The American Sea Power Project Series

The end of the Cold War brought an end to the urgent need for in-depth thinking about maritime strategy. During the past three decades, naval planning and force structure were guided more by budgets, technology, and land operations than by any meaningful maritime strategy. With the return of great power competition, however, there is a need to get back to strategic thinking about what it means for the United States to be a maritime nation and how naval power underpins national power. The American Sea Power Project embodies Naval Institute thought leadership on these vital topics. A number of noted experts have committed to writing for the project, and we hope it will stir a vital debate within the Sea Services and among political leaders, and arouse a new national understanding of the importance of naval power to national security. 

Phase III Articles from Proceedings

This final phase kicks off with a scenario describing a potential conflict with China over Taiwan. The articles that follow explore five domains of naval warfare and how they would contribute to the fight, their strengths and weaknesses, and what might be done to better prepare.

Phase II Articles from Proceedings

Phase II of the Project focuses on "ways" and "means." 

Phase I Articles from Proceedings

Phase I of the American Sea Power Project focuses on the "ends" of strategy. 

The American Sea Power Project Events

Events, both in-person and virtual, are part of the Project—to bring ideas from the “page to the stage.”

 

Remarks from the Authors

Anchor Link

The American Sea Power Project
Great Responsibility Demands a Great Navy
What Is a Navy For?

 

Additional Reading on Strategy

Proceedings has been publishing outstanding articles on maritime strategy since its inception. The editors recommend these.

Mahan thought a Central American canal would reorient the commercial epicenter of the globe, shifting it from Great Britain to the United States. But control of the canal would depend on sea power.

Mahan as Geoeconomic Strategist

By Colonel Walter M. Hudson, U.S. Army (Retired)
January 2024
Mahan sets forth examples of what may today be called the larger economic, cultural, and technological ecosystem required for control of the seas.
Safari 85

The Maritime Strategy

By Admiral James D. Watkins, U. S. Navy
January 1986
The goal of the overall Maritime Strategy is to use maritime power, in combination with the efforts of our sister services and forces of our allies, to bring about war ...
Hayward, Thomas B.

The Future of U. S. Sea Power

By Admiral Thomas B. Hayward, U. S. Navy
May 1979
I would like to lead off with a broad examination of the responsibilities facing the Navy, in order to provide a baseline from which we might judge the adequacy of ...
Fleet Problem IX

The Realism Of Sea Power

By Captain C. C. Gill, U. S. Navy
September 1933
In the last decade there has been evi­denced in the United States a drifting away from the realism of sea power. Certain heresies have arisen. We have heard said that ...
Notable Books on Maritime Strategy
Book Cover - Mahan on Naval Strategy

 

Book Cover - Maritime Strategy

 

Book Cover - 21st Century Mahan