Operational Art in the Littorals

The Department of the Navy's white paper, '...From the Sea' must unmistakably be viewed as a viable warfighting doctrine, requiring studied application of operational art. Nevertheless, little has been written concerning the application of maritime operational art to the naval services' new concept. Naval service officers, who doubtless will function as 'firemen' in a crisis response situation, and as members of a Joint Task Force or joint force for more sustained operations, must clearly understand the operational level of war, and how to apply operational art. To assist in operational conceptualization, four key questions are employed as a general framework. Other valuable concepts of operational design are centers of gravity, decisive points, culmination, commander's intent, and operational fires all synthesized under the genre of the naval campaign. The Marianas campaign, conducted in the Pacific during World War II, is a classic model of a naval campaign which integrated air, land, and sea forces, and which embodied virtually all of the tenets of the operational art, and is instructive to today's Navy and Marine Corps officers. Moreover, other valuable aspects of modern operational design are useful: the commander's estimate, the campaign plan, the focus of main effort, and the use of operational fires and the maritime manifestation of maneuver warfare, Operational Maneuver From The Sea. As the naval service has proclaimed intent and ability to support national interests in the littorals, mastery of the operational art is vital. Need for operational art, Operational art defined, Historical analysis, Modern framework