In a world where oil is king, weapons of mass destruction lurk in con- taincr ships and "peer competitors" could emerge to challenge the naval dominance of the United States, there should be no shortage of responsibilities for the nation's sea services. That is the thinking behind the Navy's latest attempt to articulate the role of maritime forces, and to provide a sensible justification for its plan to increase the current 278-ship fleet to 313 dur- ing the next three decades. Navy officials worry that fleet expansion efforts could be wrecked if the Defense Department cuts naval budgets to pay for the addition of thousands of troops to the Army and Marine Corps over the next four years. As they unveil a newly drafted plan for future maritime operations — titled "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower" — Navy officials are seeking to convince the Defense Department and Congress that it would be unwise for the United States to not invest in the modernization of the fleet, and that the projected increases in the size of ground forces should not come at the expense of naval assets. To the contrary, Navy officials contend, the United States needs to strengthen its maritime forces in anticipation of future military threats.
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