Sjökontroll i fredstid? : En teoriprövande fallstudie på operationerna kring Adenviken.

In the World today the sea is a vital part of global commerce. Historically the merchant fleet has been a national asset which meant it was the navy’s responsibility to protect them. Today however, most commercial shipping is registered under a flag of convenience. The sea, as a trade route, is vital to many countries for economic reasons and the threat to it is a huge issue. Escalating piracy incidents in recent years off the coast of Somalia has resulted in many nations sending their navy’s to protect merchant shipping but how prepared are they?The navy should strive for Command at sea or modern sea control. There is however, a discussion on its application during peacetime and this paper aims to support one side or the other by looking at cases of piracy around Somalia. To do this, cases will be looked upon with the concept defence of shipping which exploits sea control. If a navy uses methods that are explained in defence of shipping they also have sea control.The analysis shows that navy’s outside of Somalia have used methods that are found in the concept defence of shipping. Therefore, it is possible that sea control can be used in peacetime