EXTENSIONS of REMARKS September 16, 1981 EXTENSIONS of REMARKS ADDRESS by NAVY SECRETARY Force and a Marine Amphibious Brigade
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20832 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS September 16, 1981 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS ADDRESS BY NAVY SECRETARY Force and a Marine Amphibious Brigade. erized war games within the Defense De JO.HN LEHMAN Thus we shall have the capability to under partment had forced a mechanistic fixation take major amphibious operations to secure on prograins, and a knee jerk response to our maritime security simultaneously in two military force probleins. That fixation HON.CHARLESF.DOUGHERTY separate areas of the world. brought forth a generation of military lead OF PENNSYLVANIA Finally, and most importantly, this new ers conditioned to think mechanistically, to IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES class represents a large step in the revital manage "prograins" but disdain military in ization of our key national asset, the U.S. Wednesday, September 16, 1981 tuition and judgment. On the national level, Navy, and a quantum improvement in our strategy often focused on areas of immedi e Mr. DOUGHERTY. Mr. Speaker, on ability to safeguard U.S. interests overseas, ate concern, despite an increasing array of Tuesday, August 4, 1981, the Honora through the ability to project power from geopolitical shifts, which should have been ble John Lehman, Secretary of the sea to shore when needed. accommodated by adjustments in the This ship class has been a long, hard time planned use of naval forces. It is not neces Navy, addressed those present in Seat coming. Many of you here today are veter tle, Wash., for the keel laying of the sary to match Soviet force levels on a man ans of the Washington skirmishin'g neces for-man or ship-for-ship basis. Instead, what LSD-41. That event, most significant sary to bring this ship into being. Your was and is needed, is a maritime strategy in the history of America's amphibi vision and your persistence have triumphed. which concentrates superior power at the ous defense efforts, was a turning I congratulate you on that persistence. And point of confrontation, and does so with point and a renewal of our commit I do not speak of triumph in a narrow, bu precisely "tailored" forces. ment to our Nation's security. I would reaucratic sense. I speak of triumph in a na tional sense, as our country strives to regain An important prerequisite in formulating like to share Secretary Lehman's its sense of purpose and confidence and a maritime strategy, is to pay more atten words on that occasion with all Ameri builds to restore the unquestioned maritime tion to those military leaders who possess cans. superiority so vital to our existence. the foresight to recognize the requirements AnDRESS BY HON. JOHN LEHMAN, SECRETARY Clearly, an immense change has taken ahead, and the seasoned judgment to grasp OF THE NAVY place in the United States in the past year. its strategic implications. Such leaders clear We have come to realize that, as leaders of ly foresaw the requirements of amphibious General Barrow, Mr. Smith, Distinguished warfare in the decade preceding the Second Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is certain the free world, we have been possessed of a dangerous uncertainty for some time over World War. Fully a decade before that war, ly my pleasure to be with you here in the Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Hol Great Northwest. the utility of committing military force for Since assuming my duties as Secretary of national purpose. We had forgotten the les land Smith conceived and practiced the sons of two terrible world wars; That strategy of crossing the Central Pacific. the Navy-and Secretary of the Marine There were Marine and Navy officers who Corps-few events have been more pleasura strength, not weakness, halts aggressors; that strength is the only real deterrent, ignored the experts' suggestions in the late ble than to preside today at the keel laying 1940's that amphibious warfare was anach of the LSD-41, the lead ship of a new am weakness an open invitation. Today it is ob vious that America has now recalled these ronistic. Those men knew there would be an phibious class. Beginning a new class is "Inchon" in the 1950s. Others, on sighting always an important milestone in the histo important lessons. We are revitalizing. We are renewing our traditional American char the helicopter in the fifties, knew it would ry of the Navy, but the LSD-41 represents add a revolutionary dimension to amphibi much more: acter. And we are again becoming strong It is the first amphibious ship to be start and filled with resolve. ous warfare in the sixties and they were cor ed since the keel was laid for the LHA-5, The clear mandate