Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States naval officer and historian, whom John Keegan called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His 1890 book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783 won immediate recognition, especially in Europe, and with the publication of its 1892 successor, The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire, 1793–1812, he affirmed his status as a globally-known and regarded military strategist, historian, and theorist. Mahan's works encouraged the development of large capital ships — eventually leading to dreadnought battleships — as he was an advocate of the 'decisive battle' and of naval blockades. Critics, however, charged him with failing to adequately explain the rise of largely land-based empires, such as the German or Ottoman Empires, though Mahan did accurately predict both empires' defeats in World War I. Mahan directly influenced the dominant interwar period and World War II-era Japanese naval doctrine of the "decisive battle doctrine", and he became a "household name" in Germany. He also promoted American control over Hawaii though he was "lukewarm" in regards to American imperialism in general. Four U.S. Navy ships have borne his name, as well as various buildings and roads; and his works are still read, discussed, and debated in military, historical, and scholarly circles.
The Naval War College is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associated roles and missions, supports combat readiness, and strengthens global maritime partnerships.
Stephen Bleecker Luce was an admiral in the United States Navy. Regarded as one of the Navy's outstanding officers in many fields, including strategy, seamanship, education, and professional development, he founded and served as the first president of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He also co-founded and later served as president of the United States Naval Institute in Annapolis, Maryland.
William Sowden Sims was an admiral in the United States Navy who fought during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to modernize the navy. During World War I, he commanded all United States naval forces operating in Europe. He also served twice as president of the Naval War College.
Sir Julian Stafford Corbett was a prominent British naval historian and geostrategist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose works helped shape the Royal Navy's reforms of that era. One of his most famous works is Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, which remains a classic among students of naval warfare. Corbett was a good friend and ally of naval reformer Admiral John "Jacky" Fisher, the First Sea Lord. He was chosen to write the official history of British Naval operations during World War I.
Naval strategy is the planning and conduct of war at sea, the naval equivalent of military strategy on land.
Geoffrey Till is a British naval historian and emeritus Professor of Maritime Studies in the Defence Studies Department of King's College London. He is the Director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies.
In May 1948, the President of the Naval War College Admiral Raymond Spruance recommended a plan to establish a civilian professorship of maritime history at the Naval War College. Approved by Secretary of the Navy John L. Sullivan (Navy) on 29 December 1948, the post was not filled “for lack of funds” until 1951, when Thomas C. Mendenhall of Yale University was appointed to the position. In 1953, Secretary of the Navy Robert Bernard Anderson named the chair in honor of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, recognizing King’s great personal interest in maritime history. The Ernest J. King chair was named and first filled during the tenure of Professor Clarence H. Haring. At that point, there was only one other named academic chair in the United States for the field of maritime history, that held by the Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs established at Harvard University in 1948. The Naval War College’s first permanent long-term civilian faculty member came in 1966 and its larger civilian faculty began in 1972. Between 1951 and 1973, the King Chair was regularly held as a one-year visiting appointment. It became a permanent faculty appointment in 1974. The position reverted to a visiting professorship in October 2016.
Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond, was a prominent Royal Navy officer, described as "perhaps the most brilliant naval officer of his generation." He was also a top naval historian, known as the "British Mahan", the leader of the British Royal Navy's intellectual revolution that stressed continuing education especially in naval history as essential to the formation of naval strategy. After serving as a "gadfly" to the British Admiralty, his constructive criticisms causing him to be "denied the role in the formation of policy and the reformations of naval education which his talents warranted", he served as Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at Cambridge University from 1934 to 1936, and Master of Downing College, Cambridge from 1934 to 1946.
The Naval War College Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, is one of 10 official American museums operated by the United States Navy, under the direction of the Naval History & Heritage Command and in co-operation with the Naval War College. It is located at Building 10, Luce Avenue, Naval Station Newport. It is located in the building which first housed the Naval War College, a structure built in the early 19th century to house Newport's poor. The building is a contributing element to a National Historic Landmark District, along with Luce Hall, the college's first purpose-built building, in recognition of the War College's historical significance.
Rear Admiral James Vincent Purcell Goldrick, was an Australian naval historian, analyst of contemporary naval and maritime affairs, and a senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Following his retirement from the RAN, Goldrick was a fellow at the Sea Power Centre – Australia and an adjunct professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He was also a member of the Naval Studies Group at the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society, an adjunct professor in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of the Australian National University and a professorial fellow of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security at the University of Wollongong. He was a visiting fellow at All Souls College, University of Oxford in the first half of 2015, and a non-resident Fellow of the Lowy Institute from 2013 to 2018.
Daniel Albert Baugh was an American historian. He has been labelled "as the definitive historian of [British] naval administration." Baugh defined his own contribution in explaining "My research field is mainly England, 1660–1840. By studying administration chiefly in terms of administrative problems, I hope to improve our understanding of both the nature of society and the development of government.". After 1982, he focused his attention on maritime, naval and geopolitical history. He died on 9 February 2024.
A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower is the United States' maritime strategy. It was originally presented by the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations and the Commandants of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard at the International Seapower Symposium at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island on October 17, 2007. The new maritime strategy explains the comprehensive role of the sea services in an era marked by globalization and uncertainty.
The president of the Naval War College is a flag officer in the United States Navy. The President's House in Newport, Rhode Island is their official residence.
The International Seapower Symposium (ISS) is a biennial meeting of the world's chiefs of navy that has met at the United States Naval War College since 1969. The proceedings of these symposia have been published on the Internet since ISS XVI in 2003.
The Hattendorf Prize for Distinguished Original Research in Maritime History is awarded by the United States Naval War College for distinguished academic achievement in publishing original research that contributes to a deeper historical understanding of the broad context and interrelationships involved in the roles, contributions, limitations, and uses of the sea services in history. The prize is awarded approximately every two years and consists of a $10,000 cash prize, a specially designed bronze medal, and a citation. The Prize Laureate is expected to deliver a lecture at the United States Naval War College on the occasion of the award.
James Francis McNulty was a U.S Maritime Service (USMS) Rear Admiral, a United States Navy Captain, and an educator of both Naval Officers and Merchant Marine Officers. He began his naval career in 1953 shortly after graduating from Massachusetts Maritime Academy.with a B.S. in Marine Engineering. He served as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer for twenty-two years, which included service as Commanding Officer on destroyers ,lead speechwriter for the Chief of Naval Operations (Zumwalt), and culminated in his final position as Chief of Staff of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. He was a veteran of the Korean War and the Vietnam War. and retired from the U.S. Navy in 1977. As a firm believer in "giving back", he went on to serve the next generation as an educator and administrator in the United States Maritime Service, as Academic Dean at Maine Maritime Academy, Head of the Marine Transportation Department at Texas A&M University Maritime Academy, and ultimately as Superintendent of Great Lakes Maritime Academy.
The McMullen Naval History Symposium is a biennial international academic conference held at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland devoted to the history of the world's navies. It has become the "largest regular meeting of naval historians in the world" and has been described as the U.S. Navy's "single most important interaction with [an] academic historical audience".
Lieutenant Commander B. Mitchell Simpson III, U.S. Navy (Ret.), was a professor of law, attorney, former naval officer, and naval historian, who is best known for his biography of Admiral Harold R. Stark.
William McCarty Little was a United States Navy officer of the late 19th century. He is most noted for his contributions to the development of naval wargaming at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
