The 1,000 Ship Navy is an idea that is slowly losing traction, should it. After a flurry of press briefings, speeches, articles, testimony and even a study by the Australians, the concept of a 1,000-ship navy seems less able to attract attention. On its face it seems a good idea, connect all the nation’s navy’s by a common purpose. It must be a good idea, it already went through the obligatory name change –remember “From the Sea” and “Forward, From the Sea”? It is now the Global Maritime Partnership (GMP) lends itself to an acronym much better.
Typically there was a great deal of ambition in this effort and great hope, perhaps too much of both. It is quite possible that the scale of the effort was too much and perhaps a smaller effort with goals that are more limited and room to grow would work much better in the risk-averse world that our allies occupy.
The United States Navy cannot be everywhere, though we would like too. Our allies often don’t want to be anywhere, so therein lies the problem. Fodder for anther post.
Implications for the Royal Australian Navy
http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/PIAMA24.pdf
Defense Daily
USNI Blog
http://blog.usni.org/2009/01/08/preemptive-failure-of-the-global-maritime-partnership/
1000 Ship Navy Concept
http://www.military.com/forums/0,15240,81652,00.html
1000 Ship Navy Review by Janes’
http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/jfs/jfs060612_1_n.shtml
Come Along Side – Don’t Tie Up
There is an odd combination of personality, background and experience in the Eric Massa news item. A Representative from Florida, he will retire after one term because of a remission in cancer he thought beaten a few years back. Meanwhile, the Ethics committee may investigate him, in part because of the way he treats his staff. Who could imagine a politician having ethics issues or a former Surface Naval Offier mistreating his staff and using salty language. He states he is a “salty old Sailor”, curious also, since officers generally do not prefer to be called Sailors.
Massa to Retire After
One Term
Eric Massa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Massa