Sea Power Centre Australia Mission & Structure

DEFENCE INSTRUCTIONS (NAVY) ADMIN 3-103. Sea Power Centre - Australia is issued pursuant to sections 9(2) and 9A(3) of the Defence Act 1903. You may download DI(N) ADMIN3-103 in pdf format.

At the highest level, the SPC-A reports to the Chief of Navy (CN) through a relatively small chain of command including Deputy Chief of Navy (DCN) and the Director General Navy Strategic Policy and Futures (DGNSPF). The centre is part of Navy Headquarters (NHQ) and exists within the NSPF Branch.

Working together, we aim to achieve the following:

• to promote understanding of sea power and its application to the security of Australia's national interests;
• to manage the development of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) doctrine and facilitate its incorporation into ADF joint doctrine;
• to contribute to regional engagement;
• within the higher Defence organisation, contribute to the development of maritime strategic concepts and strategic and operational level doctrine, and facilitate informed force structure decisions; and
• to preserve, develop and promote Australian naval history.

In fulfilling its mission the SPC-A:

• conducts and sponsors briefings, conferences, seminars, lectures and study periods on maritime affairs, strategy and naval history;
• conducts research and publishes papers on maritime issues relevant to the development of maritime strategy and naval history in Australia;
• studies developments in maritime strategy and doctrine worldwide with particular attention on regional aspects;
• in conjunction with other Navy organisations, develops Australian maritime doctrine;
• on behalf of the Chief of Navy, conducts the annual Peter Mitchell Essay Competition;
• develops the curriculum for, and oversees the education of, junior naval officers in maritime affairs, strategy and naval history via the Maritime and Strategic Studies Program;
• maintains, develops and promotes the history of the RAN, Commonwealth and Colonial naval forces through liaison with the Australian War Memorial, international bodies and interest groups, maintenance of a research facility, and the conduct of historical research and analysis;
• coordinates and oversees the collection of historical records of RAN operational deployments, including the forward deployment of SPC-A historians;
• responds to governmental, department and public inquiries on maritime doctrine, sea power and naval history;
• contributes to regional engagement through sea power presentations to courses in the Asia-Pacific; and
• provides advice to CN on RAN ship names and battle honours.

The branch, collectively, undertakes tasks relating to strategic policy and planning, long-range planning and forecasting, environmental planning and strategic wargaming. The SPC-A contributes to this through raising the profile of maritime strategy and issues by research, running seminars and conferences, lecturing, and publishing a wide variety of relevant materials. The Sea Power Centre-Australia is available to CN as his personal 'think tank'.