2. Being There Matters:
Around the World, Around the Clock
SHIPS AMERICA’S
AIRCRAFT FROM
AIRCRAFT
CARRIERS
SUBMARINES
BEST
3. Being There Matters:
Ready to Defend America At All Times
XXX Battle Force ships
3700+ operational aircraft
Aircraft Carrier supporting
Operation Enduring Freedom
Ships and submarines underway from homeport or on deployment:
XXX (XX%)
Exercises with allies
In the North Sea
Maritime Partnership exercises
With allies in Africa
Operations in the
Eastern Med
Carrier Strike Group
In pre-deployment
training
Expeditionary Strike Group
Trans-Atlantic crossing
Counter-Piracy
Operations in the MidEast
Ships visiting
U.S. Ports
Forward Deployed Naval
Forces in the Western Pacific
Counter-narcotics missions
In the Caribbean
Navy Hospital Ship conducting
Humanitarian operations
5. Being There Matters:
Power From the Sea
ATTACK
AIRCRAFT
LAUNCHED FROM
AIRCRAFT
CARRIERS
LONG-RANGE
CRUISE
MISSILES
UNMANNED AIRCRAFT
NAVY SEAL
TEAMS
6. Being There Matters:
Ensuring Global Free Trade
Panama Canal
Strait of Hormuz
Suez Canal
Strait of Malacca
Strait of Gibraltar
Introduction and welcoming remarks.
Note: For a more visual introduction to this presentation, consider also leading with the latest “Navy Week in Review” video from the “Everyday in the Navy” section of the www.navy.mil video gallery. These videos are generally 2-minutes in length and feature photos from around the Fleet set to music.
America’s Navy protects and defends America on the world’s oceans. Navy ships, submarines, aircraft and, most importantly, tens of thousands of America’s finest young men and women are deployed around the world doing just that. They are there now. They will be there when we are sleeping tonight. They will be there every Saturday, Sunday and holiday this year. They are there around the clock, far from our shores, defending America at all times.
Pictured:
TOP LEFT: The guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy, named in honor of the late Lt. Michael P. Murphy who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as leader of a Navy SEAL team in Afghanistan, at sea in the Western Atlantic.
BOTTOM LEFT: The Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Carolina arrives in Sasebo, Japan for a brief port visit during the submarine’s six-month deployment to the Western Pacific.
TOP RIGHT: U.S. Navy SEALs search for al-Qaida and Taliban while conducting a sensitive site exploitation mission in the Jaji Mountains in Paktia Province, Afghanistan .
BOTTOM RIGHT: An arresting gear officer oversees aircraft recovery operations aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush during a deployment to the Middle East. The carrier was participating in maritime security operations and support missions as part of Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn.
That they are there is critically important because, as in virtually any global endeavor, being there matters. It matters in business: it is why American firms maintain a presence in their overseas markets. It matters in politics: it is why the State Department maintains a diplomatic contingent in nearly every other nation on earth. It certainly matters to our national defense: it is why U.S. forces are stationed around the world.
Pictured:
This is a look at what your Navy is doing on any given day. Note: For the most up-to-date status of the Navy, refer to http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=146
On our planet, more than 70 percent of which is covered by water, being there means having the ability to act from the sea. The Navy is uniquely positioned to be there; the world’s oceans give the Navy the power to protect America’s interests anywhere, and at any time.
When America’s national security is threatened by the existence of a weapons facility or a terrorist camp on the other side of the world, being there matters. Where these threats exist, chances are high that Navy ships, submarines, aircraft and special forces are very close by, with the ability to destroy targets located hundreds of miles inland. When the decision is made to act on one of these threats, the solution may involve launching attack jets or unmanned aircraft from aircraft carriers, firing cruise missiles from ships or submarines or inserting a team of Navy SEALs to do what only Navy SEALs can do. In any case, the Navy can do all of these things, and do them all from the sea, without the need to get another country’s permission to operate within its borders.
Pictured:
TOP LEFT: The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry launches a Tomahawk cruise missile to support the international response to the unrest in Libya and enforcement of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973.
