A profile of the world's mightiest Navy as San Francisco celebrates Fleet Week

ALAMEDA, Calif. - Fleet Week is one of the Bay Area's biggest celebrations especially with the Parade of Ships, ship tours and, of course, the legendary Blue Angels. But what is the fleet in its gigantic, worldwide entirety?              

The Navy, along with the Army, are founding pillars of the American experience. The then-Continental Navy with 15 ships, six of them battle frigates, dates back 249 years to 1775.

Rear Admiral Richard Meyer is Deputy Commander of the Third Fleet, which protects everything east of Hawaii and South of Alaska, a vast area. 

"Our primary mission is to prepare, provide and employ those forces in defense of the homeland," said Admiral Meyer.

To accomplish its worldwide mission, it operates in all areas of potential conflict; under the seabed, on the seabed, on land, in the air and into space with satellites; even cyberspace. 

A key mission: protecting commercial shipping on the surface and communications below. 

"70% of the earth is covered in water, but 90% of commerce actually travels on our seas and the majority of our internet traffic actually occurs from undersea cables," said the admiral.

The admiral says much of this is done by the Navy worldwide through its mere presence. 

"To project that power forward so that we can actually deter adversaries not only for the U.S., but in conjunction with our allies and partners to provide the opportunity for all nations to be able to continue to engage," said Meyer.

U.S. Navy Statistics

• 335,000 active-duty
• 58,000 reservists
• 280,000 civilians
• 480 ships
• 2,600 aircraft

Why is the Navy such a threat to adversaries? The Navy has some 335,000 active-duty personnel, 58,000 reservists and employs about 280,000 civilians. It has 480 ships total, 300 of which are ready to deploy. It also has 2,600 aircraft.

U.S. Navy Aircraft

• 2,600 U.S. Navy
• 3,300 China
• 4,200 Russia
• 13,200 U.S. Military

The Navy's fleet of aircraft alone constitutes the world's fourth-largest air force. Only China with 3,300 planes, Russia with 4,200 planes, and the entire U.S. military fleet are larger. The U.S. military combined, with its 13,200 planes, is almost twice the size of China's and Russia's air forces combined. 

Yet another key mission: humanitarian assistance and relief. 

"We can rapidly deploy forces and provide that ‘on the ground’ assistance, the airlift capabilities to get in, do search and rescue, provide stabilization, hospitalization. All the things that are needed in times of crisis," said U.S. Navy Public Engagement Officer Commander Brian Wierzbicki.

The future of the Navy is all about technology. 

"Bring technology to bear including autonomous and robotic systems. We're setting the next stage to see how we can have a cyber-based fleet; both where we have manned ships but also unmanned ships," said Admiral Meyer.