Long-Range Planning Perspectives on Nuclear War at Sea: Naval Nuclear Crisis Management

Abstract

This report presents a conceptual discussion of the implications of maritime nuclear weapons for crisis management, and discusses the following themes: 1) strategic nuclear weapons have played significant crisis control and termination functions in the past; 2) current U.S. Navy maritime theater nuclear warfare capabilities, by virtue of their dispersal throughout the fleet, are very likely to be involved either directly or indirectly in future crisis responses by naval forces; 3) crisis response is a key feature of the Maritime Strategy's plan for deterring war and controlling escalation; and 4) maritime theater nuclear capabilities may both enhance and impede naval crisis management objectives. Keywords: Theater level operations; Military strategy; Deterrence; Naval planning; Military doctrine; Military nuclear forces deployment; Naval nuclear warfare theater; Crisis management; Maritime strategy; Tactical nuclear weapons.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1988
Accession Number
ADA212647

Entities

People

  • Kerry M. Kartchner

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Deterrence
  • Governments
  • Human Behavior
  • International Relations
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Strategy
  • National Security
  • Naval Operations
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • Nuclear Warfare
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Strategic Weapons
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security