A Revolution at Sea: Old is New Again
James Lacey
October 17, 2019
During World War II, Secretary of War Henry Stimson dammed the U.S. Navy’s approach to wartime strategy and famously wondered about “the peculiar psychology of the Navy Department, which frequently seemed to retire from the realm of logic into a dim religious world in which Neptune was god, Mahan his prophet, and the U.S. Navy the only true church.†Few, then or now, have any doubt as to the huge impact Alfred Thayer Mahan’s classic The Influence of Sea Power upon History had and continues to have on discussions of naval strategy. But, it may be time to demote Mahan’s masterpiece to the second rung, in favor of paying increased attention to Julian Corbett — particularly his tour de force, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy — whose writings demonstrate a better awareness of complex geostrategic environments than Mahan typically contemplated.
https://warontherocks.com/2019/10/a-revolution-at-sea-old-is-new-again/
