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Joint Maritime Operations

The Joint Maritime Operations curriculum course prepares future military and civilian leaders for high-level policy, command, and staff positions requiring joint planning expertise and joint warfighting skills. It emphasizes the theory and practice of operational art as it relates to maritime and joint forces. Students will learn to apply operational art, Joint Operation Planning Process, and critical thinking to employ joint forces to achieve national, theater-strategic, and operational objectives.

The Joint Military Operations (JMO) department at U.S. Naval War College (NWC), Newport, Rhode Island, hosts its Capstone educational event which is designed to expose students in the courses to maritime warfare problems and how to creatively approach them.
The Joint Military Operations (JMO) department at U.S. Naval War College (NWC), Newport, Rhode Island, hosts its Capstone educational event which is designed to expose students in the courses to maritime warfare problems and how to creatively approach them. For the “War Game at Sea” exercise, 277 students in the school’s College of Naval Command and Staff (CNCS) and Naval Staff College (NSC) were divided into 10 seminar groups with each group working to solve the same complex scenario to establish sea control in a region of the South China Sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jess Lewis/released)

About the Course

The course is comprised mostly of a seminar learning environment and is composed of members of the U.S. and international armed forces, and U.S. Government members. This course is designed to prepare military officers to:

  • Expand critical and creative thinking and develop problem-solving skills as they pertain to decision-making and leadership in the maritime domain.
  • Develop students grounded in Operational Art and Naval Warfare Theory including practical application across the spectrum of conflict.
  • Apply the Joint/Navy Planning Process to volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous problems and develop written orders designed to resolve them.
  • Understand how to employ maritime power in the attainment of assigned joint and service objectives.

All students are required to write a research paper that critically examines an aspect of the course material. The Operations Research Paper presents an opportunity to study a theater-strategic or operational-level issue, conduct research, perform analysis, and write a paper that advances the literature and demonstrates critical reasoning skills.

Capstone Planning Exercise

The final event in the curriculum is a capstone planning exercise, the purpose of which is to synthesize and reinforce course material through practical application in a realistic staff environment. This is an educational planning exercise that provides an opportunity to apply the principles and concepts studied throughout the trimester.

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