must block the enemy’s sea-lanes and sink its merchantships and transports.In recent years, we have exercised control ofsea-lanes in the Middle East. During the 1987-1989“tanker wars” in the Persian Gulf (fig. 20-2), the U.S.Navy protected merchant ships and oil tankers flyingthe U.S. flag. In 1990, we conducted a naval blockade ofIraq to enforce United Nations sanctions followingIraq’s invasion of Kuwait.The Navy also provides forces for joint amphibiousoperations. It trains all forces assigned to theseoperations in amphibious warfare as directed by theJoint Chiefs of Staff. It also conducts navalreconnaissance, antisubmarine warfare, mine layingand controlled mine-field operations, and protectsshipping. Operation Desert Shield/Storm is a typicalexample. The Navy joins with the other services indefending the United States against air attack.As you can see, the Navy’s mission is very complex.As a result of that complexity, the United States isundertaking a massive modernization of Navy ships,aircraft, and weapons in three forms. The first involvesthe speedup of research and development to find newweapons. The second entails the laying up of old shipsto save operating and overhauling costs and the shiftingof that money into new construction. The third consistsof the “hi-low balanced mix” concept. That conceptinvolves the purchase of a few highly effective aircraftand ships, such as nuclear propulsion aircraft carriers(CVNs) and submarines (SSBNs). At the same time, weare developing new classes of low-cost ships, such asguided-missile frigates and sea-control ships.Our nuclear-age world has resulted in a nuclear-ageNavy. Although the Navy uses nuclear weapons andguided missiles as its primary destructive weapons, itstill maintains, and is improving, conventionalweapons. Such weapons enable the Navy and Marinesto rapidly deploy and to apply the necessary force tofight a limited war.The Navy leads the way in scientific projects. In thearea of navigation, Navy ships can navigate on andunder the oceans for days at a time. They no longer relyon traditional sources such as landmarks and stars to fix20-5Student Notes:Figure 20-2.—U. S. ships blowing up an oil platform in the Persian Gulf.
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