Naval warfare in the 20th century

During the 20th century, naval warfare was transformed by technology. By its first decade the great unknowns were the impact of underwater weapons and platforms; torpedoes, mines and submarines. Although in the long term these would threaten the supremacy of the gun-armed surface ship, the latter also underwent fundamental transformation with the arrival of the all-big gun capital ship. The First World War demonstrated the interplay of these factors with surface fleets contained and submarines becoming commerce raiders of great effectiveness. The advent of the aircraft added to the mix, and in the inter-war period the various uncertainties continued to affect the naval policy choices of the maritime powers. Again war tested technologies and doctrines and resulted in the joint emergence of the aircraft carrier and submarine as the key naval platforms. Amphibious warfare also came of age.

Despite the challenges posed to navies by the advent of nuclear weapons, they thrived in the Cold War period both as means of delivery for nuclear armed aircraft and missiles and forces for more limited contingencies. By the 1980s, the West had a 'maritime strategy' that exploited western superiority to exert pressure on the USSR, helping win the Cold War. After victory against the Soviet Union, the last decade of the century saw naval forces operating in a littoral context, supporting forces ashore who were attempting to maintain a 'new world order'.

This course will trace and explain these developments, relating naval technology to the international, political and economic context that interacted together to change the balance of power on a watery planet.