Global Fleet Station Concept

In October 2007, the combined maritime services of the United States released "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower" defining how they will operate to support strategic considerations. One concept looking to support this strategy is the Global Fleet Station (GFS). The GFS concept uses US Navy ships and other governmental assets to set up a self-sustaining base from which to conduct shaping and stability operations. The purpose of this study was to review the GFS concept and its 2007 deployment to Central America to determine if GFS meets defined strategic requirements. A qualitative analysis was applied to conduct the research. The primary research question was: using the 2005 National Strategy for Maritime Security, NSPD-44, DoDD 3000.05, and the 2007 Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower as guidance, does the Global Fleet Station concept meet strategic level requirements for stability, security, transition, and reconstruction operations? The analysis of this, and secondary, research questions allowed the author to build a graded rubric based on tasks outlined in the Universal Joint Task List. This graded rubric shows that the proof-of-concept deployment met the strategic level guidance and that the GFS concept is a valid concept for future naval endeavors.