Examines the evolution of American naval thinking in the post-Cold War era. It recounts the development of the US Navy’s key strategic documents from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to 2007. It critically analyses the US Navy’s way of thinking and ideas, and recounts how they interacted with those that govern US strategy to shape the course of US naval strategy in the post-Cold War era.

Toward a New Maritime Strategy examines the evolution of American naval thinking in the post-Cold War era. It recounts the development of the U.S. Navy's key strategic documents from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the release in 2007 of the U.S. Navy's maritime strategy, A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower. This penetrating intellectual history critically analyzes the Navy's ideas and recounts how they interacted with those that govern U.S. strategy to shape the course of U.S. naval strategy.

The book explains how the Navy arrived at its current strategic outlook and why it took nearly two decades to develop a new maritime strategy. Haynes criticizes the Navy's leaders for their narrow worldview and failure to understand the virtues and contributions of American sea power, particularly in an era of globalization. This provocative study tests institutional wisdom and will surely provoke debate in the Navy, the Pentagon, and U.S. and international naval and defense circles.

Reviews

“Books which discuss and analyse contemporary maritime strategy are few and far between, vying for an even smaller share of what is already a relatively limited market. When one does come along it tends to be worth reviewing because the publisher has taken a chance; they have considered it likely to be either commercially appealing or so important in its content and message that they feel duty bound to share it with the world. Or both. And when that happens readers should take note. If you buy just one contemporary naval book this year, make it Peter Haynes’ Toward a New Maritime Strategy. It is that good.”
—The Naval Review

'Haynes has provided an accurate chart of the shoals encountered by navy leadership as it navigated a course from a post-war, victorious, forward-deployed navy to a much smaller, leaner navy trying to come to grips with early twenty-first-century threats.'
—The Mariner’s Mirror

"[H]ugely interesting to read, how the Navy has fought to argue for it continued relevance both during the Cold War and subsequently [...] The book is based on extensive reading of strategy documents at various stages of the process, and is excellent to show the development in strategic thinking in the U.S. Navy since 1945." — Kongressen.com

About the Author

Captain Peter D. Haynes of the U.S. Navy is the assistant deputy director, Strategy, Plans, and Policy (J5), of the U.S. Special Operations Command. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame, USA and then received a PhD in Security Studies and a masters’ degree in Strategic Planning from the Naval Postgraduate School. A carrier aviator, combat veteran, and former squadron commander, he has served in numerous strategy positions on various senior staffs.