United States Merchant Marine: A Valuable Strategic Resource, Now and for the Future
United States Merchant Marine: A Valuable Strategic Resource, Now and for the Future
- New search for: T. W. Richardson
- New search for: T. W. Richardson
Alfred Thayer Mahan has been quoted as saying 'A nation's maritime commerce strength in peacetime is the most telling indication of its overall endurance during war.' In today's modern context there still exists within the nation's defense planning the understanding of the need for a maritime capability to support U.S. projected wartime and emergency contingencies. In his February, 1993 Chairman's report, General Colin Powell highlighted the role of sealift capacity to meet the nation's strategic lift needs in addressing the new regional and flexible focus of its worldwide military missions. In his 'Annual Report to the President and the Congress' in January 1994, former Secretary of Defense Les Aspin discussed the essential role that mobility forces, including sealift, will play in the nation's effort to respond to regional dangers and opportunities. The question arises, however, whether Mahan's nexus still exists as it pertains to the role of the U.S. merchant marine in the nation's wartime or national emergency sealift effort. The most recent example in which sealift played a significant role in support of the nation's military mission occurred during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. While U.S. sealift needs were basically met, some writers have indicated that about 45% of that sealift capacity came from foreign chartered ships and that there were insufficient U.S. merchant seamen available to meet the manning of the nation's reserve fleet. There were even some foreign ships that were prohibited by their governments from entering the combat zone, thus affecting the effectiveness of the sealift effort. Whether this represents a true picture of U.S. sealift capability or accurately projects the extent to which the U.S. maritime fleet will be needed to meet the nation's strategic requirements is the subject of this paper.
Document information
United States Merchant Marine: A Valuable Strategic Resource, Now and for the Future
1994
19 pages
Report
No indication
English
Business & Economics , Marine Engineering , Logistics Military Facilities & Supplies , Department of defense , Military requirements , Prepositioning(Logistics) , Sealift operations , Merchant vessels , Maritime industry , Logistics support , United states , Competition , Shipbuilding , Persian gulf war , National defense , Legislation , Wartime , Emergencies , Mobilization , Manpower , Ship personnel , Merchant marine , Us flag fleet , Jones act trade , Merchant marine act , Jones act , Maritime security and competitiveness act of 1993 , Rrf(Ready reserve fleet) , Roll on roll off vessels , Eusc(Effective us controlled) , Foreign vessels , Ods(Operational differential subsidy) , Msc(Military sealift command) , Mrc(Major regional conflict) , Merchant seamen
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