Historical Implications for the Future of the Royal Australian Navy
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HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY WINNING AND HIGHLY COMMENDED ESSAYS OF THE 2019 CHIEF OF NAVY’S ESSAY COMPETITION HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE RAN 2 HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY WINNING AND HIGHLY COMMENDED ESSAYS OF THE 2019 CHIEF OF NAVY’S ESSAY COMPETITION ISBN: 978-0-9872387-7-1 This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cwth), no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Department of Defence. DPS: DEC011-19 4 CONTENTS Foreword ....................................................................................................5 An Introduction from the President of the Australian Naval Institute .................................................................7 Maritime lessons from the Peloponnesian War ...........................................9 Appear Where You Are Not Expected .......................................................17 The Past, Present And Future Of Maritime Trade Warfare ..........................................................................................25 The implications of the Indo Pacific Endeavour on a Thinking, Fighting, Australian Navy . .........................................................................35 The Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, Iranian Asymmetric Doctrine, and Russian Corvettes ............................................................................41 Civilians: The Fulcrum for a Modern Fleet .................................................49 The Navy and the Nation ..........................................................................55 Tactics are for Losers ...............................................................................65 Implications for the Royal Australian Navy of the Second World War in Australia’s Region ...................................................75 Redefining Regional Security - Building Sea Power on Values ................................................................85 Undersea Disruption: Retaining a Potent Covert Capability ........................................................91 Trial by Fire - The 1866 Battle of Lissa and the Implications for the Future of the RAN ....................................................105 Artificial Intelligence and Its Implications on Future Submarine Warfare .....................................................................113 Melos Down Under .................................................................................119 5 6 FOREWORD I am delighted to present the winning and highly commended essays of the 2019 Chief of Navy Essay Competition. Each aimed to promote knowledge of and interest in ‘a thinking, fighting, Australian Navy’. The topic for the essay was ‘With reference to any historical example, what are the implications for the future of the Royal Australian Navy?’ This publication showcases 14 thought-provoking bodies of work, each approaching the topic from different angles and perspectives. The diversity of thought echoed one similarity; history’s lessons are tomorrow’s teachings. The pursuit of personal intellectual growth and development will bolster us as individuals and as a Navy. Navy must be a learning organisation that encourages continuous improvement and innovation at all levels. This competition embraces diversity of thought while celebrating personal commitment to bettering one’s self through the lens of value-adding to Navy as an organisation. I congratulate the divisional winners and all entrants for your hard work and achievement. Your contributions all help to make the Chief of Navy Essay Competition a huge success. MJ Noonan, AO Vice Admiral, Royal Australian Navy Chief of Navy 7 8 AN INTRODUCTION FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN NAVAL INSTITUTE The two roles of the Australian Naval Institute are to: • Encourage and promote the advancement of knowledge related to the Navy and the maritime profession, and; • Provide a forum for the exchange of ideas concerning subjects related to the Navy and the maritime profession. It was therefore the ANI’s distinct pleasure to support in any way, Vice Admiral Michael Noonan’s initiative to establish a Chief of Navy’s Essay competition. Readers will, I am sure be impressed by the quantity and diversity of thought contained in the essays in this publication. Over 70 entries were received in the competition and I am sure the entrants gained much from the experience of taking part. Importantly, a significant number of the essays were forwarded to the Navy’s senior leadership team to review some of their useful suggestions to make the Royal Australian Navy even better. I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of the volunteer judging panels who were drawn from the ANI membership. They were ably supported by the Membership and Prizes Committee of the ANI Council and the ANI administration team led by Mrs Sue Hart. I hope after the success of the inaugural competition encourages even more entries in the next competition. Vice Admiral Peter Jones AO, DSC RAN retired. President, Australian Naval Institute 9 HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE RAN 10 MARITIME LESSONS FROM THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR Dr John Nash When looking towards the future of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), many would not choose to reflect on the Peloponnesian War, a conflict fought two and half thousand years ago by combatants and weapons hardy recognisable to a modern navy. However, when considering the many lessons that can be gleaned from this war, it becomes apparent that quite a few of them are salient to the future operations of the RAN. The Peloponnesian War was a maritime war, fought across the littoral of the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean and Black Seas, and as far west as Sicily. The war involved various navies of the Greek world conducting combat operations at and from the sea, diplomatic operations, and constabulary operations – the span of maritime tasks in modern Australian Maritime Doctrine.1 When looking towards the near- and medium-term future, it is readily apparent that these tasks will remain at the core of what the RAN will be called upon for in all likely future scenarios. The Peloponnesian War Briefly, the Peloponnesian War was fought in the period spanning 431–404 BCE. It saw the involvement of almost all of the Greek city-states across the Mediterranean, including in Sicily and the Anatolian littoral (modern-day Turkish coast) and up into the Black Sea. Two main protagonists, Athens and Sparta, fought a protracted war across the Mediterranean on land and at sea, with maritime operations dominating the conduct of the war. Athens was the great sea power of the ancient Greek world, and although Sparta is remembered for its land army of hoplite warriors, it was only when Sparta embraced a sea power strategy that they were able to defeat Athens.2 Athens, under the leadership of the great statesman Pericles, undertook a strategy based on sea power. The city itself was heavily fortified and connected to the port of the Piraeus by the ‘Long Walls’, ensuring uninterrupted and secure access to the port and the sea. From there Athens could send out fleets to attack Spartan interests and keep itself supplied with food and war supplies, in turn, protected by its powerful navy. Resources, especially tribute Officers and sailors of HMAS Ballarat line the upper decks in ‘Procedure Alpha’ as the ship awaits the sail past by the Reviewing Officer during the Singaporean Navy’s 50th Anniversary International Fleet Review. 11 HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE RAN money, flowed into Athens via the Delian League, a vast network of other Greek city-states that paid Athens in return for prosperity through maritime trade and protection from enemies. In effect, Athens was an island, a metaphor used by Pericles and indeed other Greeks when referring to Athenian strategy throughout the fifth century.3 This strategy saw the Athenian fleet conduct combat operations at sea against enemy fleet units and merchant vessels, and combat operations from the sea in landing military units ashore on the Peloponnesian coast, most famously at Pylos in the modern bay of Navarino. The Athenian fleet conducted diplomatic operations, before and during the war. This included reassurance, sending a small fleet to the island city-state of Corcyra (modern Corfu) to support this new Athenian ally and hopefully dissuade the Corinthian fleet from attacking. On the more coercive side, Athens was well-known for sending out a fleet to cruise the Aegean and even the Black Sea to find new allies for the Delian League, with the presence of a fleet of several dozen ships and thousands of men acting as an incentive. Finally, Athenian vessels protected trade, both their own and other trade, from disruption and helped suppress piracy, what we might term maintaining ‘good order at sea’.4 In these various ways, Athenian sea power is readily recognisable to modern scholars studying the fundamentals of maritime operations – fundamentals still adhered to across the modern world. The issue of Athens’ defeat in the Peloponnesian War is not proof of the superiority of a so-called ‘land power’ – Sparta – over that of a ‘sea power’. It was only when Sparta embraced a maritime strategy that they were successful. This was firstly enabled by Athenian overreach in Sicily, where a vast expeditionary force of infantry, some cavalry, and a large number of ships was eventually destroyed by the forces of Syracuse,