Patrick C. Bratton is Assistant Professor of political science and Program Chair for Political Science and International Relations at the Hawaii pacific University, Honolulu. Geoffrey Till is the Director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies at King’s College London. He is the author of a number of books, including, most recently, The Development of British Naval Thinking (Routledge 2006), Globalization and the Defence in Asia (co-ed. with Emrys Chew and Joshua Ho, Routledge, 2008), and Seapower: A Guide for the 21st Century (2nd edn, Routledge 2009).

"This is an important collection of detailed high-quality essays on the dynamics of various national and regional aspects of sea power which deserve serious scholarly attention." - Dennis Rumley, International Journal of Maritime History, Vol. 24, 1, June 2012

• Preface Abbreviations Contributors Chapter 1. Introduction : Seapower and the Rise and Fall of Empires Chapter 2. The United States as a Pacific Power Chapter 2. Maritime Power and the Asia Pacific: US Navy Perspectives Chapter. 4 China: Its Maritime Traditions and Navy Today Chapter 5 The Evolution of the PLA Navy: The Twin Missions of Area-Denial and Peacetime Operations Chapter 6 Japan’s Maritime Past, Present and Future Chapter 7. India’s Growing Naval Power: Indian Ocean in Focus Chapter 8. Singapore and Seapower Chapter 9. The Seapower and Navy of the Republic of Korea Present and Future Chapter 10. Australia’s Maritime Past, Present and Future Part II Transitions Chapter 11. British Seapower and Imperial Defence in the Far East: Sharing the Seas with America Chapter 12. The British Pacific Fleet and the Decline of Empire ? Chapter 13 Conclusions: Transitions and Futures