Mahan and Corbett beyond the usual labels

The usual one-line summaries of Alfred Thayer Mahan and Julian Corbett are incomplete. Mahan wrote about more than major decisive battles, while Corbett also addressed battle rather than discussing only operations and sea control. Japanese planners absorbed ideas from both theorists and used them to predict how the United States and Britain might behave. Mahanian elements entered planning against the Americans because Japan expected an American strategy influenced by Mahan. Corbettian elements entered planning against Britain for the same opponent-focused reason, linking strategic theory with intelligence about an enemy's likely conduct.