Remember lessons from the Battle of Midway
June 5, 2017;
Pensacola News Journal
By Dale "Kid" Lumme
The Battle of Midway is widely recognized as the decisive naval battle in the War in the Pacific that turned the tide in the Allies favor in World War II.
Much has been written about the tactical aspects of the battle, and our national security strategy that empowered our Navy to execute those successful tactics. Due to significant capability of deciphering intercepts and the follow on communications intelligence successes, the U.S. Navy surprised the Japanese Fleet and sunk the four carriers that had attacked Pearl Harbor just six months before.
Our naval leaders understand that to master the future one must first study and learn from the past. Reviewing the Battle of Midway lessons learned provides a link to understanding the maritime challenges of the future. Before the Battle of Midway the U.S. Navy did not have command of the seas in the Pacific. They U.S. Navy understood that they needed to command the communications (cyber) domain. Once they understood the battle strategy of the Japanese fleet, the U.S. Navy could plan and execute their strategy for victory.
Today we realize that the ability to deter and defeat future naval conflict is being challenged by the intelligence gathering advances by multiple foreign navies - a significant lesson we learned at the Battle of Midway that we must urgently address in every combat readiness mission area. In World War II, America first had a clear national security strategy, then they were budgeted to execute that strategy. For too many years we have generated arbitrary national security budgets, then try to execute a strategy based upon that budget. As we learned at the Battle of Midway strategy must come first.
We have heard the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, in recent congressional testimony acknowledge that size matters, the number of ships matter. In his Future Navy White Paper the CNO refers to the recently completed future fleet studies and threat assessments, and the fact that they conclude that the nation needs a Navy on the order of 350 ships. Also, the Navy needs to execute a 'speed to fleet' initiative where new innovative technologies and new operational concepts are initiated faster.
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We have heard the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Seapower Subcommittee, Rep Rob Wittman, R-Va., emphasize that the Navy’s proposed 2018 budget falls short in addressing the Navy’s need and the CNO's vision of moving faster in building a larger fleet, and concluded that there was a high degree of naivete in the area of ship construction in the FY 2018 budget. Ranking member Rep Joe Courtney (D-CN) stated that the Administration proposed a 300-ship budget for a 350-ship strategy.
Before World War II the U.S. Navy sailed in troubled waters for many years. But, the right military and civilian leaders, with the right national security strategy, and a robust American industrial base were able to quickly spin up production of ships and aircraft that eventually provided the distinct advantage for victory. Our nation today has the vision from the CNO, the support from the Congress, and the capability of the shipbuilding industrial base that is ready willing and able to accelerate ship production. But, what our nation needs is the will from the administration to accelerate these programs.
Our nation's Navy has ventured the world's oceans and has observed the competition for command of the seas. We have oriented our strategy to understand the need for a larger fleet. The nation must urgently decide, and then be prepared to act as swiftly as the naval leaders at the Battle of Midway, or the oceans we have ventured on for more than two centuries may be oceans lost - due to a loss of the freedom of the seas.
As our naval leaders at the Battle of Midway understood, they needed to assemble an action team that understood the mission. Our DOD team today needs to be empowered to execute immediately urgent-needed changes. The bloated bureaucracy of personnel and processes directly feed the beast of program timelines that live in the swamp of Pentagon rings and corridors. As the program schedule lengthens, tenure in the form of civilian lifetime employment is assured.
Our nation's leaders at the Battle of Midway learned that the key to more efficient and effective defense policy is trust, accountability and empowerment. The DOD should trust, hold their personnel accountable (or they’re fired) and empower them, rather than to allow them to continue to operate as a stop on a conveyor belt of mediocrity.
Retired Navy Capt. Dale Lumme is president of the Navy League of the United States, National Capital Council; maritime advisor at The Spectrum Group; Corporate Secretary at the Naval Historical Foundation; and immediate past-Chairman of the National Maritime Policy Committee.
Photo Credit:
The USS Yorktown after three Japanese bombs struck the ship during the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942. Courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command