
Rethinking Mahan in the Age of Autonomy: Sea Power, Trade, and the Future of American Maritime Strength
For decades, Alfred Thayer Mahan has been simplistically remembered as the prophet of battleship supremacy—an advocate of grand fleets and decisive naval engagements. But thanks to historian Nicholas A. Lambert’s The Neptune Factor, a more nuanced and deeply relevant interpretation is resurfacing. As America grapples with great power competition and the transformative impact of autonomous technologies, revisiting Mahan’s original ideas may offer both strategic clarity and inspiration for action. Beyond the Battle Line: What Mahan Really Meant In The Neptune Factor, Lambert dismantles the long-held myth that Mahan’s theory of sea power was obsessed with fleet-on-fleet combat. Instead, he paints a richer portrait of Mahan as both a serious naval