Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

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Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

• Lesson 19 The Era of Retrenchment Presidents
  Ford and Carter, 1974-1980

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The Navy Under President Gerald Ford (1974-1976)

• Admiral James Holloway III became Chief of Naval
  Operations 1 July 1974
• Agreed with Zumwalts vision of a dual Navy Sea
  Control and Power Projection however, mostly
  concentrated on power projection
• SLEP Service Life Extension Program
• Overhauling aging oil-driven carriers
• Proposal for four Nimitz class carrier
• Aegis defense cruisers to defend the high valued
  carriers from anti-surface missiles
• Operation Frequent Wind
• Seventh Fleet carriers evacuated almost 9,000
  from Saigon

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The Navy Under President Gerald Ford (1974-1976)

• VIETNAM Extreme frustration Congress would
  not fund 1 billion for SVN
• USSR
• Peaceful coexistence interpreted as rivalry for
  dominance through client states in Third
  World,notably Africa (Angola, Kenya, Zaire)
• Nuclear arms race intensifies
• USSR develops triple-MIRVed IRBM, SS-20
  Backfire bomber
• US develops Trident SSBN total of 8,500
  warheads (nearly 3,000 increase in five years)
• SALT-II dead in water

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MAYAGUEZ INCIDENT 12 MAY 1975

• Cambodian communist forces seize 40 man American
  commercial vessel
• Diplomacy fails to gain release
• Pres. Ford sends in USAF, USN, USMC (largest
  deployment since Vietnam)
• Recapture 15 Marines killed 50 wounded!

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Economic Inflation Technology Costs
By 1975, the Navys 200th anniversary, the Navy
had less than 500 ships
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President Jimmy Carter 1977-1981
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Decline of the U.S. Navy Under Carter (1977-1981)

• Background
• Inherited a congressional and popular
  antimilitary attitude that made it very difficult
  to win large naval appropriations
• Inherited a reduced Navy composed of older ships
  (due to deferring ship building during Vietnam)
• Diplomacy
• Believed containment could be achieved through
  diplomacy
• Did not think the Soviets were a world threat
• Instead, European threat that could be contained
  by Army and Air Force
• Proponent of one ocean Navy
• Salt I October 3, 1972
• Salt II June 18, 1979

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The Carter Naval Policy

• The President did not support naval expansion
• Wanted Congress to delete funds for fourth Nimitz
  class carrier
• His five-year building programs were extremely
  austere
• Congress finally added 3 billion to Carters
  naval request for FY 81
• He de-emphasized the presence mission of the
  Navy
• No need for control of the seas
• He limited the conceptual basis for the Navys
  size to plan for SLOC protection and support of
  the major U.S. commitments to Europe
• The Iranian crisis (1978-1981) forced Carter to
  send warships to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean
• In 1980, created the Rapid Deployment Joint Task
  Force (RDJTF), out of existing assets leading to
  extremely long at-sea periods

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Iran Hostage Crisis
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So that's what our almighty government has had up
its sleeve since Day One to help our 50 brave
American hostages in Iran -- a military slapstick
comedy routine, played out in the deserts of
Iran! Denver PostSheldon J. Potter, Letter to
the Editor
People have been severely criticizing Carter for
doing nothing. But now when he does something and
it doesn't work he is going to be severely
criticized again. Arvid Laingen, brother of a
hostage, quoted in "Minnesota Relatives of
Hostages Differ Sharply on Rescue Mission"
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The Carter Naval Policy

• 1979, Anti-American Ayatollah Khomeini comes to
  power in Iran
• De-stabilizes the region for U.S.
• Since 1953 Iran was American friendly imported
  in excess of 10.5 million dollars of arms (had
  believed Iran was stabilizing force in the
  region)
• 1980, failed rescue attempt with hostages in Iran
• Involved Navy helicopters and USS NIMITZ
• Problems stemmed from ad hoc force that had no
  integrated experience
• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
• U.S. supports anti-Soviet fighters with high-tech
  arms
• Conflict lasts 10 years
• Soviets withdraw, leaving Afghanistan in hands of
  warlords (ultimately, anti-U.S. Taliban)

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Carter Doctrine

• Let our position be absolutely clear An attempt
  by any outside force to gain control of the
  Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an attack
  on the vital interests of the U.S.
• State of the Union, 1979

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Consequences Ford/Carter

• Carter policy of Soviets being European
  continental threat only badly damaged the Navys
  ability to handle crisis in Middle East
• American Embassy in Tehran
• Stability in Middle East
• Shah overthrown and Soviet invasion of
  Afghanistan
• Iran/Iraq War
• Reagan easily elected in 1980
• Carters dealing with hostages in Iran
• Expanding Soviet threat
• Country ready to hear about America re-emerging
  as a powerful world leader with a strong military

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Discussion
Next time President Reagan and Maritime Strategy