Operational Maritime Warfare 101

[Ivan Rapkinov]

is the spirit of learning as much as possible about the wet side of modern warfare (as befits my new role), I've picked up some reading material that I hope will be useful :)

Operational and Technological Developments in Maritime Warfare: Implications for the Western Pacific - ed. Lt Cdr Dick Sherwood, Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 105

Naval Strategy and Operations in Narrow Seas - Milan N. Vego, US Naval War College, Cass Series - Naval History and Policy, 2003 ed.

Naval Strategy in Northeast Asia - Duk-ki Kim (RoK-N), Cass Series - Naval History and Policy, 2000 ed.

these really only cover my own area of naval interest (Northeast Asia/Western Pacific) but hopefully will give me a good grounding on the doctrine that makes modern naval ops work - and hopefully makes me better at Harpoon ;)

(as opposed to using Red Storm Rising, and other Larry Bond books as my cheat sheet :D )

[VCDH]

Some other books you might want to look at:

Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat by Capt. Wayne P. Hughes, USN (ret). An excellant book on the basics and development of tactics. Cheap too.

Naval Institude Guide to World Naval Weapons Systems by Norman Freidman. An expensive reference book but worth it if you are hard core into DBs or developing scenarios. Mainly because it describes most weapons in use today. The capability of such weapons being a main factor in your tactics.

The Fifty Year War by Norman Freidman. This book provides important political history and background over the course of the Cold War.

Later
D

Dale Hillier
AGSI RD&T
Harpoint Admin

http://www3.nf.sympatico.ca/daleh/avatars/vcdh.jpg

[Scully]

Naval Strategy and Operations in Narrow Seas - Milan N. Vego, US Naval War College, Cass Series - Naval History and Policy, 2003 ed.

Ivan,

I'd really like to hear what you think of this one when you get it. I'm probably going to pick it up myself. Hopefully, I'll be able to get Hughes' book also.

Brian

[Scully]

Hey Ivan,

Have you been able to read Vego's book yet? I was curious to get your thoughts.

I'm about halfway through Hughes' Fleet Tactics and have found it to be very interesting so far. I like the historical examples he provides as he works his way through the history of naval tactics.

Take care,
Brian

[Reckall]

is the spirit of learning as much as possible about the wet side of modern warfare (as befits my new role)


Call me a dimwit (these would not be news :) ) but after playing Harpoon Classic Gold since 2002 and having hunted around for books on modern naval tactics since then, I found a mine of interesting and practical infos right in the game directory. In the folder "manual" of HCG you find not only the original Harpoon 97 manual and the description of the battlesets, but a short and sweet introduction to the basics of naval formation building, use of air assets and classifications of platforms by role (formation building being the thing that always made me baffled, since the sources are not so varied). The file is "DESIGN2.pdf" - and it was what I was looking for in the last three years ^__^

Useful for Harpoon 3 too.


(as opposed to using Red Storm Rising, and other Larry Bond books as my cheat sheet :D )

Never a bad thing. RSR is famous for being defined "unrealistic" and "SciFi" by people then, on the same argument, starting to hurl insults to each others about what is the air-speed velocity of an unladen Falcon ;)

[CV32]

It's amazing how worked up some people can get over the most inane things. A simple disagreement over tactics can get you tossed from some forums. Wasn't it Einstein who said, "imagination is more important than knowledge" ? ;)

[Reckall]

It's amazing how worked up some people can get over the most inane things. A simple disagreement over tactics can get you tossed from some forums.

Maybe the disagreement was over *Soviet* tactics ;)