| The Role Of The US Navy |
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The primary role of the US Navy is to establish, defend, and maintain maritime security all around the US coastline. In this endeavor it is equipped with both attack and defense capabilities through its surface ships and submarines. These carry both conventional weapons and nuclear armed missiles.
Its personnel are trained to work under all sorts of conditions including war theaters, peacekeeping missions and reconnaissance roles. The US Navy is also equipped with aircraft carriers that can fly aircraft on reconnaissance, air defense and strategic missions. As part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the US is committed to providing certain member countries their defense needs. The US Navy has long played a very vital and important role in this endeavor. The US Navy is also the biggest peacekeeping force in the world. Time and again its huge cruisers, aircraft carriers, and destroyers have been used in international waters to ensure that peace is not threatened, especially in countries with which the US has defense treaties. An arm of the US Navy is also permanently used to deploy nuclear armed missiles for ensuring that the threat of nuclear warfare does not catch the US napping. US Navy seals have also been used on guerilla warfare counter missions in Vietnam and in some other countries. The US Navy Coastguard arm mans its craft around the entire coastline of the US in rescue missions and ensures that no smuggling of goods and people is carried out in US waters. It also ensures that no terrorist activities can be launched on US soil via its waters. To check on the preparedness of its vessels, weapons systems, and communications equipment, and personnel, the US Navy also carries out war simulation rehearsals from time to time. In some of these programs, it also invites the navies of some other countries to participate for mutual benefit. Of late the US Navy has been concentrating its attention on the scourge of sea piracy especially in the waters in and around Somalia. It has safely ensured that transportation of goods and medical equipment and food via merchant vessels is not adversely affected due to piracy on the high seas. The US Navy also plays another role. Through the research it conducts, the most technologically advanced maritime weapons systems have been developed as also communication systems. Another aspect of the role of the US Navy that is not very well known is in disaster relief. It has time and again played a laudatory role in rescuing victims of natural disasters while at sea. Little known is the US Navy's role in providing a riverine command structure. Under it, US Navy personnel, vessels, and associated weaponry, patrol the nation's rivers and provide support to US land forces in inland waters. No wonder the US Navy is not only a blue water force but also a brown water one. Related Articles
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