CNO: Understand the Importance of the Sea

By Amy L. Wittman, Editor in Chief

Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations (CNO), urged sea service leaders and maritime industry executives to encourage public discourse about the importance of the sea and naval strength.

“I stand where I am today because, in my younger days, I was captivated by the sea,“ he said during his keynote address at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition dinner May 5. “The seas were revealing new opportunities every day. They were important in the public discourse and they held the unmistakable lure of exploration. They drew me like a moth to a flame.”

While members of the audience share his enthusiasm for the sea and understand the importance of the maritime domain to the nation's way of life and national defense, “to many, the oceans are invisible.

“If we want to build the ships that we need to sail the seas to protect and advance our society, we must take the lead in showing others, in teaching others about the immensity of our oceans, their value and the inextricable link to our way of life,” the CNO said.

He quoted French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint Exupéry, who said, “If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

With that longing comes an understanding of the importance of maritime superiority.

The Navy today “must cover America's responsibilities around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and at an unforgiving pace of operations,” Roughead said. “The security of the oceans is an assumed constant, and so the security is forgotten, at least until there is a significant or newsworthy interruption, like the attempted pirating of the Maersk Alabama or the devastating attacks in Mumbai that came from the sea.”

Yet 90 percent of U.S. trade is conducted on the sea, he said, and 95 percent of intercontinental communications travels via cables on the ocean floor. The sea holds precious resources that keep society running. The United States uses the sea to project power.

“In my mind, the oceans are like air, vital to life, except you do not notice it until it is gone,” the CNO said. “It is important that our nation has an understanding of the importance of our dominance at sea and that we re-ignite debate on what is needed to ensure our operations and way of life can be assured for generations to come.”

He implored the audience to take advantage of “a unique privilege and an obligation to define what we see as our maritime requirements and a future that will ultimately define our Navy.”

U.S. citizens, he said, must be brought into the discussion of how best to maintain our maritime strength.

“It is up to them to drive the debates on where to invest for the future,” Roughead said. “It is up to us as leaders to communicate the opportunities that lie ahead, from deterrence of our enemies and those who use the sea for criminal and harmful effects, to improve partnerships, to free and open sea lanes.

“And it is up to us to evenhandedly discuss the challenges, from advanced weapons proliferation like submarines and ballistic missiles, to transnational criminal activity, to violent extremism, to climate change, to resource competition, to demographic shifts and an increase in disruption and disorder that we read about every day.”

The theme of this year's Sea-Air-Space Exposition is “National Security – Maritime Superiority – Global Presence.” The Navy League, Roughead said, is part of the team that educates others about the importance of the sea.

“Let each of us make sure ... that we are not the only ones who understand this and value it,” he said.