Command of the sea

Command of the sea is a political concept does and stands for the control of sea lines of communication ( sea lines of communication). Naval supremacy can be global, ocean far and / or exercised in marginal seas and inland seas. During a naval supremacy own maritime protected and prevented enemy shipping. The maintenance of naval supremacy depends on the perseverance of the strongest naval power. An important criterion is the duration of naval supremacy in a sea that can not be permanently occupied as a land mass.

The Strategic Importance of the Straits

Straits have strategic importance. The access to both sides of the strait lying seas can be relatively easily prevented in the war. In this case, they contribute to secure command of the sea in the other side of the straits adjacent seas.

Examples of strategic straits:

• For the North Sea: the English Channel ( see firm Cerberus )
• For the Baltic Sea, the Belts and the Sound, together with the North Sea-Baltic Canal
• For the Black Sea: the Dardanelles and Bosphorus - (see Battle of Gallipoli and the Treaty of Montreux )
• For the Mediterranean: the Strait of Gibraltar in conjunction with the Suez Canal
• For the Persian Gulf: the Strait of Hormuz
• For the Atlantic and the Pacific: the Panama Canal
• For the South China Sea: the Karimata Street and the Sunda Straits (see Battle of Sunda Strait )

The importance of sea power in history

In ancient times the force exerted by the former naval powers naval supremacy was one of the conditions for the spread of states or alliances in the Mediterranean. So Mycenae assumes the role of Crete. Then the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks classic, Etruscans and Romans were rulers of parts of or the entire Mediterranean.

During the middle ages states such as Venice or even pirates ruled certain routes or territorial waters, ( 15th and 16th century ), Spanish ( 16th and early 17th century), Dutch parted with the onset of global shipping in the early modern Portuguese ( 17th century ), French (18th century) and the English ( 18th and 19th unchallenged until early 20th century) in the pre-eminence on the seas from.