Sea Power

A nation’s capacity to use the sea for its own ends and to deny that use to others, spanning naval forces, merchant shipping, ports, bases, and the maritime economy. Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660 to 1783 (1890) made the term canonical, linking national greatness to command of the sea and the protection of seaborne commerce. Julian Corbett later reframed sea power around control of communications and the army-navy link rather than decisive fleet battle alone.