Naval War College Review

The Most Daring Act of the Age: Principles for Naval Irregular Warfare - Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Armstrong, U.S. Navy.

As the American military confronts the challenges of the twenty-first century there is a great deal of discussion of counterinsurgency, hybrid conflict, and irregular warfare. In military history none of these concepts are new. Much of the recent scholarship and writing on these forms of warfare has focused on today's operations ashore, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, there are significant implications for naval warfare as well. The leaders of the sea services stated in the "Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower" that "preventing wars is as important as winning wars."1 If the U.S. Navy is going to embrace this belief as it sails deeper into the twenty-first century, development of naval irregular warfare will become vital to its future success and relevance...

Taming the Outlaw Sea - Admiral James G. Stavridis and Lieutenant Commander Richard E. LeBron, U.S. Navy.

... Somali pirates are armed opportunists who stem from a permissive and enabling environment formed by a weak state and who engage in a business enterprise subject to risk-and-reward calculations that can be influenced by the international community. The international community, including various governmental and nongovernmental organizations, as well as private enterprises, has an opportunity now to work together and exert the necessary influence both at sea and ashore to shift the calculus of piracy from profitable enterprise to futile folly...

A Private Security Solution to Somali Piracy? The U.S. Call for Private Security Engagement and the Implications for Canada - Christopher Spearin.

Canada's naval response to Somali piracy has been a mixed affair. On the positive side, in recent years the Canadian Navy has successfully dedicated a significant level of resources to countering Somali piracy: the destroyer HMCS Iroquois, the frigates HMCS Calgary, Ville de Québec, Winnipeg, and Fredericton, and the oiler HMCS Protecteur. Collectively, these vessels operated effectively alongside the ships of several other navies, especially those of the U.S. Navy, that together form the various international flotillas confronting Somali pirates. The Canadian Navy's level of involvement has been no mean task, because of the great distances involved, its limited number of surface combatants, and its other responsibilities...

Much more to read at Naval War College Review