ABSTRACT
The purposes of the Navy have always been to protect the nation and to project its power beyond its borders. US naval forces can be evaluated fully only in relation to those of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the only other major naval power in the world. The public is most aware of the change from the battleship Navy that began World War II to the carrier Navy that completed that war. The main feature of this change was the use of the carrier as a floating air base from which tactical air power, otherwise too "short-legged," could carry the war to the enemy's territory. The Reagan administration decided to meet the growing Soviet naval power by expanding the Navy in its currently conventional form: by buying more large carriers with their air groups and air-defense and anti-submarine warfare escort ships. This was described by the secretary of defense as "the most significant force expansion proposed by the Administration."
