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It May Be Time To Activate The Reserve Fleet
By James G. Wiles, For The Bulletin
How historically ironic it would be if the solution to the problem of Somali piracy is currently floating at anchor right here in the town which conceived and launched the fleet that, long ago, defeated the Barbary Pirates. I’m referring, of course, to Philadelphia.
When Philly was the nation’s capital and John Adams was its president, Congress, meeting at Independence Hall, authorized the construction of six American frigates. Those ships, one christened the Philadelphia, formed the core of the new United States Navy. The United States Marines, of course, had earlier been organized here at the Tun Tavern.
It was these ships that, in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched against the Barbary Pirates. In the course of that campaign, the proud Philadelphia was captured by the Bey’s men. The Philadelphia’s captain, William Bainbridge, later a hero of the War of 1812, is the man for whom the ship which last week rescued the captain of the Maersk Alabama last week is named.
A “cutting out” expedition of U.S. sailors and Marines burned the Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor, rather than leaving her in pirate hands. The whole story is told, among other places, in Ian W. Toll’s Six Frigates and Isaac Zach’s Pirate Coast. Also Kenneth Roberts’ historical novel, Lydia Bailey.
This history is relevant because the Somali pirates have coincidentally exposed a fact which the Democrats now in control of the federal government would prefer you not know: The United States Navy is too small. In particular, it has too few ships and an inappropriate mix of ships for extended convoying, blockading and anti-piracy operations. The proud fleet of nearly 600 fighting ships built up by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s is now closing in on only 300 ships.
It must be remembered that Republican presidents have been fully complicit in this. After America’s victory in the First Iraq War in 1991, the U.S. military was generally allowed to wither. The Army shrank by over one half; the Marines by the same; and the Navy and Air Force have been on a slow glide path toward the same goal. In the eight war years of the George W. Bush presidency, the Navy actually shrank.
The Somalis have now exposed that. While don’t expect the Obama administration to do anything permanent about that — Democrats believe that the biggest problem in the world today is that the United States is too strong (see what The New York Times has proudly called Hillary’s “contrition tour”) — there is a temporary solution to the Somali problem ready, able and willing to go floating in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and other locations around the United States.
That solution is the Navy Inactive (or Reserve) Fleet, headquartered in Portsmouth, Va.
Visit the old Philadelphia Navy Yard and you will see a part of it: mothballed Spruance-class destroyers that can do 35 knots, an amphibious assault ship, destroyer escorts, cruisers, frigates, even the carrier John F. Kennedy. Other detachments of the Reserve Fleet are anchored in Texas, Puget Sound, California, Newport and the James River. All are required to be ready to sail in 120 days.
Drones and satellite imagery are nice. But what is needed off the Somali coast is not quality but quantity. Speed, maneuverability at close quarters and fire power.
Did you notice that the Bainbridge seemed a little, um, big for the task she was confronting? The ships of the Reserve Fleet are right-sized. And there are more than enough of them to cover the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Horn with convoys, pickets and cruisers to sweep the sea clean of pirates and to destroy their home bases.
Until Republicans retake Congress and the White House, not much can be done about the shrinking size of the permanent U.S. fleet. But the Reserve Fleet can sail in a few months. Its arrival off the Horn of Africa, not more contrition tours, are what is needed to signal the world that “America is back.”
Truly, if America will not keep the world’s sea lanes open and safe, someone else — the Chinese? — will.
Let the Navy and Marines have a little fun, Mr. President. Activate the Reserve Fleet!
James G. Wiles can be reached at jwiles@thebulletin.us
When Philly was the nation’s capital and John Adams was its president, Congress, meeting at Independence Hall, authorized the construction of six American frigates. Those ships, one christened the Philadelphia, formed the core of the new United States Navy. The United States Marines, of course, had earlier been organized here at the Tun Tavern.
It was these ships that, in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched against the Barbary Pirates. In the course of that campaign, the proud Philadelphia was captured by the Bey’s men. The Philadelphia’s captain, William Bainbridge, later a hero of the War of 1812, is the man for whom the ship which last week rescued the captain of the Maersk Alabama last week is named.
A “cutting out” expedition of U.S. sailors and Marines burned the Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor, rather than leaving her in pirate hands. The whole story is told, among other places, in Ian W. Toll’s Six Frigates and Isaac Zach’s Pirate Coast. Also Kenneth Roberts’ historical novel, Lydia Bailey.
This history is relevant because the Somali pirates have coincidentally exposed a fact which the Democrats now in control of the federal government would prefer you not know: The United States Navy is too small. In particular, it has too few ships and an inappropriate mix of ships for extended convoying, blockading and anti-piracy operations. The proud fleet of nearly 600 fighting ships built up by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s is now closing in on only 300 ships.
It must be remembered that Republican presidents have been fully complicit in this. After America’s victory in the First Iraq War in 1991, the U.S. military was generally allowed to wither. The Army shrank by over one half; the Marines by the same; and the Navy and Air Force have been on a slow glide path toward the same goal. In the eight war years of the George W. Bush presidency, the Navy actually shrank.
The Somalis have now exposed that. While don’t expect the Obama administration to do anything permanent about that — Democrats believe that the biggest problem in the world today is that the United States is too strong (see what The New York Times has proudly called Hillary’s “contrition tour”) — there is a temporary solution to the Somali problem ready, able and willing to go floating in the Philadelphia Navy Yard and other locations around the United States.
That solution is the Navy Inactive (or Reserve) Fleet, headquartered in Portsmouth, Va.
Visit the old Philadelphia Navy Yard and you will see a part of it: mothballed Spruance-class destroyers that can do 35 knots, an amphibious assault ship, destroyer escorts, cruisers, frigates, even the carrier John F. Kennedy. Other detachments of the Reserve Fleet are anchored in Texas, Puget Sound, California, Newport and the James River. All are required to be ready to sail in 120 days.
Drones and satellite imagery are nice. But what is needed off the Somali coast is not quality but quantity. Speed, maneuverability at close quarters and fire power.
Did you notice that the Bainbridge seemed a little, um, big for the task she was confronting? The ships of the Reserve Fleet are right-sized. And there are more than enough of them to cover the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Horn with convoys, pickets and cruisers to sweep the sea clean of pirates and to destroy their home bases.
Until Republicans retake Congress and the White House, not much can be done about the shrinking size of the permanent U.S. fleet. But the Reserve Fleet can sail in a few months. Its arrival off the Horn of Africa, not more contrition tours, are what is needed to signal the world that “America is back.”
Truly, if America will not keep the world’s sea lanes open and safe, someone else — the Chinese? — will.
Let the Navy and Marines have a little fun, Mr. President. Activate the Reserve Fleet!
James G. Wiles can be reached at jwiles@thebulletin.us
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