Host Walker D. Mills interviews Marine Corps Captain Colton Byers about his article for the War Quants substack, “Carrier 2.0: The Drone Carrier Revolution.” Their discussion covers salvo equations and modeling, the utility of drone carriers, and how they might integrate with a modern naval fleet.

Download Sea Control 590: Drone Carriers and Salvo Equations with Colton Byers

Links

1. “Carrier 2.0: The Drone Carrier Revolution,” by Colton Byers, War Quants, December 28, 2024. 

2. “Damn the Torpedoes: The Return of Naval Mining,” by Colton Byers, War Quants, January 31, 2025. 

Walker Mills is co-host of the Sea Control podcast. Contact the podcast team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

By J. Overton

Lt. Col. Craig Whiteside, (Ret.) PhD., joins the program to discuss the new book he co-authored with Ian Rice, Non-state Special Operations: Capabilities and Effects. Dr. Whiteside shares how to define and apply terms like “non-state” and “special operations, historical examples of this type of operation, their use by contemporary actors, and how the maritime domain plays a critical role in their success or failure.

Dr. Craig Whiteside is Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College resident program at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He is a research fellow at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and the International Centre for Counterterrorism-The Hague. Whiteside’s current work focuses on the leadership succession and military doctrine of the Islamic State militant group, and he co-authored The ISIS Reader: Milestone Texts of the Islamic State Movement. His latest book is Non-State Special Operations: Capabilities and Effects. He is the 2022 winner of the U.S. Naval War College Excellence in Research Award. 

Sea Control 589: Non-state Special Operations with Craig Whiteside

Links

1. Non-state Special Operations: Capabilities and Effects, Ian Rice and Craig Whiteside, Routledge, 2025.

2. The Isis Reader Substack.

3. @CraigAWhiteside on X.

4. @craigwhiteside@bsky.social on BlueSky.

5. Craig Whiteside personal site and publications.

J. Overton is Co-Host of the Sea Control podcast. Contact the podcast team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

By J. Overton

Pieter Zhao joins the program to discuss his article, “Outsourcing Security at Sea—The Return of Private Maritime-Security Companies and Their Role in Twenty-First-Century Maritime Security.” He discusses the growing role of private maritime-security companies in the modern world and situations where they could provide maritime security.

Pieter W.G. Zhao is a PhD Researcher and Junior Lecturer at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, focusing on history and international relations in the maritime domain. He is also a Nonresident Fellow at the Irregular Warfare Initiative. His doctoral research analyzes the changing dynamics in the 21st-century maritime warfare and security environment from an applied historical perspective, focusing on non-state actors and irregular warfare at sea.

Download Sea Control 588: Outsourcing Security at Sea with Pieter Zhao

Links

1. “Outsourcing Security at Sea—The Return of Private Maritime-Security Companies and Their Role in Twenty-First-Century Maritime Security,” by Pieter Zhao, Naval War College Review, Winter 2024.

2. Irregular Warfare Initiative.

3. Pieter Zhao LinkedIn.

4. Pieter Zhao BlueSky.

5. Pieter Zhao Contact Page.

J. Overton is co-host of the Sea Control podcast and editor of the essay collection, “Seapower by Other Means: Naval Contributions to National Objectives Beyond Sea Control, Power Projection, and Traditional Service Missions.” Contact the podcast team at Seacontrol@cimsec.org.

Jonathan Selling edited and produced this episode.