The Development Of American Sea Power And Its Reference

Alfred Thayer Mahan, a U.S. Navy strategist, put forward a systematic theory ofsea power in his famous work,"Sea Power on History". In the book, sea power isinterpreted as everything makes a great nation with the power of the ocean. SovietAdmiral Gorchakov, the father of the Soviet blue-water navy, defined the Sovietversion sea power. The concept of sea power is varied among domestic scholars; thepopular concept means all marine factors, including military forces and non-militaryforces. When this power is to play an active role in promoting prosperity of a country,it became sea power. There will be a sea hegemonic power every century since the16th century. Portugal the16th century, the Netherlands the17th century, British18thand19th century, the United States20th century, for example. Sea power has playedan important role in the rise and fall of these countries.In the history of the U.S. sea power theory, as the originator of the Sea Power,Mahan’s thinking deeply affected the policy direction of the U.S. government; hismarine strategy has awakened and guided the U.S. maritime strategy. Then landingrights theory and periphery district theory become the dominant of the Americantheory; in the1980s, however, Secretary of the Navy Lehman took office, and revivedthe theory of Mahan’s sea power according to the actual situation of the United States,sea power ideology dominated U.S. policy again.In the history of U.S. sea power, including marine military, marine economy, scienceand technology, marine policy, we can find several features of U.S. sea power:develop and improve national ocean policy according to actual conditions and needs,apply the help of international and domestic environment, and boost the country’soverall development; combine economic and technological development to help boostmilitary sea power; U.S. citizens’ awareness of sea power also played a significantrole in promoting the development of the whole sea power.On the contrary, China’s awareness of the importance of sea power is relatively late,and sea power is relatively weak, but there are good results in the marine military, marine science and technology and economic aspects. Some inspirations can beconcluded through the development of sea power in the United States. But China andthe United States face different national system, different marine conditions, historyand culture; therefore, the development of sea power cannot be copied from Americanmodel. The development of marine development strategy should be based oncountry’s own national conditions, in order to facilitate integration with existingsystems and policies. It should be noted that the lessons should be drawn, rightpolicies and actions should be implemented in the development of sea power.