Transcript NS 110 - Sea Power & Maritime Affairs

Admin
• Test notes:
– Cite
– Ship Names should be in italics
• USS Wapsipinicon
– Proper noun capitalization
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Marine
Navy
South
North
Civil War
Review
• Technological advances
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Hull
Propulsion
Ordinance
Debate on whether to remain technology current
“low cost weapons” and the response
• Congressional and Public attitudes
• USN rebirth
– Construction programs
– USNI
– Naval War College
• Event in the rest of the world
Remember our Themes!
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The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy
Interaction between Congress and the Navy
Interservice Relations
Technology
Leadership
Strategy and Tactics
Evolution of Naval Doctrine
Lesson 11:
The Dawning of the Age of
Mahan 1890-1898
Learning Objectives
• Comprehend the historical
background to the popularization of
the doctrine of sea power in the late
19th century.
• Comprehend Mahan's viewpoint of
sea power as a geopolitical and naval
concept.
Learning Objectives
• Comprehend the distinctive British
interpretation of sea power as
expounded by Sir Julian Corbett.
• Comprehend Mahan's influence on
European and American naval history
between 1890 and 1898.
Remember our Themes!
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The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy
Interaction between Congress and the Navy
Interservice Relations
Technology
Leadership
Strategy and Tactics
Evolution of Naval Doctrine
Background
• Commerce Raiding
• Naval War College - Mahan was assigned
there.
• The Influence of Sea Power upon History,
1660-1783
Sea Power
• Sea
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Common over which men can pass in all directions
Great medium of communication established by
nature
Important to the extent that men use it
Sea Power
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Possession of a powerful navy
Colonies
Increasing Wealth
Increase in Strength and Capacity
• “Command of the Sea”
Elements of “Sea Power”
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Geographic Position
Physical Conformation
Extent of Territory
Number of Population
National Character
Character of the Government
• Strategic principles "remain as though laid on a
rock.”
Tactics versus Strategy
• Tactics
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Aspects of operations occurring after the beginning of
combat.
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Dynamic due to changes in technology of armaments
and propulsion.
• Strategy
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Should remain constant through periods of
technological change.
Mahan’s Strategic Questions
• What is a navy’s function?
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Answer: Command of the seas.
• How should a navy be deployed?
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Answer: Battle fleets.
Mahan’s Strategic Questions
• Where should the coaling stations needed to
support them be established?
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Answer: Near geographic "choke-points”.
• What is the value of commerce destruction, and
should this be a primary or secondary goal of
naval action?
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Answer: It cannot win wars (CSS Alabama) -secondary mission.
Mahan’s Views
• U.S. needs to build a battleship navy capable of
defeating enemy fleets.
• Colonies
– Valuable locations for coaling stations.
– Vital to a steam-driven battleship navy.
• Panama Isthmus passage necessary for U.S.
naval power.
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Will become a critical maritime "choke-point”.
U.S. Navy must be a ”Two-Ocean" Navy - Atlantic
and Pacific.
Mahan’s Views
• Need to enlarge the merchant marine.
• Essence of Mahan: U.S. needs a “Great Navy”.
– Mark of and prerequisite for national greatness.
– Designed to fight an enemy in fleet engagements.
• In order to win command of the sea.
• Not designed for commerce raiding (guerre de course) or
protection.
Sir Julian Corbett
Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (1911)
• Points of agreement with Mahan:
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Command of the sea is of prime importance.
Commerce raiding is the strategy of the weaker
power.
• Development of naval strategy related to
Clausewitz:
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Relationship of naval strategy to government policy.
Interdependence of all elements of national power.
Differences from Mahan:
• Interdependence of land and sea forces is
crucial to the success of a national military effort.
• Strategic thinking itself may have to be changed.
• A Navy's main purpose may be sea control,
combined operations, or commerce war.
Impact of Mahan
• Validates naval and colonial policies of
European powers, Russian Empire, and Japan.
– Increasing naval arms race in Europe until WWI,
especially between Germany and Great Britain.
• Building large fleets of capital ships in late 1800’s.
• Writings become required reading of naval officers.
– Further colonization of Africa and Asia.
Mahan in the US
• Not as quick to accept Mahan’s teachings as
other countries.
• President Theodore Roosevelt will use them as
the foundation of his naval policy in the early
1900’s.
• His book did not cause change in American
Naval Policy, but instead provided the
intellectual foundation for it.
1889-1898 Mahan’s Decade
• Concept of Sea Power
– Strategic conclusion
– Operational conclusion
• Impact Nations
– Britain, Germany, Japan, US
• Naval Developments (Review from Lesson 8)
• Foreign Policy Developments
• Samoa (1889), Hawaii (1891-1898), Venezuelan
crisis (1895-1896), Cuban Revolution (18951898)
• Spanish-American War (1898)
For Future Thought
• Situation of Great Britain
• Look at how commerce (and commerce
raiding play out in the next 50 years)
• Are battle fleets worth their cost?