U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: A New Strategy for Facing the Chinese and Russian Threat Hardcover – May 15, 2023

A detailed account in light of rising serious threats of how the U.S. Navy must plan and act to safeguard our defense and that of our allies as well as to ensure the free flow of world commerce. I certainly hope our political leaders are studying and acting upon the author's excellent advice.

A intresting read. But author contradicts himself

This author told what the Navy means to our country and how our country responds to the Navy. I made notes in the margins of so many interesting items. He also explained what we need and suggestions to make our Navy strong. An example I marked was page 247, last paragraph. Mr. Sadler wrote about China and the Russian Navy. This book was easier to read than I anticipated and very informative. The author had notes at the conclusion so if further reading was required. As I said, I added notes in the margin. The author ended this well written, informative book starting on page 275, I added in my script , prayers and God.

Well documented and researched book.

This author has done his homework

Fair overview, but does not address the most fundamental question, which is not how to tweak what we have now, but what dramatic changes do we need in the makeup of our navy ships and capability do we need going forward. The Chinese have lots of small ships which can fire missiles and we have essentially none. A war with China will be horrific for us as all the war games make clear. So, we need to change from a few big ships to lots of smaller ships, and we need to turn our focus from manned aircraft and submarines to unmanned. That is the direction that China is going and where we need to go. This book does not address that subject at all.

The authors premise is that the maritime challenges to the U.S. Navy presented by the Chinese and Russian naval fleets, requires some new thinking about how to design the U.S. Navy in the future, to meet peer adversaries that are numerically superior to the American navy.However, not all is lost in this potential global confrontation. "In this global context, mobility and ability to apply sustained force rapidly makes the Navy an asymmetric challenge to the Chinese and Russian theories of victory. This advantage must be pressed, but to do tis the Navy must recover from decades of slim and often inconsistent budgets that have dangerously reduced its capacity. The Navy today is still largely the legacy of decades of Cold War investment - especially the Reagan-era naval buildup to the so-called six-hundred ship navy." (p. 6)The book is organized into nine chapters, as:* 1 - Naval Statecraft* 2 - Competition to Rule the Seas (p. 35)* 3 - Global Maritime 2050* 4 - Decisive Theaters (p. 107)* 5 - Posture, Presence, and Platforms (p. 148)* 6 - A New Model Navy* 7 - Fleet Design 2035. (p. 186)* 8 - A National Maritime Program* 9 - Developing Leaders for Great Power CompetitionIn addition, Notes, Bibliography (p. 341) and Index follow.Chapter 2 provides backgrounds for both Russian and Chinese views on maritime and other challenges, as viewed from Moscow and Beijing, respectively. "The Russian approach articulated by (Gen.) Gerasimov represents "a transition from sequential and concentrate actions to continuous and distributed ones, conducted simultaneously in all spheres of confrontation, and also in distance theaters of military operations." (p.40) You see this today with the Ukraine war, while also seeing Russian Private Security Company's (PSC) - Wagner Group - operating in Central Africa and elsewhere, on behalf of Russian policy objectives.Chnia is also very much the focus of this chapter (p. 49-72), with the author concluding: "Neither Russia nor China is a giant that the United States cannot compete with; even together their approaches and capacities have limitations. China's United Front work, economic statecraft, and echelon defense all rely to a great extent on U.S. and like-minded nations' ambivalence - which is being replaced by newfound resistance. This makes China's development and potential use of advanced anti-access/area denial capabilities in a counter-intervention campaign a pressing risk." (p. 72) This means in a PRC military campaign against Taiwan!Chapter 7 has a useful discussion on future needs, along with geographic comments as they relate to specific areas of fleet operations, i.e. South China Sea, eastern Mediterranean, etc. "To increase the survivability of forces executing EABO (Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations) and MDO (Distributed Maritime Operations) within dense Chinese offensive capabilities, numbers and stealth will be important." (p. 200)In this chapter the author also lays out proposed carrier alternatives to the expensive nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVNs) of today, with proposals for a "CVNE" (almost the "Lightning Carrier"/F-35 concept, with emphasis on MQ-25 drone operations) and "CVS" (emphasis on ASW and unmanned ASW/anti-surface capability with MQ-8s). The latter has been the subject of several proposals as alternatives to the big CVNs over several past decades and has been rejected numerous times, largely to to sustainability issues and requirements needed from support forces).The author is also highly critical of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) reduction of in-house marine engineering capability, leaving the USN with growing dependence on outside engineering firms to design the ships the Navy needs (p. 230-235). Nothing demonstrated this more than the failures of one-half of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and "X.1" catamaran design failures - both of which depended on British marine engineering firms to design.In the end, the author concludes: The key to success in great power competition will be the ability to seize the initiative in an energetic approach toward a Free and Open Indo-Pacific and a global maritime strategy. Naval statecraft provides a framework for the Navy's active role in this undertaking. In the final analysis....the outcome of a future major war will be determined before the fighting actually starts..." (p. 275)Good read, Extensive resources. RECOMMENDED.

Mr Sadler's book offers the reader a well structured and competent recommendation as well as compelling strategy for containment of global threats from Russian and China. A remarkable insight and a must read for anyone in military and civilian leadership role. Looking forward to follow on book publishings and articles from this author.