Norman Friedman is an internationally known strategist and naval historian. He is the author of nearly 30 books, including the award-winning Seapower as Strategy and The Fifty-Year War, a history of the Cold War that won the Royal Services Institute’s Westminster Medal for the best English-language military book for the year 2000.

He also writes a monthly column on world naval developments for the Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine, and his articles have appeared in Joint Forces Quarterly, Jane’s International Defence Review, Asian Pacific Defence Reporter, Defense Electronics, The Journal of Electronic Defense, The International Countermeasures Handbook, Armada, Defence, ORBIS, Military Technology, Naval Forces, Jane’s Navy International, Signal, The Wall Street Journal (U.S., European, and Far Eastern editions), DPA, RUSI Journal, and the Journal of Cold War Studies, among others.

Gulf War: The War at Sea

By Norman Friedman

Most observers think of the Gulf War as a land and air campaign; surely the naval aspect was secondary. In…

USS America (LHA 6)

By Norman Friedman

Amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6)  joined the U.S. 7th Fleet forward-deployed amphibious force in Sasebo, Dec. 6, after…

The Falklands War in Retrospect

By Norman Friedman

It is now more than 30 years since the Argentineans seized the Falklands, one of the last British colonies, and…

Aircraft Carrier Evolution

By Norman Friedman

The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is the latest chapter in a carrier story which began almost a century…

Going Electric: The History and Future of Naval Electric Drive

By Norman Friedman

The new Zumwalt-class destroyer is described as an “electric ship.” The next-generation carrier is more “electric” by far than any…

Nuclear Power in Aircraft Carriers

By Norman Friedman

It has been a little over half a century since the first nuclear-powered warship, the submarine USS Nautilus, signaled that…

From Davits to Docks: The Evolution of U.S. Navy Amphibious Ships

By Norman Friedman

USS Arlington (LPD 24) is the culmination of a century of attempts to answer one question: how do you move…

Nuclear Power for Surface Combatants

By Norman Friedman

As the price of oil skyrocketed in 2008, some in Congress argued that it was pointless to keep building oil-powered…

Invested in Carriers

By Norman Friedman

This seems to be a boom time for carriers. The first Chinese carrier, the Liaoning, is running operational trials and…

Aegis Air Defense System at Thirty

By Norman Friedman

It has been 30 years since the missile cruiser Ticonderoga first took the Aegis system to sea. In 1982, Aegis…