Did Mahan shape the thinking behind Coronel?

How did Alfred Thayer Mahan's thinking affect World War I naval operations and the Battle of Coronel?

Corbett's approach fitted Britain's maritime empire more closely. Mahan's American setting differed, but reducing his work to decisive fleet battles is itself misleading.

Mahan is often reduced to the headline emphasis on large fleet battles, a simplification criticised here in agreement with B. J. Armstrong. His American strategic setting differed from Britain's dependence on global trade and an overseas empire. Corbett's approach fitted those British maritime commitments more closely. The distinction concerns the settings in which their ideas were applied, while allowing that Mahan's work was broader than its popular reputation.