The Great Green Fleet: The U.S. Navy and Fossil-Fuel Alternatives
Abstract
On 16 December 1907 President Teddy Roosevelt launched the deployment of sixteen brand-new, glistening white, steam-powered battleships on a fourteen-month circumnavigation of the globe. Later known as the Great White Fleet, the armada demonstrated America s new ability to project its power abroad and represented a turning point in global power politics. The cruise is still widely recognized as an important achievement for the U.S. Navy. In the century since then, in which the United States has emerged as the world s sole superpower, its navy has made some strides in transforming itself for the purpose of dealing with new and emerging global threats. It continues to face such challenges, and it remains to be seen how effective it will be with its ongoing transformation. The complexities of projecting American power abroad have been compounded by an array of costs that are increasingly associated with the use of fossil fuels. The American public and peoples around the world are gradually recognizing that oil dependence is amajor problemand that it is crucial to develop a serious, long-term approach for dealing with it. The key concerns related to oil use are nowcommonly expressed among them, that American oil dependence enriches and empowers some of its adversaries, including terrorists who use oil-related monies and states, such as Iran, that fund their defense programs with oil money; that reliance upon oil makes the United States vulnerable to the vagaries of Middle East politics; and that oil consumption contributes fundamentally to climate change. The use of alternative energies would also pose costs, but not the full array of these costs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA619258
Entities
People
- Alaina M. Chambers
- Steve A. Yetiv
Organizations
- Naval War College