Page 37 - NAVAL SCIENCE 3 TEXTBOOK

Naval Operations

The employment and movements of various types of naval ships tied together and managed by means of an enhanced computer-
and other naval forces in carrying out the Navy's mission is col- based command and control system that will incorporate the latest
lectively called naval operations. These operations can range from Internet and information systems technology to provide unprece-
missions carried out by individual combat units, ships, or aircraft, dented ability to coordinate all aspects of naval operations.
to large-scale evolutions done by an entire fleet.
In his blueprint for the U.S. Navy of the twenty-first century,
Naval Task Force Organization
Sea Power 21, Admiral Vernon Clark, chief of naval operations
(CNO), stated that henceforth there will be three basic concepts The Navy's operating forces are divided into a number of fleets:
underlying all future naval operations: sea strike, sea shield, and sea Eastern Pacific, Third; Western Pacific, Seventh; Indian Ocean,
basing. Sea strike is the ability to project offensive power from the Fifth; Western Atlantic, Second; and Mediterranean Sea, Sixth. The
sea worldwide, whenever and wherever required. Sea shield con- Navy's fleets are subdivided into task forces, groups, units, and ele-
cerns naval operations related to homeland defense, and defense ments. Warships are grouped to achieve the proper balance for spe-
of u.s. and allied sea and land forces and territory abroad. Sea bas- cific tactical jobs; this is called the battle group organization. The
ing concerns the maintenance of deployed fast response forces battle groups, or strike forces, are made up of those ships designed
sufficient to carry out the Navy's mission worldwide, and their sus- for combat at sea. These are the warships: carriers, surface com-
tainment from the sea. These three operational concepts will be batants, and submarines. Other groups comprise the amphibious
force, mobile logistic force, and support force.

National Security Command and
President
Council
Control Organization
Naval forces are organized for their roles
as task-oriented, Navy-Marine Corps
teams. Command authority for naval
Secretary
of Defense forces, as with all U.S. military forces,
starts with the president and extends
through the secretary of defense, with
Chairman, advice from the chairman of the Joint
-------
Joint Chiefs Chiefs of Staff, to the unified or speci-
of Staff
fied commanders. A unified or specified
Unified Commands command is a command with a broad,
continuing mission under a single
commander. A unified command has
a geographical area of responsibility,
referred to as a theater. A specified com-
mand has functional responsibilities,
such as for special operations or space.
Naval forces are assigned to these uni-
fied or specified commands for opera-
tions; currently there are no specified
commands assigned.
U.S. national defense command structure.

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