Navy launches New Strategy

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but initially I wasn't very impressed. Since it focused mainly on cooperation with other navies, my first reaction was "let the little guy do all the dirty work while we sail around in our pretty big ships". The British want to do the same thing in Europe. Nothing about the War on Terror in the intro, but about preventing wars ( a little late, aren't you?).

Here is the Navy's press release, and you can read a pdf version of A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower.

CDR Salamander has some interesting initial thoughts and a blogger's call.

Galrahn at Information Dissemination is withholding judgment until Monday.

Here is the Washington Post's description:

The new approach marks a stark departure from the last U.S. maritime strategy, conceived by the Navy in the 1980s, which focused heavily on offensive operations against the Soviet Union. "This isn't just a strategy about putting ordnance on a target or sinking someone else's fleet," said a senior Navy official, who like some others spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Soft power, the humanitarian and economic efforts, have been elevated to the same level as high-end naval warfare," said another Navy official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity because the strategy had not been officially unveiled.

Not a bad idea. Again, this goes along with my theory that while the Army and Marines keep the jihadists occupied in Iraq, the Navy can do pretty much what it wants. But if this is our Maritime Strategy, we don't need big expensive carriers and Aegis battleships for this role! We need cheap and expendable littoral ships.

A commenter at Steeljaw Scribe sums it up-"at least none of us are the RN…"