Patrick1- I am very familiar with Mahan and that is very relevant...he also inspired the Great White Fleet
I agree with you that sea power is being very underrated. I quite like the quote below.
"When word of a crisis breaks out in Washington, it's no accident that the first question that comes to everyone's lips is: 'Where's the nearest carrier?'"
President Bill Clinton
The US is in many ways an island nation because of the isolation of America from the rest of the world so of course naval power - especially air carriers - are important to you. But if we look at military leadership throughout history most of the important campaigns have been fought on land.
Pretty much the same could be said about the British Empire. Due to being an island nation they needed a strong navy to defend themselves (British ground forces were almost always quite weak when compared to other powers), as well as to become a global power.
As of my country, the situation was totally opposite. We never relied on the navy and when Poland was a great power, we were land-based power. At some point, Polish-Lithuanian Navy was consiting just a few corsair ships at Baltic Sea. Well, our geographic location speaks for itself.
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