America, Sea Power, and the World, Second Edition Study Notes

Historical scholarship is inherently a synthesis of individual research and collaborative critiques.
Key contributors from the Naval Academy History Department include:
- Richard P. Abels: Chair of the Department, providing administrative and academic oversight.
- Captain C.C. Felker: Senior Naval Officer, offering operational perspective.
- Professor Aaron B. O'Connell: Course Coordinator, responsible for the pedagogical structure of the naval history core course.
Contributors demonstrated significant patience throughout the multi-stage editing and revision process.
Dedication: To the Naval Academy Class of $1957$ for their philanthropic and visionary role in establishing the naval history program.
Project Support: Direct assistance from Class president Captain William H. Peerenboom.
Advisory Input: Specialized historical advice provided by Craig Symonds and C.C. Felker.
Manuscript Review: Kenneth Estes and William Peerenboom performed critical evaluations of early manuscript drafts.
Production Assistance: Charles Todorich managed the technical precision of page proofs.
Cartography: Comprehensive geographical contexts provided by Tracy Ellen Smith.
Personal Gratitude: Acknowledging Judy for her sustained support during the archival research phases.
In Memoriam: John F. Bradford’s contributions were driven by a legacy of service to the US Navy.

Definition and Scope:
- Sea Power is the capacity of a nation to project political, economic, and military influence across the global commons (the oceans).
- It encompasses not only the navy but also merchant shipping, maritime infrastructure (ports/shipyards), and the geographic position of the state.
Strategic Utility:
- Historically, the sea acted as a "moat" for defense or a "highway" for offense and commerce.
- Control of sea lines of communication (SLOCs) allows a state to sustain its economy while denying resources to adversaries.

Minoan Civilization (c. $2000-1420$ BCE):
- The First Thalassocracy: A state based primarily on maritime supremacy rather than territorial conquest.
- Crete's Strategic Position: Served as a hub for trade between the Aegean, Adriatic, and the Levant.
- Lack of extensive land fortifications suggests they relied entirely on their fleet for defense.
Greek City-States (The Classical Era):
- The Trireme: The primary engine of Greek sea power; a fast, maneuverable oar-powered vessel designed for ramming.
- Battle of Salamis ($480$ BCE): Athenian naval strategy led by Themistocles neutralized the Persian numeric advantage by fighting in restricted waters.
- Peloponnesian Wars: Highlighted the friction between a land power (Sparta) and a sea power (Athens), eventually demonstrating that sea power requires economic sustainability.
The Roman Republic and Empire:
- Punic Wars ($264-146$ BCE): Rome, initially a land power, built a navy to challenge Carthage. They utilized the corvus (a boarding bridge) to turn naval battles into infantry engagements.
- Mare Nostrum (‘Our Sea’): The Mediterranean became a Roman lake, facilitating the logistics of the empire and suppressing piracy.

Decline of Centralized Navy: Post-Rome, naval power became fragmented. Byzantium maintained the "Greek Fire" as a secret maritime weapon, but Western European states were largely localized.
The Viking Age: Highly mobile longships allowed for raids and settlements (e.g., L'Anse aux Meadows c. $1100$). However, these were decentralized and lacked the logistical depth to form a permanent trans-Atlantic empire.
Late Medieval Surge: The $15$th century saw the introduction of the stern-post rudder and the magnetic compass, setting the stage for ocean-going vessels.

Technological Breakthroughs:
- Shipbuilding: Transition from the galley (oar-powered) to the caravel and later the galleon (sail-powered).
- Cannons and Broadside: The mounting of heavy artillery on the sides of ships revolutionized tactics, shifting focus from boarding to standoff bombardment.
Rise of Nation-States:
- Centralized bureaucracies allowed for the collection of taxes necessary to fund standing, professional navies.
- Iberian Pioneers: Spain and Portugal utilized sea power to extract wealth from the New World and the Indian Ocean.

The Peace of Westphalia ($1648$):
- Marked the end of the Thirty Years’ War and the birth of modern sovereignty.
- Established a system where secular states, not religious empires, were the primary actors.
The Five-Power Balance:
- Focused on preventing a single hegemon (like France or the Hapsburgs) from dominating the European continent.
- States (Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, Russia) formed shifting alliances based on Realpolitik rather than ideology.

Zero-Sum Logic: The belief that global wealth (measured in bullion/gold) was finite. To gain wealth, a nation had to take it from another.
State Intervention: Governments granted monopolies to chartered companies (e.g., East India Company) and enforced protective tariffs.
The Navigation Acts: British laws requiring colonial goods to be carried on British ships. This was a direct strike at the Dutch ‘carrying trade’ and served as a catalyst for war.

Context: A struggle for the ‘Carrying Trade’ of Europe.
First War ($1652-1654$): Resulted from the Navigation Acts; mostly commerce raiding.
Second War ($1665-1667$): Famous for the Dutch Raid on the Medway, where they burned the British fleet at anchor.
Third War ($1672-1674$): Part of a broader European conflict; the Dutch successfully defended their coast but were financially exhausted, leading to their decline as a first-rate power.

Line-Ahead Formation: Ships sailed in a single file to maximize the fire of their broadside cannons while protecting vulnerable bows and sterns.
Professionalization: The introduction of permanent officer corps and naval academies (like the Royal Navy’s system).
Ship Categorization:
- Ship-of-the-Line: Massive vessels with $64$ to over $100$ guns, capable of standing in the main battle line.
- Frigates: Faster, smaller vessels ($28-44$ guns) used for scouting, escorting, and independent cruising.

Objective: Prevent the unification of the French and Spanish crowns which would have created an unstoppable maritime and land hegemon.
Treaty of Utrecht ($1713$): Britain emerged as the dominant sea power, gaining Gibraltar (controlling the entrance to the Mediterranean) and the Asiento (the contract to supply slaves to Spanish colonies).