an enemy’s use of those seas important to our
operations.
The Navy’s job goes hand in hand with the national
interest and the objectives of the rest of the U.S. armed
forces. Title 10 of the U.S. Code states that the Navy is
to be prepared to conduct prompt and sustained combat
operations in support of the national interest. That
means we must assure continued maritime superiority
for the United States. We must be able to totally defeat
any threat to the continued free use of the high seas by
the United States. Therefore, we must maintain the
ability to destroy hostile aircraft, surface ships, and
submarines that threaten our seaborne forces and those
of our allies. The national strategy determines the
Navy’s mission. We carry out that mission in joint
coordination with the other armed forces and in
combined planning with U.S. allies. In carrying out that
mission, the Navy has two major functions—sea
control and power projection.
THE FUNCTIONS OF THE U.S. NAVY
Sea control, total control of the seas for the free
movement of all, is the first function of the U.S. Navy. It
means control of set air, surface, and subsurface areas,
when and where needed. Sea control is crucial to
national strategy. It allows us to use the oceans as
barriers for defense and as avenues to extend our
influences overseas.
Power projection is the second function of the
Navy. It is the ability to use sea power throughout the
world in the timely and precise manner needed to
accomplish a given goal. This covers a wide area. We
accomplish power projection by using a broad spectrum
of offensive naval operations. These operations include
the tactical employment of carrier-based aircraft and the
use of amphibious forces and naval gunfire support
forces. They also include the strategic nuclear response
by the fleet ballistic missile forces.
The functions of sea control and power projection
are closely related. Depending on the type of force we
are to use, we need some degree of sea control in the sea
areas from which we are to project power. The United
States developed the naval forces’ capability to project
power largely as one means of achieving or supporting
control of the seas.
To carry out the functions of sea control and power
projection in support of its mission, the U.S. Navy has
three functions.
20-7
Student Notes:
Figure 20-3.—U.S. naval presence throughout the world.
