Admiring the Job Done by Admiral Roughead

Spencer Ackerman has an article on Danger Room that focuses in on the career of ADM Roughead as CNO. I think it is a a really good piece, and I do not generally think ADM Roughead gets enough credit for what he has done as CNO.

I noted in the comments at Danger Room that already some internet nerds are suggesting history will not reflect kindly on ADM Roughead as CNO. I couldn't disagree more, ADM Roughead made some tough calls as CNO, and I'll be the first to admit I disagreed with several of them, but making tough calls is what good leaders do. I also believe that hindsight in all of those decisions will never be 20/20, that is how hard the calls were.

A great example is DDG-1000. Should the Navy have stuck with building 7 DDG-1000s instead of moving back to DDG-51? Some may argue yes, and some may argue no, and there are absolutely valid arguments on both sides. The key to many of those tough decisions isn't the decision that he made, it is that he was the guy who was forced to deal with that mess in the first place because the folks ahead of him created such a spectacular mess long before the difficult decisions landed in ADM Rougheads lap.

Sorry, but on the tough calls like DDG-1000, ADM Roughead did in 2008 what ADM Mullen didn't do in 2005, he dealt with the problems directly instead of punting in hopes things would work out down the road. ADM Roughead consistently dealt with such issues, and there are numerous examples. Noteworthy, I do not see any scenarios where the next CNO will be forced to deal with a major problem because ADM Roughead punted. Challenges yes, but one hallmark of ADM Roughead as CNO is the absence of a can being kicked down the road.

Under the 8 years of Bill Clinton (FY1993-FY2000) the Navy built a total of 40 ships. Under the 8 years of George Bush (FY2001-FY2008) the Navy built a total of 44 ships, but I also now add the 1 JHSV the Army paid for in FY08, giving the Navy a total of 45 ships over those 8 years.

In the 4 budgets of Admiral Roughead, FY2009-FY2012, the US Navy will build 35 ships, plus the 4 Army JHSVs that the Navy will operate, for a total of 39 ships. Look at the details and you will find that under ADM Roughead, the Navy is building on average the same number of major hulls as the Navy did for the previous 16 years, and yet somehow the Navy is buying all the JHSVs and Littoral Combat Ships also. People who run around claiming the Navy is buying JHSVs and LCS instead of major ships are factually inaccurate.

People do not seem very well informed regarding where the Navy was before ADM Roughead. Look at the three budget cycles prior to ADM Roughead. Admiral Mullen was CNO from July 2005 until September 2007, but was also the key person who testified in early summer of 2005 regarding the DDG-1000 which many observers describe as the make or break moment of that platform in the budget, so I put FY06, FY07, and FY08 under Admiral Mullen.

In hindsight based on the historical record, ADM Mullen was the lowest point of the post cold war period for the US Navy. Under Admiral Mullen, the Navy planned to build 17 ships, but because of high costs and major problems with the Littoral Combat Ship, the Navy ultimately only build 4 ships in FY06, 5 ships in FY07, and only 3 ships in FY08. That is only 12 ships in three years at a time when the Defense Budget was the highest since WWII! By every definition the Navy was a dumpster fire when ADM Roughead took over as CNO and shipbuilding specifically was at the lowest point of any three year period in over a century.

I completely agree with those who note ADM Roughead never proved to be a great public speaker for the Navy and in general never hit any sort of stride as a public advocate for the Navy. At least his speech writers were good though, which sometimes matters more in the information age. I note that many critics of ADM Roughead say he that while he was always a solid officer, ADM Roughead was never the best at anything in his community. That might be true, maybe he never was the #1 SWO, but do you know where he was the best? When he served as the Department of the Navy’s Chief of Legislative Affairs.

And as CNO that really paid off. The fact is ADM Roughead has tremendous political skills and those skills have been used to turn the Navy around in virtually every community. Under ADM Roughead naval aviation is in a great place with both fixed wing and RW, legitimately giving the Navy remarkable flexibility with the JSF. Under ADM Roughead the Navy was building 1 submarine a year, and will be building 2 submarines a year as he leaves. Shipbuilding has been turned around from the lowest point in over a century of 4 ships a year to an average of 9.75 ships per year under ADM Roughead. Every community is doing better because of ADM Roughead, being the best SWO ultimately meant jack shit while being brilliant politically on Capitol Hill ended up meaning a lot.

ADM Roughead told Spencer Ackerman “I don’t think I’ve been as excited about anything as the unmanned carrier aircraft.” That might have observers wondering why we haven't seen a Reaper fly off a LHD or LHA? Probably because Admiral Roughead had to buy a huge block of F-18 replacements with a couple billion dollars of his aviation budget, and there isn't enough money to do both. It may not look like a difficult decision, but buying a bunch of F-18s may have set the Navy back several years on fielding more unmanned strike platforms from ships, and was a lot tougher call that casual observers might have thought at the time. Many of those decisions were taken for granted by his critics, but they shouldn't be.

ADM Roughead was not the CNO that many wanted to lead the Navy when he was appointed, but 4 years later it is very clear he was the CNO the Navy needed, and the US Navy went from being one giant dumpster fire to being a ship sailing relatively calm seas with his hand at the helm.