Page 8 - NAVAL SCIENCE 3 TEXTBOOK
P. 8
UNIT
Sea Power and National Security
ea power, as a former chief of naval operations defined it, is "the sum of
S a nation's capabilities to implement its interests by using the ocean areas
for political, economic, and military activities in peace or war in order to attain
national objectives.)) The main components of sea power, he stated. are naval
power, ocean science. ocean industry. and ocean commerce. From this broad def-
inition it is clear that sea power has a profound eftect upon nearly every aspect of
national security, commercial prosperity. ilnd social welfare. 1t includes our mer-
chant marine. oceanography, ocean engineering, marine research and technol-
ogy, and Ollf naval power.
Sea power is of fundamental importance to the United States. We are, first
and foremost, a maritime nation. We have depended upon liee usc of the seas
since before the Revolutionary War. Even today, how well we understand the sig-
nificance of the oceans and how well we use them has much to do with the wel-
fare of Ollr nation.
