Uploaded January 2024 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
This lecture took place on January 23, 2024.
From Professor Holmes:
Every election year undead myths about how to calculate the power of the U.S. Navy go shambling around. Politicians point to budgets, or tonnage, or numbers of hulls and airframes as though a single measure of U.S. naval power reveals how much sea power is enough. It does not. The lecture takes aim at these zombies of U.S. maritime strategy before turning to the map of the Pacific to show why it is so hard for the U.S. sea services to overpower a rival great power in its own backyard.
About the Speaker: Professor James Holmes
James Holmes holds the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. A former U.S. Navy surface-warfare officer, he was the last gunnery officer in history to fire a battleship’s big guns in anger, during the first Gulf War in 1991. He earned the Naval War College Foundation Award in 1994, signifying the top graduate in his class. His books include Red Star over the Pacific, an Atlantic Monthly Best Book of 2010 and a fixture on the Navy Professional Reading List. General James Mattis deems him “troublesome.” Join Professor Holmes who will speak for 45 minutes and will then take questions from the audience.
This lecture took place on January 23, 2024.
From Professor Holmes:
Every election year undead myths about how to calculate the power of the U.S. Navy go shambling around. Politicians point to budgets, or tonnage, or numbers of hulls and airframes as though a single measure of U.S. naval power reveals how much sea power is enough. It does not. The lecture takes aim at these zombies of U.S. maritime strategy before turning to the map of the Pacific to show why it is so hard for the U.S. sea services to overpower a rival great power in its own backyard.
About the Speaker: Professor James Holmes
James Holmes holds the J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and served on the faculty of the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. A former U.S. Navy surface-warfare officer, he was the last gunnery officer in history to fire a battleship’s big guns in anger, during the first Gulf War in 1991. He earned the Naval War College Foundation Award in 1994, signifying the top graduate in his class. His books include Red Star over the Pacific, an Atlantic Monthly Best Book of 2010 and a fixture on the Navy Professional Reading List. General James Mattis deems him “troublesome.” Join Professor Holmes who will speak for 45 minutes and will then take questions from the audience.
