Command of the Sea: An Old Concept Resurfaces in a New Form.

摘要

Command of the sea denotes a strategic condition, and it is from this actual condition that the logic flows, whatever words are used to describe it. Since ancient times, navies have sought to control communications on the sea. Such control might be generalsuch as the Romans and British achieved at various timesor it might be local and temporary. In either case the object of such control has been to protect ones own commerce, disrupt the enemys, move one's own army, and prevent the movement of the enemys. At various times and places belligerents have built substantial navies to carry out these missions and in the dynamics of their competitions the notion of command of the sea emerged. Command denoted a relative strength relationship between two or more navies in which one enjoyed a significant superiority such that the freedom of action of the others to carry out the four basic missions of sea power was constrained and that of the stronger navy enhanced.