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The Relevance of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to Contemporary Maritime Strategy
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The Art of War’s strategy of Avoiding Conflict opens maritime powers to legalistic
attempts to restrict ocean access, diplomacy to delay international action, or to damage
to their maritime alliances. But The Art of War also supports the politico-military use
of navies in deterring conflict before it can begin. If required to fight, Sun Tzu’s battle
for Foreknowledge will be critical to maritime forces, but may not provide the clarity
required, particularly in the littoral. The indirect approach and the use of manipulation
described throughout The Art of War offer ways to circumvent the power of modern
militaries, but also gives the latter clues on the smarter ways to achieve victory without
incurring strategically damaging losses. The Art of War does not provide all the answers
for maritime strategists, but it does provide the lesson that a wider approach to maritime
strategy is not a luxury, but a requirement for success.
Notes
1
C. Gray, Modern Strategy, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1999, p. 84.
2
Doctrine is a more detailed analysis of strategy developed for military organisations.
3
Gray, Modern Strategy, p. 17. Liddell Hart describes it as ‘the art of distributing and applying
military means to fulfil the ends of policy’, B. Liddell Hart, Strategy: The Indirect Approach,
Faber & Faber, London, 1967, p. 335.
4
A century ago Mahan argued maritime strategy revolved around command of the sea, and
that an enemy was best defeated at sea so that the sea could be used for one’s purposes.
N. Friedman, Seapower and Strategy: Navies and National Interests, Naval Institute Press,
Annapolis, 2001, p. 89.
5
G. Till, Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century, Frank Cass, London, 2004, p. 57.
6
J. Corbett, Some Principles of Maritime Strategy, AMS Press, New York, 1972, p. 90. He added
that warfare at sea is not about the main strength of the enemy, p. 158.
7
A concise description is: ‘The way of influencing or controlling behaviour in the maritime
environment’. D. Sherwood, ‘Oceans governance and its impact on maritime strategy’ in
D. Wilson and D. Sherwood (eds), Oceans Governance and Maritime Strategy, Allen & Unwin,
St Leonards, 2000, p. 28. Also, ‘Maritime strategy is the direction of all aspects of national
power that relate to a nation’s interests at sea’. J.B. Hattendorf, ‘What is a maritime strategy?’
in D. Stevens (ed), In Search of a Maritime Strategy, Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence
No. 119, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU, Canberra, 1997, p. 13.
8
Till divides maritime strategy thus: ‘The winning of command of the sea by decisive battle,
fleet in being, and blockade; and the use of the command of the sea, such as coastal, trade,
power projection, naval diplomacy and strategic deterrence’, G. Till, Maritime Strategy and
the Nuclear Age, MacMillan Press, London, 1982, p. 15. Although first enunciated by Corbett
almost a century ago, Till makes the important point that maritime strategy must relate
to foreign policy. G. Till, ‘Sir Julian Corbett and the Twenty-First Century: ten maritime
commandments’ in A. Dorman, M.L. Smith and M.R.H. Uttley (eds), The Changing Face of
Maritime Power, MacMillan Press, Basingstoke, 1999, p. 20.