Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

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Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

• Lesson 20 President Reagan and Maritime
  Strategy, 1980-1989

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Learning Objectives

• Comprehend the policy goals of the Reagan defense
  buildup and the internal political situation that
  permitted it.
• Comprehend the trends of public commitment during
  the period from 1980 to 1989 relative to the
  support for defense budgets, force deployments,
  and administration policies.

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REAGAN DEFENSE BUILDUPNaval Expansion under
Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman, Jr.
(1981-1987)

• Rickover firing
• Revamping U.S. Naval Strategy
• Establishment of the Navy Policy Board
• The Maritime Strategy
• Interventionism, Peacekeeping and Responses to
  Terrorism
• Strategic Reorientation

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Secretary of the Navy John H. Lehman Jr. attends
the recommissioning of the battleship USS
Missouri (BB-63)
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Revamping U.S. Naval Strategy

• Lehman established and chaired the Navy Policy
  Board, with the goal of 600-ship Navy established
  as Republican Party policy platform plank.

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The Maritime Strategy

• Product of the Policy Board
• Main Tenet 600-ship Navy with carrier battle
  groups as centerpiece
• Offensive outlook
• Forward-deployed forces

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President Ronald Reagan waves to military
personnel after receiving the Iceland Defense
Force ball cap from Rear Adm. McVadon, Commander
Icelandic Defense Force/Island Commander, Iceland.
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Criticisms to the Maritime Strategy

• Could be very costly in terms of carrier and
  aircraft losses.
• Difficult to keep SLOCs open with bulk of fleet
  concentrated for the forward offensive battle.
• Potentially provocative in destabilizing nuclear
  balance thereby, triggering nuclear exchange.

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Reagan and Soviet Diplomacy

• PRES. RONALD REAGAN
• 1981-1989
• SHOWN WITH GORBACHEV
• EVIL EMPIRE BUT
• INF TREATY!

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Interventionism-Peacekeeping and Responses to
Terrorism

• This gave Lehman an opportunity to test and
  refine the naval doctrine
• Peace-Keeping in Lebanon
• Beirut Bombing
• Grenada (Operation Urgent Fury)
• Hijacking of TWA 847
• Achille Lauro hijacking
• Gulf of Sidra attack by USAF and USN
• Raid on Libya- Operation Eldorado Canyon
• Tanker War
• Operation Praying Mantis

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TWA Hostage Crisis
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Achille Lauro Hijacking
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Above President Reagan at Memorial Service for
Marines killed in Beirut To the right
President Reagan drafts his speech for Beirut
policy.
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EL Dorado Canyon

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Operation Praying Mantis
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CARTOONISTS TAKE THAT REAGAN INTERVENTIONS SPELL
ED END OF POST-VIETNAM HESITATION
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Strategic Reorientation

• Nature In reaction to defeat in Vietnam and its
  debilitating aftermath, the Reagan administration
  proclaimed that henceforth the U.S. would only
  fight when its national interests were clearly at
  stake, and it would apply overwhelming force
  rather than commit a limited force in increments

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• STRATEGIC LEGACY OF REAGAN
• GOLDWATER-NICHOLS
• 2. WEINBERGER DOCTRINE
• 3. POWELL DOCTRINE

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Strategic Legacy of Reagan

• Weinberger Doctrine
• Be reluctant to employ force, but then use only
  overwhelming force
• Powell Doctrine
• CJCS Colin Powell, same as Weinberger
• Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act
• Elevated CJCS to principle military strategist
  for the nation, 1986

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Secretary of Defense, Casper Weinberger is shown
administering the Oath of Office to General
Alfred Gray, Commandant of the Marine Corps July
1, 1987.
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The Immediate Post-Lehman Navy(1987-1991)

• The Navy continued to be built around the
  big-deck carrier.
• Navy continues to be dominated by the carrier
  aviation and nuclear submarine communities.
• Question for the 1990s What was the proper
  size and composition of the surface fleet in an
  era of shrinking appropriations?
• Desert Shield/ Desert Storm (1990, 1991)

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Learning Objectives

• Comprehend the policy goals of the Reagan defense
  buildup and the internal political situation that
  permitted it.
• Comprehend the trends of public commitment during
  the period from 1980 to 1989 relative to the
  support for defense budgets, force deployments,
  and administration policies.

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Next time The Navy in the Gulf War, 1990-1991