Proceedings - February 2024 Vol. 150/2/1,452

Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum: (If You Want Peace, Prepare For War)

February 2024

What is a Navy for? Look no further than the recent headlines.

CEO Notes

February 2024

In his new book, The Neptune Factor, Nicholas A. Lambert traces the evolution of Mahan’s conceptions of sea power.

A Marine with the 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion fires down range during an annual competition.

Comment & Discussion

February 2024

Readers respond to articles on Phase III of the American Sea Power Project and more.

Unpacking Merchant Shipping

By Joe Greco

February 2024

Commercial ships have continually evolved and expanded to enable more efficient transport.

When sailors commit to the arduous life of Navy service, they must be able to trust that their well-being will be a top priority for the organization.

Trust Falls and Trust Fails

By Rear Admiral Kavon Hakimzadeh, U.S. Navy, and Heather D. Hakimzadeh

February 2024

How can any institution, but particularly the military, continue to function well if its members perceive it as untrustworthy?

President Joe Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (right), and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese deliver remarks on AUKUS in March 2023. The accord’s true value is its show of political will and the interoperability and resilience it will build in the Indo-Pacific.

AUKUS Is More than Hard Power

By Joshua C. Huminski

February 2024

The value of navies is found not just in their cumulative tonnage, but also in the placement of their naval power in a broader diplomatic and political construct.

Rebrand the Coast Guard Districts

By Commander Leah Cole, U.S. Coast Guard

February 2024

The Coast Guard should consider rebranding its districts to better connect with and represent the people and regions they serve.

Marines of Battalion Landing Team 2/1, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, inspect gear with the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, at Midge Point, Australia, during Exercise Talisman Sabre 23. Expanded education on adversary culture and doctrine would better prepare NCOs to adapt to complicated environments.

Marine Corps NCOs Must Understand Foreign Thinking

By Sergeant Matthew Parrish, U.S. Marine Corps

February 2024

Unless the Marine Corps education system evolves, Marines could become lost in the fog of war

Sailors in the combat information center of the Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG-76) operating in the Philippine Sea.

The Navy Is Not Ready for the Information War of 2026

By Vice Admiral T. J. White and Rear Admiral Danelle Barrett, U.S. Navy (Retired), and Commander Jake Bebber, U.S. Navy

February 2024

The Navy has not adequately planned for the intersection of the cyber and maritime domains in war.

Members of a West Coast–based Naval Special Warfare command set security during an exercise.

Naval Special Warfare Will Have to Fight Differently

By Seth Cropsey

February 2024

NSW could be decisive in a Eurasian war if employed with coherent strategic skill.

The Army’s new mobile mid-range capability system can launch Tomahawk antiship and land-attack cruise missiles.

To Upgun Seapower in the Indo-Pacific, You Need an Army

By General Charles Flynn and Lieutenant Colonel Tim Devine, U.S. Army

February 2024

From logistics to communications to air defenses, the Army can bring a lot to the fight.

The SS Capella (T-AKR-293) and Algol (T-AKR-287), fast sealift ships of the Ready Reserve Force, wait moored in Alameda, California. Of the many issues the U.S. Navy would face in a conflict in the western Pacific, shortfalls in logistics—sealift in particular—could be the most significant.

Logistics Wins (and Loses) Wars

By Salvatore R. Mercogliano

February 2024

The United States needs a more nimble and capable afloat prepositioning force to win a potential conflict in the Pacific.

Unmanned Surface Vessel operating with Coast Guard cutter

Collision Regulations Need to be Updated for USVs

By Lieutenant (junior grade) Brennan Suffern, U.S. Coast Guard

February 2024

Unmanned surface vessels do not meet the “proper lookout” requirement.

Marine Corps ordnance disposal technicians create models using 3-D printers at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Additive manufacturing technology is advancing rapidly, and the Coast Guard must understand how best to apply it.

3-D Printing: From Cutesy to Credible

By Lieutenant Commander Andrew P. Armstrong, U.S. Coast Guard

February 2024

Additive manufacturing offers many opportunities, but it must be fully understood and applied sensibly.

A Ukrainian soldier walks through a bombed-out school in Lyman, Ukraine, in January 2023.

When Deterrence Fails, Warfighting Becomes Supreme

By Major Ryan Ratcliffe, U.S. Marine Corps, and Douglas Bryant

February 2024

Leaders must apply lessons from military history about the changing character of war.

U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen participate in sea trials. Inclusive language helps all officers and sailors envision themselves as the future commanding officers and master chiefs of the Navy.

