STRATEGIC SEALIFT CAPABILITIES: THE SPECIAL CASE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Abstract

Along several millennia, sealift capabilities have played a significant role in shaping the political international arena, and the global strategic landscape. We cannot imagine, for example, a fully operational Roman Empire without a massive set of sealift capabilities, able to deploy large armies anywhere around the Mediterranean, and to bring huge amounts of Egyptian grain to Rome. The study is briefly exploring some pivotal moments in global history, when sealift has been massively present; and then it explores, with some details, the present situation of the US strategic sealift capabilities. As far as we know, the ability of the United States to use, in case of need, fully effective strategic sealift is clearly facing important problems and shortages, and this feature of the US national power might generate a lot of problems in many future scenarios, massively impacting strategic evolutions on the World Ocean, in Europe, and mainly in the Asia-Pacific.