Articles Due: June 10, 2024
Topic Week Dates: June 24-28, 2024
Article Length: 1,5000-3,000 Words
Submit to: [email protected]

By Dmitry Filipoff

Navies are preparing for more intense contingencies with the return of great power competition. Missions focused on power projection and reinforcing rules-based order at sea now have to compete with the major demands of high-end warfighting and deterrence.

Compared to the missions of previous decades, great power war at sea may involve much larger forces fighting across a broader maritime expanse. This scale of naval conflict is reflected in the concept of fleet-level warfare, where fleets become the principal unit of action for modern war at sea. As navies prepare for high-end naval warfighting, they may have to undergo substantial reorganization and retraining to fight as fleets, much like great power navies did in the interwar period and through both world wars.

What are the possible concepts of operation for gaining victory in fleet-level warfare? Does fleet-level warfare entail new force packages and force generation models? Is fleet warfare effectively captured through warfighting concepts such as Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO)? How can Maritime Operations Centers and fleet commanders be prepared to effectively command fleet-level warfare? Authors invited to submit analysis on these questions and more as we consider how to best prepare for and win in fleet-level warfare.

Send all submissions to [email protected].

Dmitry Filipoff is CIMSEC’s Director of Online Content. Contact him at [email protected].

Featured Image: April 12, 2018 – PLA Navy warships steam in formation. (Li Gang/Xinhua via AP)