A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy is a deliberately compact introductory work aimed at junior seafarers, those who make decisions affecting the sea services, and those who educate seafarers and decision-makers. It introduces readers to the main theoretical ideas that shape how statesmen and commanders make and execute maritime strategy in times of peace and war. Following in the spirit of Bernard Brodie's Layman's Guide to Naval Strategy, a World War II-era book whose title makes its purpose plain, it will be a companion volume to such works as Geoffrey Till's Seapower and Wayne Hughes's Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat, the classic treatise that explains how to handle navies in fleet actions. It takes the mystery out of maritime strategy, which should not be an arcane art for practitioners or policy-makers, and will help the next generation think about strategy.

Reproduction of the original: Some Principles of Maritime Strategy by Julian Stafford Corbett

A collection of essays on British and American maritime relationships in the 20th century together with details on the British organization of warfare, Anglo-American maritime theory, their rivalries and coalitions and their plans for dealing with a future war in the nuclear age.

This book focuses on the theory and practice of maritime strategy and operations by the weaker powers at sea. Illustrated by examples from naval and military history, the book explains and analyzes the strategies of the weaker side at sea in both peacetime and wartime; in defense versus offense; the main prerequisites for disputing control of the sea; and the conceptual framework of disputing control of the sea. It also explains and analyzes in some detail the main methods of disputing sea control – avoiding/seeking decisive encounters, weakening enemy naval forces over time, counter-containment of enemy naval forces, destroying the enemy’s military-economic potential at sea, attacks on the enemy coast, defense of the coast, defense/capturing important positions/basing areas, and defense/capturing of a choke point. A majority of the world’s navies are currently of small or medium-size. In the case of a war with a much stronger opponent, they would be strategically on the defensive, and their main objective then would be to dispute control of the sea by a stronger side at sea. This book provides a practical guide to such a strategy. This book would be of much interest to students of naval power, maritime security, strategic studies and military/naval history.

Original publication and copyright date: 2010.

This book explores the value of Corbett’s seminal work Some Principles of Maritime Strategy over time in a changing context and with evolving technology. It has been over a century since Sir Julian Corbett published Some Principles of Maritime Strategy (1911), yet it is still regarded as a foundational text on maritime strategy. But the character of sea power is constantly evolving, so the continued relevance of this work must be regularly examined. Too often the debate is polarised between a focus on either Corbett’s historical relevance to the early 20th-century Royal Navy or his relevance to strategy today. There is little attempt to bridge the gap and analyse Some Principles over time, changing circumstances, or differing national situations. This book bridges that gap, offering a practitioner’s viewpoint to put the work to a practical test across the past century of conflict, and the evolution of thought and technology. It explores Corbett’s original intent, his core ideas, the errors or omissions in his analysis and method, and where his ideas have been (or still can be) extrapolated, and aims to determine the extent to which Some Principles continues to merit its status as an enduring classic of strategy. The book concludes that despite never being originally intended as a general text, Some Principles nevertheless holds up surprisingly well in terms of both universal application and enduring relevance over time and changed circumstances. This book will be of much interest to students of maritime strategy, naval history, and International Relations, as well as naval practitioners.