Maritime Warfare Ch4 - Geographic Baseline

Maritime Domain

the oceans, seas, bays, estuaries, islands, coastal areas, and the airspace above these, including the littorals

Panama Canal

• connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

• one of the most strategic artificial waterways in the world

• saves 8,000 nm of travel

• strategic importance: allows naval vessels to transit from one coast to another

Strait of Gibraltar

• connects Mediterranean to Atlantic

• strategic importance: facilitates global trade; oil, gas, and cargo. Saves billions going through med vice horn of Africa

Suez Canal

• connects Mediterranean to Red Sea

• strategic importance: fuel for Europe, European access to Asia and the Middle East, US access to the Middle East

Bab el Mandeb (strait)

• shipping frequently accosted by piracy stemming from Somalia

• instability in Yemen has affected shipping and increased risk to shipping

• Strategic significance to China’s BRI: holds great power competition as US and its allies seek to counteract Chinese influence

• Strategic importance: Access to the Middle East from Europe and the east coast. Can be used by China as a staging ground for power projection into Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Strait of Hormuz

• persian gulf with international trade routes

• Major corridor for oil and gas shipping

• oil supply!!!

• bordered by Iran

• strategic significance: access to the persian gulf allos the US to act as a stabilizing presence in the region and reassure our allies that we will counter Iranian aggression

Strait of Malacca

• connects Indian ocean with south China sea and pacific ocean (shortest route between India and China)

• surrounded by different countries such as Singapore

• the busiest strait in the world and roughly 25% of the world’s goods pass through

• strategic significance: shipping route in China’s backyard

United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

governs navigation, commerce, naval power, and marine research for the international community

Why has US not ratified the UNCLOS?

primarily due to concerns over sovereignty, potential limitations on military action, deep seabed mining regulations, fear of undermining U.S. commercial interests and autonomy

Maritime Zones

legal boundaries of the oceans and airspace

Maritime Zones - Baseline

The lower-water line is derived from the coastal State’s own charts

Maritime Zones - Internal Waters

all waters on landwards side of coastal state’s baseline; rivers, harbors, lakes where states exercise full sovereignty—> foreign vessels have no right of passage without permission

Maritime Zones - Territorial Seas

• territorial sea up to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles, measured from the baselines

• this sovereignty extends to the air space over the territorial sea as well as to its bed and subsoil - UNCLOS

• key limitation: foreign ships are authorized to conduct passage, so long as it is deemed “innocent”

Maritime Zones - Territorial Seas