Six Frigates and the Future of Gunboat Diplomacy
2011
Albaugh, Kurt
March was a busy month for the Navy. It supported the war against extremism in Afghanistan, led the vanguard of strikes in Libya, boarded suspicious vessels off the Somali coast, and saved life and property in Japan. A month's events couldn't augur more strongly why we need to maintain a global, flexible, versatile Navy. Even with excellent intelligence, we can't know when the Navy will be called to fight, to protect, or to save. By maintaining a widespread presence, the Navy was able to respond to the government's foreign policy objectives with gunboat diplomacy in Libya and aid to the thousands suffering in Japan. While the Navy was doing the nation's work, congressional testimony described a bleak future. The fiscal reality of today will have a lasting effect on the Department of Defense, and the Navy, of tomorrow. Congressional Budget Office analysis shows that shipbuilding costs are expected to far outpace inflation.1 Demand for naval forces is high, but as costs to provide those forces grow rapidly, the federal budget is stretched thin, and some are calling to cut the defense budget by as much as one sixth.2 Even if the Navy can articulate its value to the nation and gain a higher proportion of the defense budget, the larger slice will likely come from a smaller pie. With defense budget cuts looming, the Navy should look to its own history: as our ships once more go to the shores of Tripoli, the philosophy behind the Navy's first ships offers appropriate and instructive lessons on forging American resources into the sword and shield of our republic. The original six frigates of the United States exemplify the qualities the Navy should advocate in its plan to provide the capabilities America expects in a way America can afford.
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