Re(1): Warfighting First? Not So Much Posted on 5/10/2019 at 18:01:52 by Pete Schoeffel
In our day we had one (I think) course in Naval History. That gave us a very basic idea of naval combat -- of the past. Currently, as I understand things, naval combat is taught only at the War College at approximately the LCdr or Cdr level. Up to those ranks it seems we believe that becoming technically competent all that can be achieved. I suppose there is a current on-line set of courses that replace the optional correspondence courses that were available in our time and could accelerate the acquisition of warfighting knowledge.
It seems to me that current/future naval warfare will be as unknown an experience to current Naval Officers as carrier strike operations were to the Mahanian, decisive-battle-of-battleships officers at the end of The Great War, thus the importance of war gaming may be greater today than ever before.
BTW, I read a book a few years ago that described a war game that included, but made little use of, an economist. He was able to show how a Soviet move to manipulate the supply of gold could defeat NATO in spite of any tactical or operational moves.
That last paragraph simply illustrates how dense the fog of future naval warfare remains.
