The Admiralty and the ‘Art of Admiralty’

The Admiralty and the ‘Art of Admiralty’

29 Jun 23
Posted by: DR JAMES W. E. SMITH
15 minutes, 45 seconds read
Message from the Editor

The author argues that the ‘art of Admiralty’ represents more than simply a debate over force structure or naval tactics, but instead embodies the cultural ethos of an island seapower state, and – crucially – the vehicle by which maritime thinking is cultivated and disseminated in government and to the broader population as a whole. A 15 minute read.

Since the 1960s, three terms have been increasingly associated with the Royal Navy: ‘fall’, ‘decline’, and ‘seablindness’. These words have achieved little bar distort reality, embrace sentimentalism and double down on myth. Their existence, and growing usage in the lexicon of the latter 20th century – and into the 21st century – across defence debate, national culture, and international perspectives of Britain’s role in the world, and in particular the Royal Navy, acknowledges that a problem exists. Yet for all the debate around these terms, there has been a continual failur…

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