Sea Power & National Strategy
This concept describes how naval power is used to achieve political objectives, not just win battles.
What is sea power as an instrument of national strategy?
This propulsion method gradually replaced sail and paddle wheels during the 19th century.
What is steam propulsion using screw propellers?
This naval strategy focuses on attacking enemy commerce rather than enemy fleets.
What is guerre de course?
This term refers to the ability to move forces and supplies freely across the oceans.
What is control of the sea or control of sea lines of communication?
This theorist argued that war is a continuation of politics by other means.
Who is Clausewitz?
This Union naval strategy aimed to defeat the Confederacy by isolating it economically and geographically.
What is the Anaconda Plan?
These warships symbolized the transition from wooden navies to armored fleets during the Civil War.
What are ironclads?
This group believed privateers and small navies were more cost-effective than a large standing fleet.
Who are the Anti-Navalists?
This naval action helped divide the Confederacy and cripple its ability to fight.
What is Union control of the Mississippi River?
This theorist emphasized attacking an enemy’s decisive point with massed force.
Who is Jomini?
This conflict demonstrated how control of the seas allowed the United States to strike an enemy anywhere along its coastline.
What is the Mexican-American War?
This technological shift changed how navies thought about protection, firepower, and ship survivability rather than simply making ships faster or larger.
What is the transition from wooden ships to iron and steel armored warships?
This debate centered on whether the United States should invest in a large standing navy capable of fighting peer fleets or rely on smaller forces to protect commerce and coastal waters.
What is the debate between a capital-ship navy and a commerce/coastal defense navy?
This battle ensured the success of the Yorktown campaign.
What is the Battle of the Chesapeake?
This theorist argued that control of sea lines of communication mattered more than decisive fleet battles.
Who is Corbett?
This war showed that even limited naval forces could influence outcomes through alliances and control of key sea spaces.
What is the American Revolution?
This example shows technology advancing faster than naval strategy in the late 19th century.
What is the rapid obsolescence of warships during the European naval arms race?
This Civil War example shows the limitations of commerce raiding as a decisive strategy.
What is Confederate commerce raiding during the Civil War?
This Civil War example shows the importance of joint Army–Navy operations.
What is the River War on the Mississippi?
This theorist believed national prosperity depended on control of the seas through capital ship fleets.
Who is Mahan?
This late 19th-century shift marked the United States moving from continental defense to overseas power projection.
What is American imperialism?
This illustrates why technology alone does not guarantee victory without effective strategy.
What is the Confederate use of ironclads and torpedoes without sea control?
This late 19th-century idea emphasized decisive fleet battles using capital ships.
What is Mahanian sea power?
This war demonstrated that sea control could determine political outcomes even when land battles were costly.
What is the American Civil War?
This concept explains why naval success often depended on adaptation rather than rigid theory.
What is friction, chance, and human factors in war?