ABSTRACT
The term sea control is perhaps more accurate than command of the sea because it reflects more realistically the fact that it is more difficult to keep control of the sea in an age of aircraft, missiles, torpedoes, and mines. Today, even the smallest navy can make sea control complicated for a major navy. The term sea control conveys the meaning that it is not possible except in the most limited sense totally to control the seas for one's use or to deny them completely to an opponent. Sea control essentially means the ability of one's fleet to operate with a high degree of freedom in a sea or ocean area, but for a limited period of time. On the open ocean, sea control may encompass only a relatively narrow part of the ocean surface and subsurface around a moving carrier battle group, amphibious task force, or convoy, or the ocean area where sea control is exercised may be more or less geographically fixed, as for example in operating areas of one's ballistic missile submarines. This is markedly more true in a narrow sea, where the concept of sea control means full control of one's coastal waters.
