WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy’s top uniformed officer wants to persuade commanders to use smaller, newer ships and other assets for missions that are seen in U.S. military buildups in Venezuela and Iran instead of constantly turning to giant aircraft carriers.
Adm. Daryl Caudle’s vision — which he calls “battle directives” — calls for the Navy to deploy more adaptive groups of ships and equipment that give the Sea Service more flexibility to respond as they evolve.
Caudle spoke to The Associated Press ahead of the rollout of the new strategy, which has seen the Trump administration move aircraft carriers and other ships to areas around the world to address emerging concerns. This has disrupted permanent deployment plans, scrambled ships to travel thousands of miles and put increasing strain on ships and equipment already facing mounting maintenance problems.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. The Ford, last year, was redirected from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean Sea, where the crew eventually supported the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month. And two weeks ago, the USS Abraham Lincoln was towed from the South China Sea as tensions with Iran escalated in the Middle East.
In an interview, Caudle said his strategy would make the Navy’s presence in regions like the Caribbean much leaner and better suited to deal with real threats.
He said he had already spoken to the commander of the US Southern Command, which covers the Caribbean and Venezuela, “and we are in talks about what his problem is – I want to be able to tell him that I can meet him there with an appropriate package.”
The Admiral sees a small fleet in the Caribbean in the future
Speaking more broadly, Caudle said he envisions the mission in the Caribbean focusing more on sanctions and keeping an eye on merchant shipping.
The US military has seized several suspicious and false-flag tankers linked to Venezuela that were part of a global shadow fleet of merchant ships that help governments evade sanctions.
“It doesn’t really require a carrier strike group,” Caudle said, adding that the mission could be carried out in close coordination with some small littoral combat ships, naval helicopters and the Coast Guard.
The Navy has 11 ships, including the Ford, and several amphibious assault ships, including thousands of Marines, in South American waters for months. This is a big change for an area that has historically seen the deployment of one or two small naval vessels.
“I don’t want to have too many destroyers stationed there to operate the radar to get awareness of motor ships and other tankers coming out of port,” Caudle said. “It’s not really a well-suited game for that mission.”
Returning to drones or robotic systems
To compensate, Caudle envisions military commanders leaning more toward drones or other robotic systems to provide similar capabilities but with less investment from naval vessels. He admits that it will not be an easy sell.
Caudle said that if a commander knows about a new capability, the staff “may not know how to ask for it, integrate it, and use it in an effective way to bring this new niche capability to bear.”
“It needs a bit of an education campaign here,” he added later.
President Donald Trump favors a big and bold response from the Navy and leans heavily on displays of firepower.
Trump has referred to the aircraft carriers and accompanying destroyers as armadas and flotillas. He also revived the historic battleship title for a planned type of ship that would sport hypersonic missiles, nuclear cruise missiles, rail guns and high-powered lasers.
If built, the proposed “Trump-class battleship” would be longer and larger than the World War II-era Iowa-class warships, though the Navy has not only struggled to field some of the technologies Trump has said it has, but also has challenges in terms of time and budget to build smaller, less sophisticated vessels.
In keeping with this trend, Cuddle said that if Lincoln’s recent redeployment to the Middle East were to take place under his new plan, he would talk to the Indo-Pacific commander about how to compensate for the losses.
“So, when Abraham Lincoln comes out, I’ve got a three-ship (group) that’s going to compensate for that,” Caudle suggested as an example.
Caudle argues that his vision is already in place and has been working in Europe and North America “for the last four or five years”.
He noted that this could soon apply to the Bering Strait, which separates Russia and Alaska, noting that the “Arctic is growing in importance” as China, Russia and the US prioritize the region.
Trump has cited threats from China and Russia in his demand to seize Greenland, an Arctic island controlled by NATO ally Denmark.
Caudle said he knows he needs to offer “more solutions” to commanders in the region and that his “tailored force packages will be a way to get after that.”
