The U.S. Navy’s “Great Green Fleet Initiative” was devised in 2009 in response to the dual threats of fleet disorganization and climate change, both of which pose extensive challenges to U.S. national security. Thirty years of unchallenged maritime supremacy had led to complacency and a fetishization of technological innovation for its own sake, leading to an expensive but rigid fleet with limited abilities to adapt and confusion of purpose. The emphasis on strike warfare during the global war on terror ignored other aspects of maritime warfighting and created a fleet that was not prepared to deal with the challenges of great power competition. However, despite the name attributed to this program, the Great Green Fleet was too limited in scope. In addition to using only one carrier strike group, the initiative primarily was concerned with introducing alternative fuels to the fleet and sourcing fuels from the United States. The the initiative ignored important areas such as environmental impact and force readiness at a time when climate change necessitates substantial changes to strategic thinking and planning.
What the Great Green Fleet Could Still Be
By Ensign Benjamin Chiacchia, U.S. Navy