of the last presidential rect. These were great and daring thinkers, almost five years ago. election was a call for renewed national not unlike those who today recognize the It is the fi.rst amphibious ship to be strength, prestige and self-confidence. This value of VSTOL, the LCAC, the LAV, and funded in ten years. resurgence of demand for national the LSD-41 class,-and have the military It is designed to carry the air cushion strength-and a Commander in Chief and judgment to grasp the strategic implications landing craft, or LCAC, which adds a revolu Congress dedicated to carrying out the will of the 1980s and beyond. tionary dimension to amphibious warfare. of the people-will inevitably ask the U.S. Our task in the decade ahead is clearly to As such, it represents a commitment to a Marine Corps to shoulder a major burden in deter Soviet aggression, a formidable goal in new technology. any commitment of military force for na the wake of unprecedented Soviet military The keel laying of the LSD-41 also signi tional purpose, as has always been the case expansion. Our response cannot be in num fies the reversal of one of the most senseless in the past. A Marine Corps of Americans bers alone. It must be in the ability to con conditions in the Navy today. The fact is who represent the best in soldierly virtue. A centrate warfighting capability at the that the U.S. Marines-that splendidly Corps which has held high the concepts of point-or points-of confrontation. The trained, superbly-disciplined team, and the duty and honor, and the qualities of large number of Soviet options is such that most ready fightilig force found in the strength and self-confidence, even in the landbased defenses overseas will never be world today-are fully prepared to go wher lean years of the recent past. A Corps sufficient for our needs, given even the most ever necessary in the world . yet are which, in the face of social and other pres optimistic budgetary and procurement envi unable fully to utilize that splendid readi sures, changed what needed to be changed, ronments, and assuming that the necessary ness because we lack sufficient sealift to get but staunchly maintained a tradition of dis basing arrangements were politically achiev them there. ciplined excellence and a world-recognized able. Nor is it prudent to assume that a Let me state my position unequivocally: expertise in amphibious warfare-a form of Soviet military confrontation, if it comes, the amphibious forces will be at the very warfare which may be more important to will occur where we are best able to counter forefront of the Navy in the decade ahead. our Nation's future in the years ahead than it. If history teaches us anything, the re The strategic requirements of the decade it has been anytime in our history, with the verse will probably be the case. The Soviets cry out for amphibious capability-forces possible exception of the Pacific Campaign must be made to understand-and be with the flexibility and combat power em in the Second World War. shown-that we intend to confront them bodied in the Marine Air Ground Task It is not enough, however, to build ships militarily wherever our interests require. If Forces-forces capable of safeguarding our and recruit men. We must begin with the we succeed in doing that, we may never vital interests by deterrence-, but if deter formulation of the strategy itself. It is a dif have to use our capability. It is the deter rence fails, by performing on the battlefield ficult matter, in that we have long focused rent value of strong naval forces which we as Marines have always performed. In this largely on the technical aspects of our naval seek, not confrontation. regard, the Department of the Navy, in ·the probleins. Too often, naval strategy was What I propose strategically is not new. first months of the Reagan Administration merely a function of the momentum of Mahan called armed naval capability sea established, in a dramatic break from Carter force structure and modernization. The force. He postulated that a maritime nation policies a firm policy to develop sufficient strongest arguments for new ships were should aim at acquiring a superiority in sea amphibious lift to transport simultaneously that old ships were old and due to retire. force that enables it to project its seapower the assault echelon of a Marine Amphibious The misuse of systeins analysis and comput- to the most distant quarters of the earth. It e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. September 16, 1981 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 20833 is from that imperative that Mahan derived anced naval force of air, surface, subsurface, high risk, the legacy of our past mistakes. the concept of "Command of the Seas" so and amphibious elements brings to any situ Let the historians say in the decades to relevant today.