ABSTRACT
The fundamental purposes the US Navy should serve are the maritime interests of the United States. A flow of imported oil and key minerals is needed to supply a flourishing US economy. The main function of the United States Navy, in cooperation with the fleets of allied nations, must be to secure untrammeled use of the global sealanes in peace and war. The US merchant fleet has suffered severely from neglect – and this in an era when the very lifeblood of the US economy flows along oceanborne arteries. Such a coalition strategy is the logical strategic corollary to the position of the United States in the world economy. The US Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force has been supplanted by the US Central Command which is entrusted with responsibility for the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Southwest Asian areas. Under the circumstances US forces need not be massive in numbers to deter Soviet adventures in the Third World.
