It's always been true that the Navy's fleet based in Western Washington performs critical missions across the planet. But as the Pentagon prepares for greater conflict at sea, the Navy vessels of the Pacific Northwest are currently showing they'll play a key role in containing an increasingly ambitious Chinese Navy. "It's a major part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet," Brad Martin, a retired Navy captain and senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, said of the Navy in the Pacific Northwest. "And with the focus on containing the rise of China, the forces in the Pacific continue to be very important — and potentially increasing in importance."