News, Articles and Comment

Ed. The author considers the past century of technological innovation in the USN, its impact on the Service’s officer corps and naval leadership, and proposes several possible outcomes with regard to AI integration. Originally published in the USNI’s Proceedings, December edition. A 15 minute read.

Ed. Our correspondent continues his narrative of Operation HIGHMAST during the recent transit of the Red Sea, reflecting on developments in those tense waters. A 5 minute read.

Ed. Continuing the ‘Fun in the Navy’ theme, the author recalls service aboard the Porpoise-class submarine HMS Sealion.

Ed. The author, an RNSSC 1SL Fellow, continues his ‘liminal advantage’ series [111/4, p. 40], with due regard to the imaginative demands of leadership in the maritime domain. A 30 minute read.

Ed. The author provides a primer on the Arctic sea-route arms race, a unique theatre where renewed investment has transformative strategic potential. A 10 minute read.

Ed. The authors reflect on the wartime record of Col Nicoll ‘Nick’ Galbraith, US Army staff officer, who was captured at Corregidor and spent three and a half years as a Japanese POW. Originally published in the Colorado Springs Gazette. A 10 minute read.

Ed. The author provides a biographical history of his father, Lt R S Frost RNR, a consummate professional who served aboard liners in the interwar period and met his fate as a Mediterranean submariner during the Second World War. A 20 minute read.

Ed. The author reviews some principles of sea power, highlighting the differences between land and maritime-based operations and tactics. A 10 minute read.

Ed. Churchill’s final volume of his war memoirs is titled Triumph and Tragedy: the theme of the volume is “how the great democracies triumphed and so were able to resume the follies which had so nearly cost them their life.” What did Churchill mean by tragedy? Was he referring to the incredible loss of life caused by the firestorms of Dresden and Tokyo or by the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or was he lamenting the tragedy that, for most of Eastern Europe, he foresaw that one jackboot was to be replaced by another. As it wasn’t just the democracies that triumphed, the most successful victor of the Second World War was indeed Stalin claiming territories and spoils both in Europe and in Asia. Once again, we risk another tragedy as it looks increasingly likely the jackboots are on the rise.