Strategy and Tactics of (Naval) Warfighting

• The origins/genesis

• The title

• The literature

• Why “naval”?

• Is it economics …

• “strategy is for flag officers only”

• “Strategie ist politischer Wille”

DoD Dictionary • strategy — A prudent idea or set of ideas for employing the

instruments of national power in a synchronized and integrated fashion to achieve theater, national, and/or multinational objectives

• theater — The geographical area for which a commander of a geographic combatant command has been assigned responsibility.

• tactics — The employment and ordered arrangement of forces in

relation to each other. See also procedures; techniques. • procedures — Standard, detailed steps that prescribe how to

perform specific tasks. See also tactics; techniques. • techniques — Non-prescriptive ways or methods used to perform

missions, functions, or tasks. See also procedures; tactics.

Oxford Dictionary strategy from stratēgia ‘generalship’; from stratēgēma; from stratēgein ‘be a general’; from stratēgos; from stratos ‘army’ + agein ‘to lead’. tactics from tactica from tactos ‘ordered, arranged’.

What a Navy Is For?

A navy’s purposes deal with the movement and delivery of goods and services at sea;

in contrast, an army’s purpose is to purchase and possess real estate.

Thus, a navy is in the links business, while an army is in the nodes business.

Seen that way, a navy performs one or more of four functions and no others:

At sea, it (1) assures that our own goods and services are safe;

(2) that an enemy’s are not.

From the sea, it (3) guarantees safe delivery of goods and services ashore;

(4) prevents delivery ashore by an enemy navy.

… the seat of purpose is on the land!

“Why study tactics? It is the sum of the art and

science if the actual application of combat

power. It is the soul of our profession.”

Vice Admiral Arthur K. Cebrowski

“No naval policy can be wise unless it takes

into very careful account the tactics that ought

to be used in war.”

Commander Bradley A. Fiske, 1905

First “results”

• “A ship’s a fool to fight a fort.” (Lord Nelson)

• “Fire effectively first!”