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Subic Bay – The First Decade of U.S. Naval Presence

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Subic Bay – The First Decade of U.S. Naval Presence John S. Naylor – 29 September, 2025 Subic Bay is back in the news. After more than thirty years, the U.S. is returning to the naval base there, as a part of strengthening its position in the region, and rebuilding its relationship with the Philippines. Aggressive moves by China in the region have forced the U.S. to resume a presence abandoned with the end of the Cold War and anticipated “Peace Dividend.” How the U.S. wound up in Subic Bay in the first place may inform some of the advantages of a forward located naval base, despite it being well within range of present-day hostile observation and fires.  In 1898, at the opening of the war with Spain, the village of Olongopo, located on the northern shore of Subic Bay, sixty miles northeast of Manila, was a sometime anchorage under the development of the Armada in the Philippines. When Spanish Admiral Montojo was notified that Dewey’s squadron had departed Hong Kong, bound for Manil...
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Executive Order 969 and the Development of U.S. Amphibious Doctrine

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Executive Order 969 and the Development of U.S. Amphibious Doctrine John S. Naylor – 24 September 2025 Major General Commandant George F. Elliott, USMC 10th Commandant, 1903-1910   Ten years after the Spanish American War, the Marine Corps remained in a state of transformation, from being shipboard enforcers and navy yard watchmen, to a becoming a landing force capable of supporting Navy fleet operations. Proof of concept exercises at Nantucket, Culebra, and Subic Bay were dress rehearsals for the nascent Advanced Base Force, then yet to be fully formed due to operational exigencies. Expeditionary units of the Marine Corps had fought in the Boxer Rebellion, fought in the Philippines, enabled the independence of Panama from Colombia, and supported the Army in Cuban pacification. But during this era, it was Theodore Roosevelt’s Executive Order 969 which remains the most remembered event of the year 1908. Oft regarded as one of a number of attempts to abolish the Corps, it showed that...
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The Amphibious Shipping Challenge: Before There Were Amphibs

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The Amphibious Shipping Challenge: Before There Were Amphibs John S. Naylor - 1 September, 2025 USS PANTHER In the August 2025 issue of Proceedings, Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Warren, USMC, makes an argument for working through the ongoing shortage of amphibious shipping in the Navy by deploying “Mini-MEUs” — deploying Marines aboard a mix of amphibs and surface warfare ships. [1]  He posits that by spreading Marines amongst the ships of the Surface Warfare community, the two sea services could generate greater utility, despite not having a requisite number of amphibious warships available. My thoughts here are in no way a rebuttal to LtCol Warren’s thesis. My thoughts are more a historical framing of the amphibious shipping challenges facing the sea services at the turn of the previous century. Since the end of the Cold War amphibious shipping has been a perennial bone of contention between the Marine Corps, the Department of the Navy, and Congress. The argument that “available sh...
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