Tragedy of Pearl Harbor launches United States Maritime Strategy forward.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor resulted in one of the greatest defining moments in history. The well-executed raid on the United States Navy’s Pacific fleet destroyed ninety ships and forced the Navy to completely change its maritime strategy. The new maritime strategy called for a greater reliance upon aircraft carriers as opposed to Battleships as a more effective strategy for maritime warfare. Although the events of that historic day were catastrophic, the lesson of that tragedy launched the Navy into the modern warfare tactics that are used today and documented in the United States National Maritime Strategy.

The current National Maritime Strategy defines key goals and objectives for the United States Navy. Specifically, the strategy outlines six goals:

• Forward Presence
• Deterrence
• Sea Control
• Power Projection
• Maritime Security
• Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response

This strategy relies heavily upon the Navy’s force structure consisting of eleven aircraft carriers supported by over two hundred destroyers, cruisers, and auxiliary ships.

Note that not a single Battleship exists today in the United States Navy inventory of ships. Clearly, the aircraft carrier is the centerpiece of today’s maritime strategy and represents the most recognizable symbol of American naval supremacy providing five sovereign acres of United States territory that can be deployed in international waters at the will of the President.

Before 1941, Naval strategists debated whether Battleships or aircraft carriers provided the most capable firepower to accomplish the maritime mission. Battleship advocates favored its heavy caliber guns to deliver the firepower to conquer adversaries and ensure command of the sea. Compared to cruisers and destroyers, the Battleship’s heavy caliber guns provided far superior naval gunfire with ranges over twenty miles, but aircraft provided the capability to deliver ordnance for hundreds of miles. While Battleships enjoyed the reputation of providing supreme authority and control in naval operations, there was only a single fleet engagement of battleships during WWI to corroborate its exalted position. Nevertheless, the battleships reigned supreme as evidenced by its inventory advantage of eight battleships to three aircraft carriers on the eve of the historic Pearl Harbor attack.

The debate between the battleships and aircraft carriers was soundly resolved on Dec 7, 1941, when the Japanese delivered a fatal strike to the United States Pacific fleet using carrier-launched aircraft. The Japanese aircraft ironically destroyed eight American battleships and forever sealed the future of battleships by literally sending them to the bottom of the sea.

I believe that even without the events at Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy would have undoubtedly recognized the efficiency and supremacy of the aircraft carrier over the battleship. I have made this observation based on the relatively significant technological advances in aviation compared to lesser advances in ships. For instance, jet aircraft introduced in the early 1950s could fly faster, higher, and farther with more ordnance than WWII rotary aircraft, and thus were far more capable to wage lethal warfare. This fact alone would have ended the debate between battleships and aircraft carriers as the most capable war-fighting platform.

Today, the United States Navy has over 3700 operational aircraft, supported by 11 aircraft carriers and 286 deployable ships in its force. The Navy continues to advance and prepare itself to accomplish its maritime mission.

Even though December 7, 1941 was a tragic day in history, the United States learned a tremendous lesson on the power and lethality of carrier-based aircraft and the aircraft carrier. The tragedy at Pearl Harbor was the forcing function that drove the Navy to adopt the tactics and strategy used today.

Armenian Massacre or Genocide? When will we know?

As we all know the Armenian Massacre that took place during 1915-1922 was a heartbreaking tragedy. The Ottoman Turks systematically forced the Armenian people to starvation; they were tortured, murdered, and exiled. These actions resulted in the deaths of over 1,500,000 Armenians.

The United Nations Convention defined Genocide as the following:

...any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

– Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Article II

The following events prove that the execution should be considered as Genocide:

(a) On April 24,1915 nine hundred Armenian leaders and intellectuals were murdered.
(b) The Armenian people were subjected to starvation and did not have clothing.
(c) On September 26, 1915 property was legally taken from the Armenians.
(d) Women and Children were targeted in order to keep the Armenian population from growing. They were tortured and abused, also deprived of food and water.
(e) The children were taken away form their parents and forcibly driven into the desert.

This act of violence should clearly be classified as Genocide based upon the United Nations criteria. Why isn’t it? It is time to acknowledge and take responsibility for the actions of the past to prevent it from happening again in the future. The Turkish Government consistently refuses to recognize the repulsive incident as Genocide.

There has been many presidential candidates who have promised in their campaigns that they would recognize the Armenian Genocide, however once they are elected into office they avoid the issue and it is left unresolved. President Obama declared that he too would recognize the Armenian Genocide in his campaign, “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. I intend to be that president.” In the video in the top right corner Obama is delivering a speech as President, his views on the issue have changed, and he now sees the Turks as in important ally. Obama is ignoring the tragedy and once again leaving it up to the Turks and Armenians to decide what really happened. That solution hasn’t worked in the past and is very unlikely to work now, or in the future. It is like putting a thief on trial and letting him decide if he is committed the crime, he will obviously deny his actions because he does not want to be put in jail. It is our obligation to stand by the Armenians and help them receive justice.

Sitting around and waiting, hoping the Turkish Government will finally take responsibility for their actions is the wrong approach. If no one stands up and recognizes this as Genocide, then we are allowing it to happen again, maybe to millions of innocent people. Don’t let there be a next time! Help the Armenians reach their goal in acknowledging their pain and misery by deeming this Genocide.