North Korea lives with daily. The middle east is a ticking time bomb, and the use of nuclear weapons is only a few mouse clicks away.
The list goes on and on.
Navy Day 1945 celebrated the end of the most devastating world war that had ever existed. The ability of evil men to perpetrate the vilest destruction on their fellow mankind was stretched to the limits of understanding. The revelation of death camps on a mechanized scale was revolting and reprehensible. The torture of people of every nationality was incomprehensible in a world that imagined itself to be civilized. Yet we saw on October 7 of 2023 that the evil that existed was not wiped out after all. We have also seen the savagery of Russians in their unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Evil still runs rampant in the world. The difference between now and 1945 is that we once again became lulled into the belief that we could appeal to the better nature of our fellow man for peace. It turns out some people just don’t have a better nature. Putin will be Putin and there is no changing that. When he is gone, some other evil person will take his place. Radical Islamic Terrorists will be around until the last light goes out in the world. Chinese dictators have been in existence for thousands of years. Anyone that thinks otherwise will find out soon enough that all of this is not only true but could be fatal.
The past versus the present
On December 7th, the United States found out the cost of not being prepared enough for the unexpected.
But on that day, we had the richest capacity to recover. The raw materials and industrial capacity we possessed as a nation allowed us to put together the most robust response the world had ever seen. America became the arsenal of democracy before Pearl Harbor and the anger of being caught off guard drove the people to give their all to respond. Our infrastructure was mobilized to send materials and men rapidly to the right places. Our mills poured out steel and every manner of building materials. Great camps around the country trained men and women for war. Vast resources of food and medicine also came into play. But never forget that behind all of that was an electric grid that was protected and secure along with communications that were out of the reach of the enemy. We were a roaring engine of democracy and the enemy in both side of the Atlantic and Pacific felt out power withing a relatively short period of time.
Today we are a shell of what we once were. The capacity to replace ships is a mere shadow of what it once was. We have just enough ships and aircraft for a limited engagement. Our only strength is our aging nuclear weapons program. We weren’t supposed to have another world war, remember? And foolishly, we have depleted our oil reserve supply for political reasons. I have looked carefully, and we still don’t have any solar powered cruisers and frankly we long ago gave up on wind powered ships.
The manning situation is another question mark.
We can barely find enough qualified recruits to man the ships we can manage to put to sea.
And some of them are capable of crippling important assets when they aren’t well prepared. From CNN and the after action report of the USS Bon Homme Richards disaster:
A Navy investigation released last October found the fire was “clearly preventable” and was the result of a series of systematic failures.
The cascade of errors and breakdowns involved 36 Navy personnel, the investigation found, including the commander of the USS Bonhomme Richard and five admirals, who failed to maintain the ship, ensure adequate training, provide shore support, or carry out proper oversight.
Even before the fire, the condition on the ship was “significantly degraded,” the investigation found, including firefighting equipment, heat detection capability and communications equipment, allowing the flames to spread more quickly. Meanwhile, the ship’s crew had failed firefighting drills, including a repeated inability to apply firefighting chemicals during drills on 14 straight occasions leading up to the fire.
In July, the Navy announced that it would punish more than 20 sailors for the fire. The most serious actions focused on the leadership of the warship and the fire response team. The ship’s former commanding officer, Capt. Gregory Scott Thoroman, and former executive officer, Capt. Michael Ray, received punitive letters of reprimand and forfeiture of pay. The former command master chief, Jose Hernandez, received a punitive letter of reprimand.
Leadership
I have avoided talking about the other elephant in the room.
The Navy needs to focus with utmost clarity on preparedness and stop wasting a single moment on DEI and equity. It’s time to ramp up the fighting spirit of the entire organization and focus on the corps mission of defending a nation. We are close to a tipping point and there will be no winners if the adversaries all decide to act at once. They have already been meeting and see a new world order where America is just a side show. If that happens, who will stop they tyrants? Who will be the last best hope for mankind? Where will people go for a respite from the terror and evil that will surely run rampant?
Theodore Roosevelt, whose birthday we celebrate today warned us over a century ago:
“A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guarantee of peace.”
I hope the next administration gets that.
Mister Mac
theleansubmariner 