Navy Chief Wants Balanced Fleet

Instead of, I suppose, a fleet tilted toward fighting a blue water adversary, like we built in the 1990's. From Navy News:

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Adm. Mike Mullen, addressed members of the Surface Navy Association (SNA) Jan. 10 at their 18th Annual National Symposium held at the Hyatt Regency in Arlington, Va.Addressing the SNA for the first time since taking the helm as CNO, Mullen said the Navy’s view of sea power needed to expand, incorporating both traditional and nontraditional missions."I believe sea power as a notion has become way too narrowly defined," Mullen said. "For far too long it's been centered in my view on one of two things - programs and blue water, building big things and putting them to sea."

He also discussed his plan for a "thousand ship navy":

You may have heard me talk about the 1,000-ship navy, about a world fleet of like-minded navies and coast guards teaming up in a sort of global neighborhood watch," CNO explained. “People realize our fates are lashed together now more so than at any other time in history.” He highlighted the Maritime Security Operations being conducted in the Persian Gulf, which includes 45 ships from seven nations, all led by a British commodore embarked aboard USS Cape St. George (CG 71), an U.S. Navy cruiser.

And finally, he says the current size of the US Navy is not enough. I agree:

Challenges abound when considering requirements, and Mullen said that shipbuilding is a case in point. "We had only four ships in the FY [fiscal year] '06 budget, we’re at 280 ships total right now and that’s just not enough. We’re as low as I’m comfortable going." "At some point we need to start building a new Navy, a new fleet designed to meet the challenges of tomorrow - big an small - as best we see them," he added. "Again, two challenges, one fleet."