Maneuver Warfare and the US Navy's New Strategic Concept.

This thesis examines the extent to which modern maneuver warfare theory is relevant to naval warfare and the US Navy's new strategic concept. This question is important because Naval Doctrine Command, established to translate the strategic vision of'.. From The Sea' into doctrinal reality, seized upon the concept of maneuver warfare in Naval Warfare (Naval Doctrine Publication One) as the most appropriate war fighting style for the naval services. Modern maneuver warfare theory was developed from land warfare experience to solve specific problems of that warfare medium. The current body of literature treating the adoption of maneuver warfare by the naval services does not address the question of its relevance at sea or in the littoral. This thesis develops a framework for determining the relevance of maneuver warfare to the naval services by defining the concept and describing its essential elements. It then examines why the US Army and Marine Corps adopted maneuver warfare in the nineteen-eighties. The thesis concludes that the littoral arena makes the adoption of maneuver warfare for the naval services relevant and necessary.