Ep. 16: Gerry Roncolato on the U.S. Navy

School of War

Is the United States Navy prepared for war? Retired Navy Captain Gerry Roncolato joins the show to discuss the past, present, and future of American maritime power.

Is the United States Navy prepared for war? Retired Navy Captain Gerry Roncolato joins the show to discuss the past, present, and future of American maritime power. Times<ul>
<li>02:08 - Introduction </li>
<li>03:31 - Is the U.S. Navy prepared for a great-power war?</li>
<li>04:59 - The Navy during the Interwar Period and the Battle of Guadalcanal</li>
<li>09:41 - The experience of war at sea</li>
<li>16:30 - Historical examples—and lessons for the Navy today—in Roncolato’s article, A Warfighting Imperative: Back to Basics for the Navy</li>
<li>20:49 - Alarming incidents during operations at sea and underlying problems</li>
<li>27:23 - Are the troops adequately prepared for war at sea? </li>
<li>38:20 - Books aspiring officers should read</li>
<li>40:52 - Maneuver warfare at sea</li>
<li>48:20 - Managing troops in the barracks versus maneuvering men in battle </li>
</ul> LinkRoncolato’s article, <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2022/january/warfighting-imperative-back-basics-navy">A Warfighting Imperative: Back to Basics for the Navy</a>

Learn what war teaches

This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history.&nbsp; Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras.The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.&nbsp;&nbsp; Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. <a href="https://schoolofwar.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Visit our Substack for episode transcripts</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/school.of.war/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Follow along on Instagram</a>