The Mouth of a Sailor: The Power of Language to Build an Inclusive Culture

By Lieutenant Sarah K. Lemonick, U.S. Navy

February 2024

The Navy must broaden the contexts in which it employs language as a tool and begin to wield it to improve organizational culture.

A Fleet Readiness Center East worker demonstrates using laser ablation to remove a swath of coating from an aircraft engine container. Laser ablation employs a noncontact technique to remove material, eliminating the need for mechanical tools and significantly reducing the amount of noise and waste produced.

Adopt Laser Cleaning for Navy Maintenance

By Joshua McLain

February 2024

The Navy should adopt laser ablation, a modern coating-removal technique, to optimize maintenance turnaround times, improve worker safety, and reduce environmental hazards.

A U.S. Marine fires an M18 pistol during a marksmanship competition on Camp Hansen, Okinawa, Japan. In determining marksmanship proficiency, nearly every points-based system fails to appropriately measure or integrate speed into outcomes. Until recently, the Marine Corps relied on points-based systems for logistical simplicity, not for their ties to lethality.

Small-Arms Combat Modeling for the Marine Corps

By Lieutenant Commander Adam T. Biggs, U.S. Navy

February 2024

Small-arms combat modeling is an emerging subfield of modeling and simulation with the potential to provide better insight into squad-level lethality.

The U.S. National War College at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. Prospective military graduate students must alter their mindsets from leading sailors and Marines while managing programs and conducting missions to concentrating on educational requirements and working in small teams with peers.

How Service Members Should Prepare for Graduate School

By Captain Casey Mahon, U.S. Navy

February 2024

Shifting from an operational mindset is an essential first step to prepare for the academic environment.

Book Reviews

February 2024

Experts review The Sea in Russian Strategy and Conflict.

RED SEA (Sept. 13, 2019) Chief Aviation Electrician’s Mate Collin Peskett, assigned to amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), passes through the sideboys during the chief petty officer pinning ceremony in the hangar bay

Where We Were

February 2024

A look back at the February issues of Proceedings from 1924, 1974, and 1999.

In an undated photo from the 1940s, Corporal Alvin “Tony” Ghazlo, senior bayonet and unarmed combat instructor at Montford Point, North Carolina, disarms his assistant, Private Ernest “Judo” Jones.

From Our Archive

February 2024

In an undated photo from the 1940s, Corporal Alvin “Tony” Ghazlo, senior bayonet and unarmed combat instructor at Montford Point, North Carolina, disarms his assistant, Private Ernest “Judo” Jones.

An early radar antenna on the roof of the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s.

How to Innovate

By Lieutenant Artem M. Sherbinin, U.S. Navy

February 2024

Naval innovators need a new plan, and the history of radar offers lessons for developing one.

First in class Kolkata recently deployed on counterpiracy missions in the Arabian Sea along with four sister P-15A/B DDGs.

India’s Project 15A and 15B Destroyers: Blending Capabilities from Across the Globe

By Eric Wertheim

February 2024

India’s Project 15A (P-15A) Kolkata-class and Project 15B (P-15B) Visakhapatnam-class guided-missile destroyers are a remarkable amalgam of indigenous and international technology.

Future Vice Admiral J. Victor Smith was tapped as aide to Admiral William Leahy (behind Roosevelt) in early 1944 and was with him at Yalta, where postwar reorganization in Europe would be determined.

Aide to Leahy

By A. Denis Clift

February 2024

In these edited excerpts from his oral history, Vice Admiral J. Victor Smith shares his experience as aide to Admiral Leahy during his time as Chief of Staff to FDR.

Admirals Chester Nimitz and William Halsey on board the USS Curtiss (AV-4) in January 1946. After Rear Admiral Wilson Brown declined to lead the Navy’s attack in the Marshall Islands, Nimitz presented the opportunity to Halsey, who jumped at the mission. A strong leader must assess his subordinates and choose the right leader for the right job.

The Nimitz Way Still Applies

By Lieutenant Seth C. Breen, U.S. Navy

February 2024

Giving your people opportunities to grow and succeed is a vital part of being a good leader.

Asked & Answered

February 2024

What was the most memorable captain’s mast or other nonjudicial punishment you have witnessed, and why?

Training for Shipboard Emergencies as a Pier Service

February 2024

Mixed reality gives sailors and others the opportunity to increase their training “reps and sets” in a realistic environment that can essentially be a portable pier service.

A notional OV-1 scenario illustrating multi-domain interoperability.

Campaigning Through the WEZ: CJADC2 Is More than Kill-Chains

February 2024

Land-based weapons and air platforms have longer range and deeper magazines than seaborne forces. Nevertheless, naval forces will have to maintain important sea-lines-of- communication under these and other threat conditions that come with such highly contested environments.