Small Fleet -- Big Risk.

In any future conflict, the U.S. Navy will most likely enjoy a significant technological and numerical superiority over its adversary. A relatively small navy may, however, avoid decisive battle and influence events at sea indefinitely. Naval strategists have coined the terms fleet in being, fortress fleet, and risk fleet to describe strategies designed to use inferior forces to an advantage. Through an examination of these strategies as analyzed by both Alfred Thayer Mahan and Jul ian Corbett and study of historical examples of each, the relevance of these strategies to current naval thought can be determined. While fortress fleet and risk fleet have very limited value today, a diesel submarine fleet in being poses a significant threat that must be addressed in future U.S. naval strategy.