2007

World Naval Operational News Highlights

The ten most significant naval news stories / themes this year included:

• The US military’s recognition that climate change poses a security threat to the U.S. Most interesting was their recommendation that the U.S. government work to mitigate climate change.
• The Chinese anti-satellite test which showed that China has the capability to destroy satellites in low earth orbit. Could the U.S. Navy operate today without satellites?
• The Russian cyberwar waged against Estonia, which showed how wars in cyberspace will be conducted. Could the U.S. Navy have defended itself as well as the Estonians did?
• The success of the surge / Sunni Awakening in Iraq. Remember that the Sunni Awakening began in Anbar Province and was aided by the US Marines first.
• The seizure of Royal Navy personnel in the Gulf by Iran. Iran continues to take an offensive rather than defensive attitude in the Gulf.
• The growing sovereignty claims over the Northwest Passage. This year Russia planted a flag on the seabed there, the US Coast Guard opened a base there, and the Canadian Navy funded a class of arctic patrol ships intended to work there.
• The resurgence of the Russian Navy, funded by petrodollars. Long range patrol flights coupled with the first task force deployment to the Mediterranean Sea since Soviet times means the Russian Navy is (mildly) back.
• The decreasing size of the Royal Navy. Note though its two new aircraft carriers were formally funded this year.
• The deepening disaster of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater procurement program. It seems empowering contractors to oversee their own contracts was not such a great idea after all.
• The crisis in the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding program has come to a head with the canceling of follow-on Littoral Combat Ships due to massive cost overruns. Will the U.S. Navy finally take a more hands-on approach to its shipbuilding programs to keep costs down?

Statistics
In 2007, there were news stories linked to on 275 / 365 days – that is on 75% of the days.

In 2007, NOSI linked to 428 articles covering 394 news stories.

In 2007, 118 of these stories (30%) were related to the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, or U.S. Military Sealift Command.

In 2007, 186 of these stories (47%) were background stories and 4 stories (1%) were historical stories.

The remaining 85 news stories (22%) covered the operational activities of 19 nation’s navies, coast guards, and marine corps:

Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, United Kingdom

In 2007, 177,202 pages of information were read on NOSI by 106,546 users.

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