United States Naval War College - Definition

Logo of the Naval War College

The Naval War College (NWC) of the United States Navy is an education and research institution that specializes in developing ideas for naval strategy and passing them along to officers of the Navy.

The College was established on 6 October 1884 and its first president, Commodore Stephen B. Luce, was given the old building of the Newport Asylum for the Poor in Newport, Rhode Island to house it. The first four faculty members included Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, who soon became famous for the scope of his strategic thinking and influenced naval leaders worldwide. Even so, the College long met with skepticism by Navy officers accustomed to conducting all education aboard ship.

The College engaged in wargaming various scenarios from 1887 on, and in time became a laboratory for the development of war plans. Nearly all of the US naval operations of the 20th century were originally designed and gamed at the NWC.

Its principal courses of study are "Strategy and Policy", "National Security and Decision Making", and "Joint Military Operations". Students from all branches of the military, as well as foreign militaries, work towards a Master of Arts. The College also hosts a number of symposia and conferences.

The NWC Press has published a number of books, and has put out the quarterly Naval War College Review since 1948.

External link

• Naval War College homepage (http://www.nwc.navy.mil/)