Spirit of 1812 Navy Still Visible in Today's Navy

NEW ORLEANS (NNS) -- The commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command addressed members of the Kenner Rotary Club April 18 and spoke about the spirit of the Navy that helped win the War of 1812 is alive and well in today's Navy, 200 years later.

"Warfighting is our first priority," said Rear Adm. Jonathan White. "We always have to be ready to respond. We operate forward."

White's address coincided with Navy Week New Orleans and The War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemoration events in New Orleans. The events are part of a series of city visits by the Navy, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Operation Sail that began this month and concludes in 2015. New Orleans is the first and the last city visit in the series.

New Orleans hosted 10 U.S. and foreign Navy and Coast Guard ships, including three Navy warships, USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Mitscher (DDG 57), and USS DeWert (FFG 45) as part of the celebration.

White said that the War of 1812 established the fledgling United States as a nation and was led by and largely won by a young U.S. Navy.

"The men who manned our sailing ships in those days were a cut above," he said.

The Navy continues to attract some of the best and brightest of their generation, who White said are some of the nation's finest men and women. But the Navy also has changed to become a more diverse force. He said that when he came into the Navy in the early 1980s, women couldn't serve on combatant ships. Today, he said to emphasize the change, the Expeditionary Strike Group visiting the city for the celebration is led by a woman, Rear Adm. Ann Phillips. In 30 years, the Navy has moved from having no women serving on combatants to having women lead combatant groups.

White's command, based at Stennis Space Center, Miss., is responsible for forecasting weather and ocean conditions and maintaining precise time for navigation in support of Naval operations.

"We understand the physical environment better than anyone else," he said. That expertise gives the U.S. Navy an advantage when facing opposing forces.

"We want home-field advantage at away games," he said using a sports analogy. "We don't want to play home games. We like away games."

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