A Future for the Blue Water Navy?

While the Navy continues to express confidence in aircraft carrier battle groups with all the supporting surface ships. Similarly, the Marine Corps continues to push for amphibious assault vehicles and equipment.  But are these preferences supported by technological, tactical and strategic trends?

The future appears to lie in the green coastal waters where littoral combat ships range and in the "black water" of the deep where submarines reign.  Cruise missiles and UAVs are powerful force multipliers that will diminish the effectiveness and necessity for large, expensive surface vessels. LCSs and submarines are both relatively small, but versatile are not only combat vessels, but useful for missions such as surveillance and SF operations.

A century ago battleships were the epitome of Naval power, World War Two saw them eclipsed by aircraft carriers as naval warfare became air warfare. There is evidence to suggest that in this century naval warfare will become black water submarine warfare.