There are numerous international tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, many of which are intensifying, and several of which have taken on a new character since the end of the Cold War. This work, by a leading authority of maritime strategy, considers the importance and use of navies in this most maritime of regions. In the book, Grove examines sea power and maritime strategy at the dawn of the Twenty First Century, the use of the sea as an economic and as a miliary medium, the evolving shape of maritime operations, the regional politico-legal-economic environment, the functions of regional navies, and the implications for regional naval development. The geographical area covered by the book stretches from the Western seaboard of the Americas to the Indian Ocean.