The H-Bomb Navy

Ever since the 1946 Bikini A-bomb tests demonstrated what an atomic bomb could do to an old-style naval task force, U.S. admirals have been contemplating their naval strategy in an attempt to define the Navy's place in modern atomic war. Oddly enough, the hydrogen bomb gave them an unexpected assist: even land-based airmen recognized that a Russian H-bomb attack could be devastating to U.S. airfields, saw virtue in a mobile, seagoing air power capable of delivering atomic attack from unexpected directions.

In a recent speech Assistant Navy Secretary for Air James H. Smith Jr. described the Navy's role in a future war. Said Smith:

"We can visualize the future carrier striking force as a handful of large ships able to maintain high speeds in all sea conditions--say three large carriers, seven cruisers, and two high-speed supply ships per task force . . . This force will be spread out over an ocean area the size of the state of Maine. It will be so widely dispersed that no single weapon of any size we now can visualize can seriously damage more than one ship.

"Such a force could pack this kind of a great offensive punch. It could include aircrafts able to deliver large weapons under all weather conditions, against enemy bases 1,500 miles or more distant . . . Operating with such carrier forces will be advanced forces of nuclear-powered submarines launching atomic missiles against targets at relatively short ranges . . . These forces would be fully self-sustaining for some 30 days of war operations . . .

"Because of the dispersion of the force's ships and the range of its weapons, such a carrier force could exert a tight and exclusive control over an area of 60,000 square miles--the six New England states rearranged into a circle 275 miles in diameter . . . Nuclear warheads would be available for missiles fired against large bomber formations . . . Nuclear anti-submarine weapons would be available . . ."

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