05 September 2008

Navy Already Shifting Away from Shallow Waters? | Danger Room from Wired.com

It appears that the US Navy will be shifting strategy away from littoral (coastal) operations.

The article makes some grandiose statements about how a new networked battlespace will require naval ships to operate further offshore, but I think that this is bunk. Rather there are two imperatives driving this decision:
  • Having a ship run aground ends a career in the Navy, even if it was really unavoidable, and littoral operations, because they are in shallower water, increase the possibility of a ground by at least an order of magnitude.
  • Because of the US history of separation from enemies by oceans, there is a myopic focus on a blue water navy

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