The US Experience in the Pacific and Battle of Leyte - Essay Example

Does the concept of operational art apply to naval warfare? How is the U.S. Navy experience in the Pacific and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in particular, relevant to your conclusions? Operational art entails the military strategy of seizing and maintaining a given undertaken initiative. This has to be conducted through prior excellent planning followed by abrupt surprise and the synergistic execution in a wholesome allied and combined arms operation. Such operation on most occasions is based on good and precise anticipation with decisive action playing an integral part in such an operation. The key to success in any given battle or any other military operation is the appropriate action and the style of execution rather than the actual planning and preparations. In operational art, when an initiative is made, the most important concept in attaining the initiative is speed and surprise, with the enemy caught unaware, executing the mission in the shortest time possible before the target can regroup. On the other side, the key to successfully retaining the initiative is the uninterrupted, with total concentration, on the operation. The operational art concept has been on numerous occasions been employed in naval warfare and thus applies in the engagements of naval warfare. Like in operational art, naval warfare involves the emphasis on execution. This kind of operation is the one that entails continuous and relentless anticipation, at the same time making the appropriate desired adjustments and facilitating the availability of options in maintaining the initiative. Most naval operations have applied the concept of operational art; this is so in the emphasis given in naval operations that are similar to those in operational art. For example, it is emphasized that the attack must move rapidly. For this to happen there is the stress on the need for speed, of which speed is seen as one of the most important and essential factor if success was to be realized.1 In operational art, as has come to be stressed in naval warfare, speed necessitates the application of surprise, getting the enemy off guard and keeping such an enemy off balance in the process of conducting the attack. Speed also contributes immensely to the security and safety of the attacking force and hinders the enemy or defender from having the opportunity for countermeasures as such a defender is availed no time to regroup. As the naval emphasize in line with operational art concept, speed when executed in the desirable and appropriate manner confuse and immobilize the defender making the attack to escalate to such heights that it becomes unstoppable. Without even having a large force to equal the defender, speed compensates for the number disadvantage and enables the attacker to realize the set aims. Operation art also aims at the attainment of major strategic and operational objectives that could be arrived at through campaigns, integration, redesigning or reorganization or conduction of strategies and battles carried out by military forces. Naval warfare concurs with the definition given for operation art, which has been quoted below. Operational art translates the joint force commander’s strategy into operational design, and, ultimately, tactical actions, by integrating the key activities at all levels of war. Maneuvering in space, time and perception, using rapid and focused actions to generate tempo and create opportunities, in order to gain positional and/or psychological advantages to decisively, achieve the strategic end-state.2 Operational art strategies being synonymous with the naval warfare tactics can best be illustrated in the US Navy experience in the Pacific and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In some instances, the Battle of Leyte Gulf has been referred to as the ‘‘Second Battle of the Philippine Sea.’’.3 This battle has been touted as the most intense and largest naval battle ever witnessed in the history of modern world. This battle took place during World War 2, specifically in 1944. It involved the Allied forces against Japan. As a strategy of war, the Allied forces invaded Leyte. By so doing, the Allied forces were seeking to alienate the empire of Japan from the colonies it controlled in the South East Asia. Like emphasized in operational art strategies, this was a move aimed at depriving the Japanese army crucial oil supplies and other crucial reinforcements. With the defender, that is Japan, already deprived such important commodity as oil, the Japanese Navy panicked. As a result, The Japanese Empire gathered most of her naval forces sending them in large numbers to repel the Allied troops. This strategy backfired, with the Japanese suffering heavy losses. The near annihilation of the Japanese forces delivered victory to the Allied forces. The Japanese forces never again during the World War period set out in such numbers without prior plan. As a war strategy, the Allied forces led by the US, cut major strategic colonies from Japan. This was a strategy to make Japan desperate at the same time the lack of oil and essential supplies meant she was weakened resource wise. As advocated in the operation art, the first thing the US forces had done was that they were not conducting the mission alone rather they had joined efforts with other forces like the British Forces hence the name, the Allied forces. The formation of an Allied forces meant that there was diversification in the naval forces with each party bringing aboard its experience and expertise. Provisions were also guaranteed to come from different parts and thus it was difficult to sabotage the efforts of the Allied forces by cutting their supplies, as others would come from different directions. The Japanese did not have different and diversified sources for their provisions and thus the Allied forces used this weakness to cut off the source of Japanese oil. Such experience was crucial to the US Navy as it enabled it to have the experience that reliance on one major area could be detrimental and could lead to defeat like what happened to Japan. To this day, most of the US Navy bases are located in different locations in the world with each independent of the other. This is in line with the operational art concepts.4 The U.S. Navy experience in the Pacific and the Battle of Leyte Gulf also made the US Navy to apply the concept of operational art more. In the recent times, naval warfare exhibits most if not all the characteristics of the concept of operational art. This has also been the case in land warfare. As is in operational art, the contemporary concepts of maneuver, mass, firepower and even the flank attacks of which even the indirect approach is included, can now be seen to be applied in naval combat. With naval warfare, there has been developed the unique and intriguing attribute of the successful interaction of land, sea and air units in the efforts of conducting strategic plan and in engaging in battles. Following the long and illustrious tradition of uniqueness, sea power has had its pioneer unique thinkers such as Alfred Thayer, of which this is similar to the existence of unique thinkers that land warfare had. The greatest of naval strategists some of whom published their contributory works at the dawn of the great steel and revolutionary steam naval era, did not deviate from the traditions rather expanded and expounded on traditional contributors to successfully outline and lay down the special trait and contributions made by the naval forces in strategic success and operational thinking. In modern warfare, ships are able to transit great distances quickly. There is also the ability of naval ships to host aircrafts combined with the reach of aircraft carriers strikes. There has also been the emphasis on the doctrine of assaulting fortified beaches in modern warfare as a strategy of weakening the defender offering limited options. These factors make naval power a very critical asset of modern warfare. The US Naval operations of the 21st Century rely heavily on the concept of operational art.5 The concept of operational art has become an integral part of naval organization and naval warfare. The US experience in the Pacific and Battle of Leyte made the US Navy to be reorganized to concur with operational art doctrines. This has seen the strengthening of the US Navy with bases set in almost all strategic areas of the world. The US Navy draws resources from all corners of the globe and thus it is very hard to sabotage its operations. In line with speed concepts, there have been designed high-speed ships that are able to cover long distances within a short time. The Navy has become one of the most import assets of modern warfare. Bibliography Humble, Richard. 2003. Naval Warfare: An Illustrated History. California: Time Warner Books McKercher, B. and Hennessy, Michael. 1996. The Operational Art: Developments in the Theories of War. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group Newell, Clayton and Krause, Michael. 1994. On operational art. New York: Center of Military History. Thursfield, James. 2010. Naval Warfare. New York: General Books LLC Widerman, John. 1997. Naval Warfare: Courage and Combat on the Water. New York: MetroBooks Read More