Reviewed by Chuck Steele, PhD. Lars Wedin, an accomplished author on strategic studies and retired surface warfare officer of the Royal Swedish Navy, has composed a noteworthy encyclopedia of military thought and strategy that, in some regards, might also be considered a series of personal meditations on those subjects. Citing heightening tensions between great powers
Edited by Richard J. Bailey, Jr., James W. Forsyth, Jr., and Mark O. Yesley, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2016) Reviewed by Steven K. Stein, Ph.D. This collection of eleven essays by current or former faculty of the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies (SAASS) at Maxwell Air Force Base explores linkages between modern
By Peter D. Haynes, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2015) Reviewed by John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. Captain Peter Haynes’ study on maritime strategy builds a narrative around two questions. First, how did the United States Navy come to publish “A Cooperative Maritime Strategy for the 21st Century” (CS-21): and, more importantly, why did it take
Edited by John Andreas Olsen, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2015) Reviewed by Colonel Curt Marsh, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Retired) Airpower Reborn is an excellent update on strategic concepts and theory with an emphasis on airpower’s strategic usefulness. Although this book is a part of a new History of Military Aviation series edited by
By Howard J. Fuller, Routledge, New York, NY (2013) Reviewed by John T. Kuehn, Ph.D. Howard Fuller’s work here has insights for naval thinkers and strategists today. It is a clearly revisionist work and he occasionally overstates his case particularly in the first “part” of the book. There are four parts encompassing an impressive thirty
By Harlan K. Ullman, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2014) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Readers with an interest in grand strategy and a forceful and candid presentation of a wide variety of threats to the peace and well-being of the world will find a great deal of interest in this particular book. Although this is
By Robert Haddick, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2014) Reviewed by Nathan Albright This book is one of several (including the essay collection Rebalancing U.S. Forces) books published this year by the Naval Institute Press that encourages a greater awareness, interest, and focus on the serious strategic problems China presents to the security and well
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the fourteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) About the time that he was named Secretary of the Navy in February 1981, John F. Lehman met with two of
By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the thirteenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar, author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) John Lehman had an almost revolutionary impact on the Navy. He walked into the Pentagon in 1981 knowing what he wanted
With the Covert Submarine Operations exhibit in the National Museum of the U.S. Navy’s Cold War Gallery serving as a backdrop, a large crowd filled the Gallery’s North Hall on the evening of 11 April 2013 (coinciding with the Submarine Force’s 113th Birthday) to witness and participate in a program titled “Seawolf and The Maritime
Policy, Strategy, Technology, Tactics, Acquisition: the interrelationship of these five distinct but related spheres of interest and the activities associated with each is not always apparent, even to those in high level positions in the various spheres. An examination of the 1981-1986 Maritime Strategy and the coincident design and construction of USS Seawolf offers an
