Document: US Navy Program Guide 2013

From the document’s forward by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert:

The U.S. Navy is the world’s most lethal, flexible, and capable maritime force. As they have throughout our Nation’s history, every day our Sailors operate forward to provide American leaders with timely options to deter aggression, assure allies, and re- spond to crises with a minimal footprint ashore.
During 2012, the Navy remained the Nation’s front line in conflict and in peace. The USS John C. Stennis deployed twice to the Middle East in support of our troops in Af- ghanistan, and the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group operated forward there for nearly 11 months. We honed our coalition mine warfare skills in a 34-nation exercise in the Arabian Gulf. We demonstrated our combined anti- submarine, missile defense, surface warfare, and humani- tarian assistance and disaster response capabilities with 22 partner nations in the 2012 Rim of the Pacific exercise. And we assembled 25 ships and 14,000 personnel to rein- vigorate Navy-Marine Corps amphibious warfare skills in Exercise Bold Alligator.
As directed by the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance
Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense, the Navy also formulated and imple- mented a plan to rebalance our forces, their homeports, our capabilities, and our intellectual capital and part- nerships toward the Asia-Pacific. As we continue this rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific, we will also support the Nation’s transition from a decade of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan by retaining a strong naval force to support our partners in the Middle East and address threats to stability there.
To implement the vision of my Sailing Directions and the Defense Strategic Guidance, we will enhance endur- ing capabilities—such as our undersea dominance—and develop new ones to overcome threats to our freedom of action and to exploit adversary vulnerabilities. We will field and integrate new unmanned air vehicles into our carrier air wings and accelerate procedures and systems to make the electromagnetic spectrum and cyberspace a primary warfighting domain. We will enable sustained operations at key maritime crossroads around the world through increased forward basing and by fielding new ships such as the Littoral Combat Ships, Joint High Speed Vessels, and Mobile Landing Platforms with rotating civil- ian and military crews. We will ensure the proficiency and confidence of today’s Fleet with today’s systems and weap- ons, and will continue to attack sexual assault and suicide, which threaten the safety, readiness, and well being of our Sailors.
Our Nation and military face unprecedented fiscal challenges and thus the Navy has had to make tough choices in building our Fiscal Year 2014 Navy Program. This program delivers the capacity to meet global pres- ence requirements and builds the capability to address the primary missions outlined in the Defense Strategic Guidance. Through continued innovation, efficiency, and judicious application of resources, our Navy will remain the world’s preeminent maritime force.