Sea Power, a book written by Admiral James Stavridis is about the history and geopolitics of the world's oceans & seas. Admiral Stavridis is a retired four star admiral of the US Navy and the first Admiral appointed as the supreme allied commander of NATO. In a multi decade career with the US Navy he has commanded battleships and a carrier strike force around the world. He also holds a PhD in International Relations, is currently Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tuff's University and a Managing Director at the global private equity firm, Carlyle.
Admiral Stavridis is a prolific writer, has written many books besides this one and his TED talks attract a large viewership. To get more information about him, you can visit his website https://admiralstav.com/
When a four star admiral of the US Navy who was also the supreme allied commander of NATO writes a book on Sea Power, it becomes a must read. Sea Power shares incredible details about all of the Earth's oceans. The unique perspective that Admiral Stavridis can bring is he has seen all these oceans at close quarters having sailed across them as part of the US Navy.
The book commences with the largest one, the Pacific followed by the Atlantic. These are the two oceans of paramount importance for the US Navy but also for the world at large. The next stop is the Indian Ocean which is smaller than the first two but rapidly gaining in importance followed by the Mediterranean Sea, the South China Sea, The Caribbean and The Arctic Ocean.
Each of the chapters share the maritime history of the ocean body from antiquity till the commencement of the 20th century. The admiral goes into interesting details around naval battles and waterborne trade to give the reader a good insight into each of these key water bodies. He then goes into a bit more detail around the recent past including key naval battles from WWI, WWII and those that have occured in the past few decades including ones where he has had first hand involvement.
These chapters give the reader an excellent perspective around the dynamics of each of these oceans and seas. One can clearly walk away appreciating the similarities, differences and challenges after reading them. My personal favourite is the one on the Arctic, a fascinating water body that is going to become an extremely dynamic geography in the next decade or so. The Arctic is where the US and NATO will face off with Russia, climate change will play a pivotal role in defining the geography and the ocean could become the new frontier for mining and exploration of natural resources and the backbone of world trade.
The second last chapter talks about three vital aspects of oceans which we might not consider as very important but the Admiral explains exactly why we are wrong in our thinking. The first issue is the deadly menace of piracy, then is the intensive and unregulated fishing industry and finally the environmental degradation of the oceans. All these three topics are extremely critical that impact each of us and getting the insight via the book was eye opening. With regard to piracy, I should add, the Admiral was personally responsible for organising a massive task force involving NATO plus the likes of Russia, China, India, Pakistan & Iran to combat it. Hence, the insights just on this topic alone are incredible given his first hand experiences.
In the final chapter, Admiral Stavridis addresses the naval strategies and challenges for the US, NATO and its allies. How the grand geopolitical maps & plans to control the world's oceans will pan out over the next few decades. How players like China and Russia could pose threats to the world order and how naval tactics including undersea warfare could evolve. He shares valuable insights into the doctrines of Alfred Mahan (father of US Naval strategy) but then provides additional perspective into how the doctrines of Mahan need to adapt to the modern world and rise up to new challenges.
Sea Power is an excellent book written by an extremely knowledgeable author who has had first hand insights into the world of seas and oceans. We don't seem to fully fathom the importance of oceans hence this book is a great read to reinforce that we are more water than land and understanding our oceans and the power that comes from them is vitally important to our present and fundamental to our future.
https://www.amazon.sg/Sea-Power-History-Geopolitics-Worlds/dp/0735220611/ref=asc_df_0735220611/?tag=googleshoppin-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=404127552673&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16979480338693770386&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9062546&hvtargid=pla-525156634451&psc=1
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