Naval instruction : a comparative research study

Naval training communities use a systems approach to training. This study considers the question "what is effectiveness in naval training?" Instructor courses of five navies were observed and naval instructors surveyed. Conclusions and recommednations are drawn from the data. It is proposed that most problems of effectiveness identified can be overcome without investment in technology or significant system changes.

Report of Captain A. B. Thomas, naval commandant on the Victorian Navy : from 1883 to 1886, together with regulations for permanent naval forces and naval brigade

Details the operations of the Victorian Navy for the period 1883 to 1886, including information on ships, training, stores, list of officers on the active and unattached list, list of ships including their armament, and the regulations under which the navy ran.

China's aircraft carrier ambitions

Focuses on the intent of the Chinese government to acquire an aircraft carrier force as part of its ambition to achieve high seas naval capability. Possibility of buying a light aircraft carrier from a European builder; Concerns over the possibility to operate aircraft carrier battle groups; Protection of sovereignty and maritime resources.

Strategic significance of the island state of Sri Lanka

The study is focused on an analysis of the major diplomatic documents from the mid eighteenth century to the present as regards Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as it was known till 1972. The objectives of the study are to identify the issues underlying these diplomatic documents. These include the political and strategic factors and other subsidiary issues like trade and commerce relevant at the time these treaties, agreements, and proposed treaties were formulated. It is also a geopolitical study as it relates to Sri Lanka's geographical position in the Indian Ocean, and her possession of the Trincomalee Harbour on its east coast, which is one of the great natural harbours of the world. Over the centuries this harbour has had significant strategic value for naval deployments. The case study of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries studies the diplomatic documents against the political and strategic background for the French Revolution and actions of Napoleon, and the Anglo/French rivalry, spreading from Europe to North America and Asia. In the twentieth century the environment for studying the place of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean was created by the Russian Revolution, the failure to keep the peace of Versailles after World War I, the conflict and horrors of World War II which led to the disintegration of European colonial empires in Asia and Africa, and the tensions generated by the Cold War. A study of the documents would reveal that in international relations what matters is the ability of a party to promote its interests, and this depends on its power. This realist approach contrasts to the idealist approach where policies are based on moral and ethical principles. For the realist the states should follow to protect their interests and to survive. To achieve this is to strive for a ‘balance of power’. To do so is to form a favourable alliance system. As the documents examined cover a period from the mid-eighteenth century to the later part of the twentieth century, they reflect the changing technologies that have had an influence on naval and military matters. For example, this period witnessed great changes in technology of energy utilized to propel warships, from wind, to steam, to fuel and finally to nuclear power. These changes had an influence in determining strategic policies involving weapon systems and communications within a global and regional setting. The period covered was the beginning of the process described a ‘globalisation’. Its idea is not unique to this century; there were many attempts, in various times of history, to integrate societies within a global context. Viewed in this light, the Anglo-French rivalry of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was the indication of a global naval strategy, in which Sri Lanka was a major factor in the Indian Ocean region. This process was associated with the phenomena called the ‘expansion of Europe’. It covered all the oceans of the world and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries led to the founding of the largest maritime empire the world has ever seen: The British Empire. After World War I, the British naval strength (the basis of the British Empire) and her consequent position as a great power, was challenged by other powers like the United States of America and Japan. After World War II, the US Navy was supreme: and there was a close alliance between Britain and the USA. The strength of the US/British alliance was based on the navy and its bases, which were spread throughout the globe; to project power, and act as deterrence and balancing force. Sri Lanka, due to her strategic position, was a part of this evolving process, and was tied to a global strategy (with its regional connotations) from the eighteenth century to the present.

Drawing lines in the sea : the laws that govern traffic on the world’s oceans can be as difficult to shape as water

Since World War II, however, the term has increasingly referred to law enforcement operations, as a means to enforce trade sanctions, to prevent the movement of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and particularly in the Caribbean Sea, to prevent the smuggling of illicit drugs. Such ambiguity should allow flexibility when deciding whom should be targeted, as well as allowing states with veto powers in the UN Security Council, which may legitimately ship nuclear weapons and materials, to avoid being targeted as long as they do not export WMDs to rogue states or non-state groups or individuals.2 The ISPS Code was created under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is part of the 1974 Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) concerning the safety of merchant ships.