Admin

1. Admin • Test notes: • Cite • Ship Names should be in italics • USS Wapsipinicon • Proper noun capitalization • Marine • Navy • South • North • Civil War

2. Review • Technological advances • 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

3. Remember our Themes! • 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

4. Lesson 11: The Dawning of the Age of Mahan 1890-1898

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Remember our Themes! • 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

8. Background • Commerce Raiding • Naval War College - Mahan was assigned there. • The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783

9. Sea Power • Sea • 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 • Possession of a powerful navy • Colonies • Increasing Wealth • Increase in Strength and Capacity • “Command of the Sea”

10. Elements of “Sea Power” • 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.”

11. Tactics versus Strategy • Tactics • Aspects of operations occurring after the beginning of combat. • Dynamic due to changes in technology of armaments and propulsion. • Strategy • Should remain constant through periods of technological change.

12. Mahan’s Strategic Questions • What is a navy’s function? • Answer: Command of the seas. • How should a navy be deployed? • Answer: Battle fleets.

13. Mahan’s Strategic Questions • Where should the coaling stations needed to support them be established? • Answer: Near geographic "choke-points”. • What is the value of commerce destruction, and should this be a primary or secondary goal of naval action? • Answer: It cannot win wars (CSS Alabama) -- secondary mission.

15. 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. • Will become a critical maritime "choke-point”. • U.S. Navy must be a ”Two-Ocean" Navy - Atlantic and Pacific.

16. 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.

17. Sir Julian CorbettSome Principles of Maritime Strategy (1911) • Points of agreement with Mahan: • Command of the sea is of prime importance. • Commerce raiding is the strategy of the weaker power. • Development of naval strategy related to Clausewitz: • Relationship of naval strategy to government policy. • Interdependence of all elements of national power.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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 (1895-1898) • Spanish-American War (1898)

22. 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?