Surface Navy Leaders Focus on Readiness, Need to Build Future Fleet

ARLINGTON, Virginia (NNS) -- Improving readiness, maintaining the fleet and building the surface fleet of the future were topics Navy leaders, along with speakers from industry and academia, discussed on the third day of the Surface Navy Association’s 32nd National Symposium Jan. 16.

Adm. Christopher W. Grady, commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command, in his keynote remarks stressed the importance of constant readiness in every aspect of warfighting, in order to maintain naval supremacy.

“We live in a dangerous world, so we may be called to fight and win on little notice,” said Grady, also the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Northern Command. “It is incumbent upon us to treat every day as though it were the last day of peace, and so we have to own the fight today. That is imperative.”

Grady gave a hypothetical scenario in which a future U.S. Navy is charged with helping small forces across the globe fight, as well as helping care for their people. To help the Navy prepare for such possibilities, he urged leaders to shift their mindset from short-term preparedness toward long-term capabilities.

“We need you to own that fight,” Grady said. “We need combat-ready ships and battle-minded crews.

"Being combat-ready means being relentless on readiness," he continued. "We must dispense with the mindset where we build materiel readiness just in time for the next deployment and instead constantly prepare ourselves for the unknown.”

Visit the Navy Live blog of the event for lives video coverage, news updates and more.