I have contributed to this important book.

The Art and Science of Naval Warfare: Essays in Memory of Wayne P. Hughes Jr.

Editors Mie Augier, Sean F. X. Barrett, William F. Mullen III

U.S. Naval War College Press, Newport Rhode Island USA, 9 July 2025

https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/usnwc-newport-papers/48

Retired Navy captain Wayne P. Hughes left an indelible mark on the U.S. Navy after a lifetime of service. The author of Fleet Tactics was outspoken in his determination to better the service to which he dedicated his life, throughout his Navy career and carrying through to his time teaching at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Following his passing on 3 December 2019 at the age of eighty-nine, Hughes’s colleagues, students, and friends gathered virtually in June 2021 — on what would have been his ninetieth birthday — to discuss his career, fleet tactics, and the lasting impact of his work. Collected in this volume is a series of articles born out of that gathering.

Network-Optional Warfare for Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations

Don Brutzman, Chapter Nine, pp. 111-127

Donald P. Brutzman presents the subject of network-optional warfare, which embraces one of Hughes’s central arguments: that centralized command and control not only is unnecessary but in many cases is counterproductive. There are many different means to communicate, but the types of tactical communications that should predominate in the current and future operating environments should be deliberate, stealthy, and minimalist, to achieve agile emissions control and enable one to “attack effectively first.”

This chapter synopsizes many years of applied research on Network Optional Warfare (NOW) at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California. Relevant work was performed across multiple graduate theses, course challenges, and applied research projects.

• Naval forces do not have to be engaged in constant centralized communication. Deployed Navy vessels have demonstrated independence of action in stealthy coordinated operations for hundreds of years.
• Littoral operations, deployable unmanned systems, and a refactored force mix for Navy and Marine Corps forward assets pose a growing set of naval challenges and opportunities.
• Operational emphasis: opportunity to restore naval covertness and potential for tactical surprise, enabling fluid operations by fleet and marine forces across NCW and NOW.

all the best, Don Brutzman