The Pacific’s New Navies: An Ocean, its Wars, and the Making of US Sea Power

On Tuesday, February 25, the Asia Policy Program, the Clements Center for National Security, UT’s Department of History, and UT Naval ROTC hosted Dr. Tommy Jamison for a book talk on his recent release, The Pacific’s New Navies: An Ocean, its Wars, and the Making of US Sea Power. You can view photos from the event here.

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Dr. Tommy Jamison is a military historian and Asst. Professor of Strategic Studies in the Defense Analysis Dept., Naval Postgraduate School. He is the author of The Pacific’s New Navies (Cambridge University Press, 2025), a work exploring the origins of the U.S. battlefleet with an emphasis on technological shifts and comparative institutional adaptation in the Pacific. In 2024, he enjoyed a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship in Tokyo. Prior to arriving at NPS, he held a Predoctoral Fellowship at the Clements Center for National Security, University of Texas at Austin (2018-2020) and a Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Graduate Fellowship at Harvard (2017). Dr. Jamison’s dissertation “Pacific Wars” won the Society for Military History’s Coffman Prize for Best Dissertation (2021) and the Oxford University Press USA Award in International History (2022). He has published award-winning articles in the Journal of Military History and Technology and Culture, as well as more publicly-minded work in outlets like War on the Rocks. From 2009-2014, Dr. Jamison worked as a Defense Intelligence Agency collector and Naval Intelligence Officer in both the Western Pacific and Afghanistan. He currently lives in Monterey, CA with his wife, son, and their Belgian Malinois.  

The Asia Policy Program is a joint effort of the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law.