March 27, 2018
Send Navy Ships to the Baltic and Black Seas
Basing American vessels there would reassure our allies and restrain Putin
Forward-deployed” American naval forces — those that have home ports outside the United States, such as the forces currently based in Japan and Spain — have provided great strategic value to the United States over the past century. Their positioning far from home waters conveys to potential enemies that we are always present and always “interested” in the geographic regions where those ships sail. It also allows for a smaller overall naval force and reduces the distances involved for logistical-support vessels that normally have to operate far from America’s shores. It’s clear that we are once again immersed in a great-power competition with Russia and China. We should consider whether there are other regions, such as the Baltic and Black Seas, where U.S. Navy forces should be permanently based to provide support to allies and protect U.S. national interests.
The United States Navy has made use of forward-deployed naval forces for more than a century. An Asiatic squadron operated from ports in China and the Philippines during the 19th and early 20th century. After World War II, the Sixth Fleet protected American national interests in the Mediterranean during some of the tensest moments of the long Cold War. The Vietnam War was fought by ships operating from the deep-water port at Subic Bay, in the Philippines. Today, Navy ships take up station from bases in Japan and Spain. These bases provided strategic, fiscal, and logistics advantage.
Read the full op-ed on the National Review.
More from CNAS
-
Defense / Technology & National Security
Stop Obsessing Over AGIWhat’s lacking? Thoughtful, deliberate, and evidence-based deployment and adoption strategies....
By Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan
-
Defense / Transatlantic Security
Who Should Coordinate Europe’s Defense Buildup?Who will coordinate the surge in defense spending about to get underway?...
By Sara Moller
-
Defense / Technology & National Security
Ukrainians Build Low-Tech Defense Against Russian DronesIn Ukraine, one weapon has revolutionized the battlefield: the drone. It's cheap, precise and widely available. Many of them are now immune to high-tech jamming. In southern U...
By Samuel Bendett
-
Strategy in Contention: Debating America’s Global Priorities
Does the United States need a new playbook — or just fewer plays? In this charged episode, big ideas collide over how to sequence American power across the Middle East, Europe...
By Stacie Pettyjohn