Advantage at Sea explains both how naval forces will be employed and how naval forces will be developed to continue to secure our nation's interests. Five key messages from this strategy that will be discussed:

China is the United States’ most pressing threat. It also represents a comprehensive threat to our allies and partners, and all nations that support a free and open system.

All great powers require steady access to oil to maintain their security, yet they pursue wildly different strategies to obtain it. In some cases, great powers have fought wars for oil, while in other instances, they have allied with oil-exporting countries or simply built strategic petroleum stockpiles to secure supplies. Two causal factors determine the choice of strategy: a state's petroleum deficit and the vulnerability of its oil imports to forcible disruption.

Neither China nor the United States might be willing to risk nuclear war to achieve their limited political aims in future conflicts over Taiwan, North Korea, or disputed maritime territories. US leaders might therefore opt for a naval blockade of Chinese merchant shipping to coerce China to end a future limited war, judging that a blockade poses a lower risk of nuclear escalation than conventional strikes on the Chinese mainland and lower costs than directly engaging Chinese air and naval forces off China’s shores.

Conor O’Neill joined the Royal Navy in 1999 as a University Cadet (Warfare). He read Modern History and Politics at Wadham College, Oxford and completed at Masters in 2004. Following Fleet Navigating Officer’s Course in 2007, he joined HMS CUMBERLAND, then HMS CHATHAM, deploying to the Arabian Gulf in 2008 on Operation TELIC. Having returned to the UK, he served on the staff of Flag Officer Sea Training (Mine Warfare and Patrol Vessels) as a navigation sea-rider before assuming Command of HMS TRACKER and Oxford URNU in September 2009.