Abstract

Maritime strategy’s core logic endures, but it is being fundamentally reshaped by technological change and the demands of systemic integration. Geoffrey Till’s Seapower: A Guide for the Twenty-First Century (5th ed.) captures this evolution, showing how strategy increasingly co-evolves with shifting global conditions and rapid technological advances since 2018.

Emerging technologies—particularly AI and autonomous systems—are transforming naval operations. They enable precision, extend operational reach, and integrate platforms into networked battle systems rather than isolated units. The war in Ukraine demonstrates how drones and autonomous capabilities can disrupt traditional assumptions about naval power. Yet, while networks enhance effectiveness, they also introduce new vulnerabilities to disruption and interference, demanding more holistic approaches to battle management.

At the same time, the strategic environment is shifting. Some analysts argue that assertive sea power is becoming more vulnerable to shore-based threats, as reflected in the cautious posture of major navies in contested spaces such as the Strait of Hormuz. Alongside these operational challenges are ethical concerns: as AI accelerates decision-making cycles, the risk of diminishing human control in combat becomes increasingly salient.

This panel engages Till’s latest edition to examine how seapower is adapting to these pressures. By analysing new empirical developments—including the Russo-Ukraine and Gaza wars, Indo-Pacific tensions, Arctic and North Atlantic dynamics, and the emerging concept of seabed control—this panel explores how technological innovation and strategic change are challenging established understandings of maritime strategy. It asks a central question: how far can the enduring logic of seapower stretch before it is fundamentally transformed?

About the Speaker

Geoffrey Till is Emeritus Professor of Maritime Studies at King’s College London and Chairman of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies.  Once Dean of Academic Studies at the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College,  he is author of nearly 300 books, chapters and articles. Since 2009 he has been a Visiting Professor, Senior Research Fellow and Advisor at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. He held the Dudley W. Knox Chair for Naval History and Strategy at the US Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island and is now a Non-Resident Research Fellow at its Hattendorf Historical Center. His Understanding Victory: Naval Operations from Trafalgar to the Falklands was published by ABC-Clio in 2014 and he completed a fourth edition of his Seapower: A Guide for the 21st Century (2018) and an edited version of Bo Hu’s Chinese Maritime Power in the 21st Century (2019). His How to Grow a Navy: The Development of Maritime Power was published by Routledge in 2022. With John Hattendorf, he edited Recovering Naval Power; Henry Maydman and the Revival of the Royal Navy (Routledge, 2023). He is now working on a 5^th edition of his Seapower book.