The Surface Navy Association (SNA) hosted an international navies luncheon during its annual symposium, Jan. 11. The luncheon provided U.S. Navy surface forces leaders with the opportunity to exchange ideas with counterparts from the United Kingdom, Canada, Norway and Denmark, including lessons learned from professional experiences and goals for future cooperation. The transnational panel provided overviews of each country's navy and emphasized the importance of interoperability in the face of a changing global landscape. "It's absolutely key that we understand the complimentary elements of our respective navies," said Commodore Martin Connell of the U.K. Royal Navy. "Networking is key-that's the heart of distributed lethality, bringing people together when necessary." Connell, the panel moderator and naval attache from the U.K. Embassy, stressed the importance of continued joint maritime exercises as a means of continued communication and warfighting readiness among the allied navies. "Common doctrine is the foundation upon which our interoperability and cooperation with other navies is based," Connell said. "This cannot be done in isolation." "The ability to deploy ships globally, and then for them to be able to network and join together with other nations-particularly the U.S. Navy-is something we do all the time," Connell explained. "This conference has very cleverly explained the relevance, not just for the surface warfare community, but among partner navies." Capt. Marc Batsford, naval attache from the Canadian Embassy, said the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is entirely committed to the symposium's focus of distributed lethality. "The Royal Canadian Navy is prepared to take on these challenges with like-minded navies of other nations," Batsford said. The annual three-day SNA symposium provides military leaders and members of the private sector the opportunity to discuss and showcase current and developing technologies and to enhance the Navy's warfighting capabilities. SNA was incorporated in 1985 to promote greater coordination and communication among the military, business and academic communities, which share a common interest in naval surface warfare and support the activities of surface naval forces. The SNA symposium continues through Jan. 12. View the symposium live stream on the Navy Live blog at http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/01/09/sna-national-symposium-distributed-lethality-enabling-sea-control/, and join the social media conversation using #SNA2017.