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By Robert Farley
Modern warfare is shifting to a competition between two “system-of-systems,” and smaller navies can’t compete.
It’s getting tough out there for small navies.
Large navies have always had (literally) big advantages over their smaller counterparts. A variety of dynamics worked to create emergent advantages for bigger forces. In naval engagements, larger forces could (generally speaking) take advantage of their numbers to an extent that ground forces could not. The well-known Lanchester Square Law suggests that, under admittedly stylized conditions, a larger force could destroy a smaller force without suffering equivalent casualties; the increased offensive firepower of the larger force quickly attrited the small force away.
Also, large navies also generally have access to shipbuilding and training advantages that small navies don’t. This is less true of land forces, where key tactical and operational concepts can be worked through on a smaller scale. Whereas in land and air combat small forces can achieve a level of professionalism exceeding that of their larger competitors, it’s hard to exercise against enemy destroyers and carriers when you have no carriers or destroyers available.
Read the full story at The Diplomat