The Pacific Theater in World War II depended on American sea 
power. This power was refined between 1923 and 1940, when the 
U.S. Navy held twenty-one major fleet exercises designed to 
develop strategy and allow officers to enact plans in an operational 
setting.

    Prior to 1923, naval officers relied heavily on the theories of 
Capt. Alfred Thayer Mahan, who argued that sea control was vital 
to military victory, best attained through use of the battleship. Fleet 
exercises, however, allowed valuable practice with other military 
resources and theories.

    As a direct result of these exercises, the navy incorporated 
different technologies and updated its own outdated strategies. 
Although World War II brought unforeseen challenges and the 
disadvantages of simulation exercises quickly became apparent, 
fleet "problems" may have opened the door to different ideas that 
allowed the U.S Navy ultimately to succeed.

    Testing American Sea Power challenges the conventional 
wisdom that Mahanian theory held the American Navy in a steel 
grip. Felker's research and analysis, the first to concentrate on the 
navy's interwar exercises, will make a valuable contribution to 
naval history for historians, military professionals, and naval 
instructors.

_________________________________________________________

CRAIG C. FELKER is a commander in the United States Navy and 
recently served as a contributor for the History Channel's Deep Sea 
Detectives. He resides in Annapolis, Maryland.


Number 107: Texas A&M University Military History Series