Why do we need a Navy?

[Kionon]

All,

I'm working a paper for my MA about the Civilian-Military gap and its applications on maritime security. I have one question for you, if you want to help out:

Why do we (we being your particular nation state) need a Navy?

The only people I don't want to hear from are godix, Otohiko, kenisama, current/former veterans or their direct dependents, or those with a background in public policy/government/national security/international relations. I am looking for the "average Joe" response to this question.

[CodeZTM]

I suppose that considering I've never been around militaristic people in the navy, I suppose I qualify for this question. [Grandpa was in the army, but he never talks about it, and its not the navy.]

Meanwhile, I suppose my answer to this would be : It's necessary to have underwater/overseas combatants that are capable of quickly stopping aggressive acts. Naval ships seems to be a place where planes can refuel/land quickly and get back into combat readiness. Moreover, it's [to a person that has no prior understanding of the organization other than NCIS, and we know how realistic television is] like a mobile base that can be "relatively" safe in terms of distance.

Then again, considering that ship travel is still a big means of commerce shipping between nations, it seems to be a good idea to maintain safe waters to keep shipments steady and keep other nations in a friendly position.

I hope I didn't make too much of a presumptuous ass of myself in this post. >XD

[LantisEscudo]

To my rather uninformed eye, the Navy really serves two major purposes: protecting maritime shipping from piracy, and acting as a mobile forward point for projecting force.

A huge amount of stuff gets shipped by sea, and a decently-armed Navy would be necessary to police the shipping lanes.

For the projection of force, by my understanding, the Army and Air Force both need a decent amount of infrastructure in-place to stage from. Once underway, a carrier group is (mostly) its own staging ground, and can put ordinance a huge distance inland, both from missile launches and fighter operations. The only thing they lack is the boots on the ground to hold the area after such an attack (although a sufficient complement of Marines can do quite nicely for smaller areas). Plus the advantage of being able to put this staging ground just offshore of pretty much anywhere is a major advantage.

(Full disclosure: Both my grandfathers served in the military, one in the Army during WWII and told me a ton of stories, the other in the Navy during peacetime between Korea and Vietnam, but never said anything about his time serving.)

[NME]

We don't.

[Kionon]

We don't.

Would genuinely love to hear your arguments on this.

[godix]

The only people I don't want to hear from are godix, Otohiko, kenisama, current/former veterans or their direct dependents, or those with a background in public policy/government/national security/international relations. I am looking for the "average Joe" response to this question.

Fuck you, I'm answering anyway. We need a navy to keep dickgirls out of the country and annoying other people instead of us.

[macchinainterna]

I'm an average Joe and what is this?

[hasteroth]

The only people I don't want to hear from are godix, Otohiko, kenisama, current/former veterans or their direct dependents, or those with a background in public policy/government/national security/international relations. I am looking for the "average Joe" response to this question.

Fuck you, I'm answering anyway. We need a navy to keep dickgirls out of the country and annoying other people instead of us.

Nice, a direct stab at the OP. And it's more subtle than "OP IS A F*G"

[Kionon]

I'm an average Joe and what is this?

Answer the question to the best of your ability.

[Kionon]

The only people I don't want to hear from are godix, Otohiko, kenisama, current/former veterans or their direct dependents, or those with a background in public policy/government/national security/international relations. I am looking for the "average Joe" response to this question.

Fuck you, I'm answering anyway. We need a navy to keep dickgirls out of the country and annoying other people instead of us.

Nice, a direct stab at the OP. And it's more subtle than "OP IS A F*G"

...Leave it.