
The Navy will create a 4th Fleet headquartered at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., and will tap a two-star SEAL officer to lead it, according to a Pentagon announcement Thursday.Our first impression of this news was that we expected the discussion to focus in on the relationship between the United States and South America. The general decline in relations is something we have discussed in the past as we have observed the mission profiles and intent of the US Navy in dealing with our southern neighbors. We don't observe this event in that context though, the mission in July will be the same mission as today, and the challenges will also be the same, so we will let others lead that discussion.
Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, head of Naval Special Warfare Command in Coronado, Calif., has been chosen to command the new fleet. Kernan will take control of both 4th Fleet and the current Naval Forces Southern Command, the Navy component of U.S. Southern Command.
The command will oversee maritime operations in Central and South American waters, and is similar to the command structure of 5th Fleet, which is also Naval Forces Central Command.
We see this event in the context of leadership and strategy. We note this is the first strategic decision regarding the direction of the Navy Admiral Roughead has made as CNO. Up until this point, Admiral Roughead had inherited all strategic decisions, whether it was the fleet constitution plan (313 plan) or the new maritime strategy, the strategic direction of the Navy had already been decided by either CNO Clark or CNO Mullen.
Another aspect of this event that sticks out is how the monopoly of leadership may be changing, and that strikes us as important. Admiral Roughead, a surface warfare officer of the AEGIS community, is standing up a fleet to support SOUTHCOM, currently commanded by Adm. James Stavridis, another surface warfare officer of the AEGIS community, but has appointed Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, who comes from the SEAL community. While that may not seem like a big deal, we explained the other day that we believe that just as the AEGIS community and naval aviation community leads the Navy today, it will be the expeditionary community and submarine community, including COs of XOs of those ship types today, who will make up the Navy leadership of tomorrow. This has nothing to do with a bias against AEGIS COs and XOs, rather we believe as the Navy tackles the challenges of a comprehensive strategy there will be more balance evident in commands. How obvious is this issue? We quote the Navy Times article for an example.
“I am likewise thrilled with the choice of a Navy SEAL for this important and expeditionary job,” Stavridis said “He is the right officer for the challenging tasks in the region, and additionally has a strong sense of theater security cooperation and interaction with our partner nations.”Comments like that explain why the IA program in the Navy is seen in the context of career killer for officers. We can only hope that Adm. Stavridis didn't emphasize that point, and its the article author who is making that point.
Although he’s a SEAL, Kernan isn’t a stranger to the conventional fleet. As a junior officer, he served aboard the cruiser Horne.
In January my first impression of the 4th fleet proposal was that the last thing the Navy needs to do is add another staff to a shrinking fleet, we now take the opposite position. Given the challenges the Navy will manage in the 21st century, we see the 4th fleet and the 6th fleet as the primary drivers for better balance in leadership promotions, because it is within the responsibilities of these fleets where we believe the conventional warfare forces of the Navy will hold minor relevance to executing strategy.
Adm. James Stavridis, who we believe is the next CNO in waiting, has a lot of interesting comments. We really like these quotes.
The fleet, he said, will be focused on preventing and responding to mass migration of refugees, as has happened in the past in Haiti and Cuba, as well as interdicting the flow of illegal drugs and partnering with countries throughout the region.We have long believed that as the maritime strategy was developed, Admiral Stavridis was very influential in its direction. 4th fleet represents all the unique, unconventional approaches that will be required to effectively sustain long term peace in the 21st century. While maritime law enforcement will be important, and in that regard traditional naval forces will need to be present, it is the pursuit of the peacemaker objects in maritime strategy where 4th fleet will be focused.
“We will also seek to build the ability of the 4th Fleet to work with interagency partners like U.S. Department of State, [U.S. Agency for International Development] and Department of Homeland Security,” he said.
Stavridis said anti-drug operations, humanitarian and cooperative training missions are expected to be the new command’s primary engagements.
The article continues.
“One particularly important mission for the 4th Fleet will be medical diplomacy, as exemplified by the voyage last summer of [the hospital ship] Comfort, which conducted nearly 400,000 patient encounters during a four-month cruise to 12 countries in the region,” Stavridis said.Medical Diplomacy continues to develop buzz. While it is not the Great White Fleet we discussed earlier this year, the pattern to use of amphibious ships without Marines for exercising soft power towards our national interest continues. 4th Fleet is going to be interesting to observe, because it will likely be heavy on LPD and MSC and light on carrier and cruiser.
This year, the amphibious assault ships Boxer and Kearsarge will “return on similar missions in the region this summer,” he said, “all under the aegis of 4th Fleet.”