Analysts in War and Peace: MccGwire, McConnell, and Admiral Gorshkov.

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to evaluate the debate between two Western analysts of the Soviet Navy. The material in question is Soviet military literature, and the focus is on Admiral Sergei G. Gorshkov. Our two scholarly protagonists are James M. McConnell and Michael K. MccGwire. There are two major questions. First, was Gorshkov speaking authoritatively in his celebrated series Navies in War and Peace ? Second, what was he saying? Was he elaborating a novel strategy of withholding SSBN? Alternatively, was the Gorshkov series a polemic for an expansion of the Soviet Navy along more traditional lines, with defense against Western naval strike forces as a principal mission? In this essay, I focus primarily on the second of these questions.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADA187842

Entities

People

  • Stephen M. Walt

Organizations

  • Center for Naval Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Combat Readiness
  • Construction
  • Continents
  • Deterrence
  • Doctrine
  • Geography
  • Materials
  • Military Doctrine
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • North America
  • Second World War
  • Ussr
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Geochemistry
  • Strategic Security Studies