The new Maritime Strategy is out

OK, here is what we will do. Instead of doing Week 2 of the '86 plan like I put out before, we will instead take from now to Monday to digest the new Maritime Strategy and we will then comment in detail like we did earlier this week with the '86 Maritime Strategy. The WaPost article after the press release has the pull quote.

The strategy integrates seapower with other elements of U.S. national power in addition to that of friends, partners and allies. It states that protecting the U.S. homeland and winning the nation’s wars is matched by a corresponding commitment to preventing war.

“This strategy addresses the balance of capabilities of our maritime services. It reaffirms our core capabilities of forward presence, deterrence, sea control and power projection. It also commits our maritime forces to increased international cooperation for the benefit of all,” said Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations. “It reflects the expectation of the people of the United States to be a strong maritime force to protect our homeland and work collaboratively with partners around the world to secure and stabilize the global waterways that are critical to our prosperity.”

“While we must maintain a balance of forces to be able to deliver credible combat power as deterrence, we also believe preventing wars is as important as winning wars,” said Gen. James Conway, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. “We need to be the most ready when the nation is least ready.”

“Keeping the seas safe and secure from a broad range of threats and hazards is in everyone's best interest," said Adm. Thad Allen, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. "The key to global prosperity and security is through cooperation and coordination."

Not all that much to chew on. We should start with the sales flier (high res).

Right now, it is the only thing I have issues with. If you want to be snarky, well -

- What is it with the three bullets? Only one belongs, and "Seapower is a unifying force for a better tomorrow" sounds like the output from a random sentence generator or something from The Onion. We are so much better than those three blind mice of quotes.
- The post-LCS and DDG-1000 Carrier Strike group is there. A CVN will all its aircraft parked underway in perfect weather guarded by a Coast Guard cutter not ready for anything but a photo op.
- Wait, there is an escort for the tip of the spear - it is a Sailor with a 7.62mm machine gun defending an area 180deg out from the threat vector.
- We have the same air vehicle that was first mentioned on page 28 of the '86 version. That is ok, it took 21 years for its first deployment from mention in The Maritime Strategy; I hope that isn't the standard we are setting.
- We have the USNS Comfort. Nice ship old ship that is doing a great mission building goodwill, but the front page?
- Marines without loaded weapons coming ashore looking for everything like they are trying to find the bar.

Compare that to the old cover, because that was the sales flier then. Heck, I guess we need a sales flier - because the new cover is just, well - uninspiring. Look at it there to the right. We are a nation at war, aren't we? Is that the best we can do? Am I just in a grumpy mood?

Gee wizz they are making this hard. I want very much to be upbeat and forward looking - but they just need to help a brother out.

Anyway, let's get to the meat and ignore the poorly constructed sizzle. There are related stories at the navy.mil site, and here is the PDF of the new Maritime Strategy titled "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower." I prefer just "The Maritime Strategy," but that is just my trying to keep things simple and to the point.

I have only given it a quick skim, and I am very glad to say that the meat is a lot better than the sizzle. It is a little thin, 20 pages for the visually impaired, but it is a start. If you are in a hurry and have a low BS tolerance, skip the first 9 pages (11 if you are counting the cover pages) and just read 10-20.

However, those are not your orders. Like we did with the old Maritime Strategy with Maritime Strategy Monday Week 1, we are going to give everyone, especially the regulars, all the time they need to read it over and ponder their thoughts. As mentioned in the opening paragraph, we are going to interrupt the review of the '86 bit and shift our focus on the new Maritime Strategy.

Run off a copy of the new one and read it over between now and next Monday. Next Maritime Strategy Monday will be focused on the whole document. As before, I will pull out a few of the items that seemed to be of interest to me, and then open comments for everyone else.

I am not interested in being the first out of the block with comments on the web - but the one with the best comments - and not comments just by me - but by all the regulars and those who decide to join in.

Same rules apply; no getting ahead of your shipmates and posting your opinion on other posts before Monday. I look forward to it.