ABSTRACT
The naval forces of the United States are a crucial juncture in their historical development. However, while US naval capabilities have considerably eroded, the responsibilities confronting the United States (US) Navy have substantially increased. Seaborne trade, upon which the economy of the United States depends, has burgeoned. The Soviet Union has developed the doctrine, strategy, and forces appropriate to intervention in continents far from the Russian homeland. Key Soviet partners, notably Cuba and East Germany, furnish substantial contingents of troops and military specialists. Many fundamental questions arise, however, about the direction, scope, and form of the current US military effort. Development of US strategies and forces for effective operations in such areas as Africa and the Persian Gulf have been crippled by revulsion against the commitment of the United States in the protracted and costly war in Southeast Asia. A coalition strategy is the logical strategic corollary to the world economy in which the United States is interwoven.
