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This book examines the large but neglected topic of the development of maritime power from both an historical and a contemporary point of view.Navies have never been more important than they are now, in a century becoming, as widely expected, increasingly and profoundly maritime. The growing competition between China and Russia with the United States and its allies and partners around the world is essentially sea-based. The sea is also central to the world's globalised trading system and to its environmental health. Most current crises are either sea-based or have a critical maritime element to them. What happens at sea will help shape our future. Against that background, this book uses both history and contemporary events to analyse how maritime power and naval strength has been, and is being, developed. In a reader-friendly way, it seeks to show what has worked and what has not, and to uncover the recurring patterns in maritime and naval development which explain past, present and future success - and failure. It reflects on the historical experience of all navies, but in particular it poses the question of whether China is following the same pattern of naval development illustrated by Britain at the start of the 18th century, which led to two centuries of naval dominance.This book will be of much interest to students of maritime power, naval studies, and strategic studies, as well as to naval professionals around the world.

This book offers a new edition of Henry Maydman's work Naval Speculations with a detailed commentary by two leading experts on its importance to the naval issues of the 21st century.Written at a revolutionary and troubling time, Maydman's 1691 book offers an analysis of the state of the Royal Navy at the time, together with a set of recommendations for its improvement. It not only tells us a good deal about the Royal Navy of the time but also provides a general theory of why navies decline and what can be done to rejuvenate them. Recovering Naval Power shows that the issues he identifies have applied to every navy in every period. We are now seeing the dramatic rejuvenation of the Chinese Navy and the reactions to it of the US and other navies, together with a new rise in naval tensions in the Euro-Atlantic. Despite the obvious political, economic and technological differences between Maydman's day and ours, this work shows that his recommendations could hardly be more relevant in today's circumstances. Alongside the modified text of Naval Speculations, this book includes a preface and two chapters addressing, first, the Royal Navy of Maydman's time and his role in it and, second, the relevance of what Maydman said for the navies of the 21st century. The book concludes with some overall comments about Maydman and the recovery of naval power and recommendations for further reading.This book will be of much interest to students of naval history, maritime power, strategic studies, and International Relations in general.

More than twenty Indo-Pacific scholars and emerging experts come together in this definitive volume to deliver fresh perspectives and original research on maritime cooperation and security. With subjects ranging from the Philippines to Antarctica, Coast Guards to climate change, these essays pay tribute to the late Commodore Sam Bateman (PhD) while laying the academic groundwork for the improved policies and behaviours that provide for expanded good order at sea.