 In today's world, we face potential adversaries that strive to undermine the current rules-based international order. Our leadership recognizes the emergence of this competition and the need for the Navy to be ready to compete, deter, and win in order to defend American interests along with those of our allies and partners. The surface force is ready to respond. We have more ready ships available for tasking. Our ships are more lethal and better networked. Our crews are manned and trained for the missions they face, and our force is maintained, modernized, and prepared to meet the demands of our Navy-facing determined adversaries. Our results have been encouraging, and our pride in the force remains high, but there is more work to be done, and the magnitude of the challenge we face is substantial. We must think more deeply about concepts of operation, force generation, force posture, networking, kill chains, sustainment, and integration of future force platforms and capabilities. We must carefully maintain a lethal, networked, postured surface force that is poised to pivot to crisis and conflict when required. Surface warfare, the competitive edge, explains the need for coherence and vision as we confront a world growing more dangerous. The surface force will pursue five lines of effort to deter, fight, and win more effectively. We are responding to the realities of a modern security environment, and our efforts are critical in maintaining freedom of the seas, deterring aggression, and winning wars. The time to prepare is now.