The Future Maritime Operating Environment and the Role of Naval Power

1 Introduction 1
The maritime environment is immense. It should not be surprising, therefore, that seawater is the
most abundant substance on Earth. Nearly 70 percent of our planet is covered with large bodies of
it which are connected to one another to form what can be justly regarded as a single world ocean
(see Figure 1). 2 When looked at in all three dimensions, that global ocean comprises 99 percent
of the planet’s living space and between 50 and 80 percent of all life on this planet is found under
its surface. 3 Humanity has always been affected by the oceans. Interaction between land and sea,
along with deep sea ocean currents, help determine the world’s climate, thereby impacting food
supplies and settlement patterns. Global commerce, transportation and communications have
developed because of the unique properties of its principal component. Water’s relatively high
density and low viscosity means that its surface can be easily travelled. Maritime contact and
commerce between peoples who did not enjoy a close land connection would have been much
more difficult, perhaps prohibitively so, “if seawater were as viscous as molasses.” 4 Until the
locomotive, and later the airplane, the seas were the fastest means of transportation. And, last, the
fact that water in its solid state floats, which is unusual in the natural world, 5 creates formidable
maritime hazards and is the defining characteristic of the polar seas.
Figure 1: One World Ocean.
Source: Adapted from “Oceano”, Wikipedia [http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oc%C3%A9ano].
1 The cutoff date for data used in preparation of this report is 1 June 2015.
2 Ian Speller, Understanding Naval Warfare (Routledge: London, 2014), p. 17.
3 See United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), World Oceans
Day - Facts and Figures [accessed on 25 February 2015 at www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/prizesand-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/world-oceans-day-2014/].
4 Roger Revelle, “The Ocean”, Scientific American, Vol. 221, No. 3, September 1989, p. 63.
5 I am grateful to my colleague Chad Young for this observation.
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