Rear Admiral
Joseph Caldwell Wylie, Jr.
,
USN
, (March 3, 1911 ? January 29, 1993) (called
"J. C." Wylie
or
"Bill" Wylie
), was an American
strategic
theorist, author, and US Naval
officer
. Wylie is best known for writing
Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power Control
.
[1]
Life
[
edit
]
J.C. Wylie was born in
Newark, New Jersey
, on March 3, 1911. He graduated from the
United States Naval Academy
in 1932. Wylie first saw service on
USS
Augusta
under
Captains
James O. Richardson
,
Royal E. Ingersoll
, and
Chester W. Nimitz
. During the later 1930s, he served on
USS
Reid
,
USS
Altair
, and
USS
Bristol
.
[2]
In May 1942, Wylie was promoted to
executive officer
of
USS
Fletcher
.
Fletcher
participated in the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
and the
Battle of Tassafaronga
. For his improvised integration of
radar
,
gunnery
, and
torpedo
control during these two actions, Wylie received a
Silver Star
. He received his first command,
USS
Trever
, in January 1943. After six months, he was assigned to a newly formed
Combat Information Center
school at Pearl Harbor, where he led a team in writing the first
CIC Handbook for Destroyers, Pacific Fleet
. Wylie later placed
USS
Ault
into commission as commanding officer and completed his World War II service with a group tasked with countering
kamikaze attacks
during the
planned invasion of Japan
.
[2]
After World War II, Wylie served as a
staff
officer with the
Office of Naval Research
and the
Naval War College
. During the 1950s, he helped create the practice of having two alternating crews man a
ballistic missile submarine
. In the mid-1950s, Wylie filled staff jobs as well as commanding
USS
Arneb
and
USS
Macon
and serving as Commander, Cruiser Division Three (later Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Nine), Deputy
Inspector General
of the US Navy, and Deputy Chief of Staff,
U.S. Atlantic Fleet
. While serving in the latter position, Wylie participated in
Operation Power Pack
, for which he was awarded his first
Legion of Merit
. While serving as Admiral
John S. McCain Jr.
’s deputy, he helped oversee the official investigation into the 1967
USS
Liberty
incident
. He confessed years later in an oral history interview with the
Naval War College
that he believed the attack to be intentional: “That was deliberate. I don’t know why in God’s name those idiotic people did it, but ? I think I’ll not talk about it.”
[3]
Wylie finished his career by serving as Deputy Commander in Chief,
United States Naval Forces Europe
and Commandant,
First Naval District
. Wylie retired from the U.S. Navy on July 1, 1972, after 44 years of service. Upon his retirement, he received a second
Legion of Merit
.
[2]
After his retirement, Wylie served as the first chairman of the
USS Constitution Museum
Foundation. J.C. Wylie died on January 29, 1993, in
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
.
[4]
Military Strategy
[
edit
]
While commanding USS
Arneb
in 1953, J.C. Wylie began writing
Military Strategy, A Theory of Power Control
. However,
Military Strategy
was not published until 1967. A revised edition of
Military Strategy
, together with articles written by Wylie over the years and a new afterword was published by the
Naval Institute Press
in 1989, edited with an introduction by
John B. Hattendorf
.
Military Strategy
is a search for a general theory of not just
military strategy
but
strategy
in general. In
Military Strategy
, Wylie defined strategy as:
A plan of action designed in order to achieve some end; a purpose together with a system of measures for its accomplishment.
[5]
Wylie defined two patterns of strategy: sequential and cumulative. A sequential strategy involved a planned sequence of events where each event is dependent upon the success of the preceding event. Wylie offered
MacArthur's
campaign in the
Southwest Pacific
,
Nimitz's
campaign in the
Central Pacific
, and
Eisenhower's
campaign in
Europe
as examples of sequential strategies. A cumulative strategy involved a collection of small, disconnected actions that, when taken together, have a significant impact. Wylie uses
insurgencies
and the U.S. Navy's
submarine campaign
against Japan in World War II as examples of cumulative strategies. He and his strategies have been compared to
Clausewitz
to a somewhat successful degree. This would most likely be due to Wylie's approach to individual contingencies and utilization of resources.
[6]
After examining the four existing strategic theories of his time (
Maritime
,
Air
,
Continental
,
Mao
) and their limitations, Wylie presented his own general theory of strategy. To Wylie,
control
was the essence of strategy:
[1]
So it is proposed here that a general theory of strategy should be some development of the following fundamental theme: The primary aim of the strategist in the conduct of war is some selected degree of control of the enemy for the strategist’s own purpose; this is achieved by control of the pattern of war; and this control of the pattern of war is had by manipulation of the
center of gravity
of war to the advantage of the strategist and the disadvantage of the opponent.
[7]
Wylie concluded
Military Strategy
by demonstrating how control underlies all strategy from
courtship
to
diplomacy
to
terrorism
to war. The type of control used could be anything from influencing the enemy to physically destroying the enemy.
[1]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Gray, Colin S.
,
Modern Strategy
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)
- ^
a
b
c
Wylie, J.C.,
Military Strategy: A General Theory of Power Control
,
Annapolis
:
Naval Institute Press
, 1989
- ^
Scott, James (2 June 2009).
The Attack on the Liberty: The Untold Story of Israel's Deadly 1967 Assault on a U.S. Spy Ship
. Simon and Schuster.
ISBN
9781416554820
.
- ^
The Boston Globe
, February 1, 1993, "Obituary: Joseph Wylie, retired admiral, veteran of WWII, author; at 81"
- ^
McCrabb, Dr. Maris,
"Effects-based Operations: An Overview"
,
United States Air Force Air University
, Retrieved 7-10-2010
- ^
J.C. Wylie: American Clausewitz? ≪ Visions of Empire
- ^
Gray, Colin S.
,
"Transformation and Strategic Surprise"
, (
Strategic Studies Institute
,
U.S. Army War College
, 2004)
External links
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