At sea, the boundaries among military force, policing, and diplomacy are unusually porous. A navy can perform all three functions with the same ship during a deployment. Understanding why that ship is present may require economic interests, social and cultural ties, and international relations as well as orders of battle. In many land campaigns, armies, police, and diplomats can appear more institutionally separate. Naval history therefore connects operations to the political and material systems that place fleets at sea. That method gives context to technical studies and battle narratives.
Notable Point · 2:18:32-2:19:55
Why naval history demands more than battle narratives
A case for studying navies through diplomacy, policing, economics, society, culture, and war rather than combat alone.