organizations were created to oversee particular
activities of central importance to the Navy. Some
of these organizations were intelligence, security,
telecommunications, weather, oceanography,
education and training, and Naval Reserves.
Although it is larger and more complex, today’s
Department of the Navy still retains one aspect
of the 1798 organization. That aspect is the
division of the operating forces from the Shore
Establishment. The division between the operating
forces and the Shore Establishment became
sharper through the 1949 amendment to the 1947
National Security Act. The amendment placed the
operating forces of the Navy and other services
into unified and specified commands. Both
commands are under an operational chain of
command to the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF)
and the President.
NAVY RELATIONSHIP TO THE
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
With the establishing of the DOD, the unified
and specified combatant commands began. These
commands have broad continuing missions and
consist of operating forces.
Unified commands consist of operating forces
of two or more services or components. An
example of a unified command is the Pacific
Command headed by the Commander in Chief,
Pacific (CINCPAC). Component commands
of CINCPAC are the Navy’s Pacific Fleet
(PACFLT); area Army Command (USARPAC);
area Air Force Command (PACAF); and Fleet
Marine Force, Pacific (FMFPAC).
Specified commands consist of operating
forces from only one service. An example of a
specified command is the Strategic Air Command.
It consists only of forces from the U.S. Air Force.
CHAIN OF COMMAND FOR COMBAT
FORCES
The Secretary of Defense exercises two lines
of control over the combatant forces of the
military departments: operational and adminis-
trative (fig. 1-2). The operational chain of
command extends from the President to the
SECDEF through the Joint Chiefs of Staff to
the commanders of the unified and specified
commands and then to the operating forces. The
administrative chain of command extends from
the President to the SECDEF to the secretaries
of the individual military departments. It then
extends from the military departments through
their respective service channels to the operating
forces. The administrative chain oversees the
training, readiness, administration, and support
of the operating forces.
The chiefs of individual services, such as the
CNO, have no direct operational authority within
Figure 1-2.-Organizational relationship of the Department of the Navy to the Department of Defense.
1-3
