The operational performance, environmental factors, mad maintenance costs, associated with coatings employed by the U.S. Navy present a unique challenge in technology to formulators and suppliers. This is evident in the wide variety of coatings employed for corrosion control, camouflage, and antifouling as well as a host of other specialty uses. This paper discusses the general performance requirements and attributes of the Navy's most widely employed coating systems. Also presented is a discussion of current and future trends associated with these systems based on both performance requirements and environmental compliance. Key words: corrosion, seawater ballast tanks, collection holding and transfer (CHT) tanks, fuel tanks, topside coatings, silicone-alkyd, bisphenol A epoxy, bisphenol F epoxy, epoxy novolac, volatile organic compound (VOC), edge retention (ER), antifouling
coating