BOTTOM LEFT: An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator aircraft is transported on an aircraft elevator aboard the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman.
TOP RIGHT: Navy SEALs assigned to Navy SEAL Delivery Team 2 perform SEAL Delivery Vehicle operations with the Ohio-Class nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine USS Florida.
BOTTOM RIGHT: An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower on patrol on Middle East waters.
More than 90 percent of the world’s commerce travels by sea. When piracy threatens innocent lives and disrupts shipping traffic in the Indian Ocean, when rogue nations threaten to deny access to vital Middle East waterways through which much of the world’s oil is shipped, being there matters. America’s Navy is there, patrolling what is essentially the world’s interstate ocean highway system, ensuring the free flow of global trade and, in turn, preserving America’s economic prosperity.
Pictured:
LEFT: The guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responds to a distress call from the master of an Iranian-flagged fishing dhow. Kidd's visit, board, search and seizure team, boarded and detained 15 suspected pirates, who were reportedly holding the 13-member Iranian crew hostage for the last several weeks.
RIGHT: The guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay patrols the waters surrounding the Al Basrah Oil Terminal (ABOT), as two Iraqi tug boats guide a super oil tanker into place, where it will take on crude oil.
Following a humanitarian crisis, like the devastating typhoon that struck the Philippines in 2013 or the tsunami that ravaged northern Japan in 2011, being there matters. Because the Navy is always deployed around the world, it can provide nearly immediate humanitarian relief in the wake of a disaster, ferrying supplies, medicine and trained medical personnel ashore from Navy ships via helicopters and landing craft.
Pictured:
TOP LEFT: The amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga at anchor near Mount Kamafuse in Ominato, Japan, supporting earthquake and tsunami relief efforts during Operation Tomodachi.
BOTTOM LEFT: Sailors assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin work with members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to transport relief supplies in support of Operation Damayan, a massive humanitarian operation carried out in the wake of super typhoon Haiyan.
RIGHT: A medical officer embarked aboard the Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Comfort embraces a young child in the pediatric ward of St. Damien Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Comfort was participating in Operation Unified Response by providing medical support capabilities in Haiti following the earthquake that devastated the nation in 2010.
When narcotics traffickers use speedboats and rudimentary submarines to ferry illegal drugs across the oceans and into America, being there matters. Navy ships and submarines work the waters near Central and South America with law enforcement agencies to intercept shipments of illegal narcotics before they reach our shores.
Pictured:
LEFT: U.S Navy and Coast Guard personnel assigned to the guided-missile frigate USS Elrod pick up bales of narcotics during recovery operations in the Caribbean Sea.
TOP RIGHT: U.S. Customs agents offload bales of cocaine from the guided-missile frigate USS Boone. Boone interdicted more than a metric ton of narcotics while deployed on a counter illicit trafficking operation in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility.
BOTTOM RIGHT: A Sailor assigned to USS Robert G. Bradley and a Coast Guardsman from Tactical Law Enforcement Team South help unload packages of cocaine seized as part of a multi-national and interagency effort to interdict the flow of narcotics into the United States.
As the world’s geopolitical and economic climates continue to evolve, the case for America maintaining a strong Navy grows. Indeed, the President’s national security strategy calls for a renewed focus on enduring threats in the Middle East, as well as an increased American commitment in the Asia-Pacific region -- a vast, mostly ocean-covered area of the world ideally suited for operations from the sea and in which the Navy maintains a robust presence.
Pictured:
LEFT: Family members of Sailors assigned to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) gather to greet the ship as it returns to its forward base in Yokosuka, Japan. George Washington and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 provide a combat-ready force that protects and defends American and allied interests in the Asia-Pacific region. USS George Washington is the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, ensuring security and stability across the western Pacific Ocean.
TOP RIGHT: Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus meets with the Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, at Zabeel Palace in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Mabus met with Emirati leaders to discuss ways to enhance our strong partnership and further stability and peace within the region.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Two camels rest in front of the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan while the ship is moored during a port visit in Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates.
When it comes to protecting and defending America, being there matters. And America’s Navy is already there.
Pictured:
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis operates in the Arabian Sea at sunset.