The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas.

Sea control means total control of the seas for the free movement of all. It means control of set air, surface, and subsurface areas, when and where needed. Sea control is crucial to national strategy. It allows the Navy to use the oceans as barriers for defense and as avenues to extend influence and assistance where it is needed. Well suited for strategic placement the world over, the surface force employs hundreds of units with advanced capabilities to achieve this function.

Power projection is the ability to use sea power throughout the world in the timely and precise manner needed to accomplish a goal. This covers a wide area. This is accomplished by using a broad spectrum of offensive naval operations. These operations include the tactical employment of carrier-based aircraft and these of amphibious forces and naval gunfire support forces. They also include the strategic nuclear response by the fleet ballistic missile forces. The functions of sea control and power projection are closely related. Depending on the type of force at play, there needs to be some degree of sea control in the sea areas from which we are to project power.