I: THE NAVY-MARINE CORPS TEAM TODAY

The Navy and Marine Corps provide the Nation with a continuous, adaptable, and active instrument of security policy with which to promote stability and project maritime power. Forward-deployed, combat-credible expeditionary naval forces are important to shaping the global security environment; helping assure access to regions of vital interest; and permitting timely and frequently the initial crisis response from the sea. The ability to reassure friends and allies, deter potential adversaries, and, when called upon, engage in combat at all levels of intensity makes the Navy-Marine Corps Team especially useful to the Nation in peace, crisis, and war.

The Value of Naval Forces

Inherently versatile naval forces can execute a broad range of missions and are relatively unconstrained by regional infrastructure requirements and restrictions by other nations. At one end of the spectrum, rotational naval forces are engaged daily to favorably influence overseas security environments. These same forces are thus immediately available for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, or crisis response. Likewise, naval forces provide the most cost-effective and survivable component of our strategic nuclear deterrence triad of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, manned bombers, and inter-continental missiles. At the other end of the spectrum, on-station Navy and Marine Corps forces can provide a timely and powerful response through the full range the unimpeded flow and sustainment of follow-on forces in both small-scale contingencies and larger-scale conflict.

Operations in 1999

The flexible and scalable nature of U.S. naval power as an instrument of national security policy was shown by the operations conducted during 1999. Five Aircraft Carrier Battle Groups (CVBGs) and five Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) embarked in Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs) deployed during the year, manned by more than 55,000 Sailors and Marines. Similarly, 33,000 Marines were deployed or based forward in support of other operations.

Navy and Marine Corps units played key roles in the Kosovo operations. Sea-based strike aircraft from USS Enterprise, USS Theodore Roosevelt, and USS Kearsarge and land-based naval aircraft flew thousands of combat sorties as part of the air campaign, suffering zero losses and achieving remarkable levels of precision. Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) launched from surface ships and submarines struck some 45 percent of key command & control and politico-military infrastructure targets during the campaign. Also, TLAMs achieved a more than 80 percent success rate against assigned targets in all-weather conditions. The only standoff electronic warfare aircraft available to NATO forces, Navy and Marine Corps EA-6Bs accompanied all U.S. strikes—as well as those flown with allies—in over 1,600 missions. Land-based P-3Cs, carrier group-based S-3B aircraft, and SH-60B helicopters maintained a continuous anti-ship combat patrol in the Adriatic Sea throughout the campaign. Furthermore, land-based naval aircraft flew more than one-third of all reconnaissance missions despite constituting only 20 percent of the reconnaissance platforms in-theater.

Combat-ready Marines embarked aboard the Nassau and Kearsarge ARGs, supported by Navy helicopters flying from USS Inchon, provided prompt presence ashore in support of humanitarian efforts to aid Kosovar refugees. Notably, Marines participated in the construction of a refugee camp for 20,000 displaced Kosovar Albanians at Camp Hope, Albania. As part of the Kosovo Force (KFOR), Marines of the 26th MEU(SOC) (Special Operations Capable) were among the first U.S. ground troops to enter Kosovo. While operating in the eastern sector of Kosovo, Marines conducted such missions as clearing mines and maintaining security.

Immediately following hostilities in Kosovo, Navy Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Three constructed living quarters and restored utility systems for U.S. forces involved in the peacekeeping mission at Camp Montieth and Camp Bondsteel. The Seabees were also involved with various civic action projects, such as rebuilding schools, as well as supporting Navy Medical Corps personnel who provided medical and dental care to Kosovar Albanians and Serbs.

In the Pacific, Marines from Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force 31 embarked aboard USS Belleau Wood and 11th MEU(SOC) embarked aboard USS Peleliu participated in Operation Stabilise, providing communications and heavy-lift helicopter support of the United Nations-sanctioned, multi-national peacekeeping mission in East Timor.

We maintained a continuous carrier presence in the Arabian Gulf throughout 1999. All six of the CVBGs that operated in the Gulf last year conducted strike operations in support of Operation Southern Watch. Surface combatants also continued Maritime Interdiction Operations in support of United Nations' economic sanctions against Iraq. Forward-deployed naval forces based in Japan continue to provide visible overseas engagement and project U.S. influence in East Asia. And, for the second consecutive year, the carrier and other ships homeported in Yokosuka, Japan deployed on short notice to the Arabian Gulf.


Navy and Marine units contributed significantly to other humanitarian operations in 1999. In addition to their role in Kosovo, Marines from the Kearsarge ARG quickly arrived on-scene after Turkey's devastating earthquake and provided disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to the Turkish people. A key element of this support was the ability of naval forces to provide the assistance from the sea without placing an undue burden on Turkey's shattered infrastructure.


Navy and Marine Corps Reserves also were readily employed during 1999. During the Kosovo operation, Reservists provided more than one-third of the naval staff for the Joint Task Force headquarters, all of the Navy air maintenance and ground security augmentation, one-third of the Construction Battalion personnel, and flew EA-6B strike support missions. Reserve Civil Affairs Marines deployed continuously to Bosnia and Kosovo in support of both combat and humanitarian operations. Marine Corps Reservists also provided substantial humanitarian assistance in the Caribbean and Central America including relief efforts in the aftermath of hurricanes Georges and Mitch.

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