The “1000 ship Navy” is a delusional concept that assumes we can count on other navies–the same delusion that led to the Navy being heavy in the 1980's and 1990's while completely lacking in “small craft” such as mine-sweepers. We wrote the original J-2 Plans piece on Somali pirates in 2005 and nothing was done–years later both U.S Navy and U.S. Special Operations colleagues told us nothing was done because the problem was not expensive enough (we are NOT making this up!). We even volunteered to do some quick and dirty honey trap runs with 70-80 foot yatches available cheap in Turkey, each carrying a couple of topless babes on top and a squad of pissed-off SEALs lounging below, gattling guns at the ready. No takers….hence proving the point that slogans are no substitute for strategic thinking.
Our own original 450-Ship Navy article was accepted by USNI in the 1990's and then constantly pushed back from publication as various Admirals got their ghost-written pet rocks published. We finally sent back the $750 and published it through a defense news online service. More recently, we updated it, and below is the graphic and link to the updated article. Three CNO's in a row have blown this off, the USN appears to be unable to design a total Navy and is still not serious about littoral or expedtionary operations, support to stabilization & reconstruction operations, or our favorite, “peace from the sea.”
2008 U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century
