US Naval War College

The US Naval War College (NWC), based in Newport, Rhode Island, is the US Navy's premier post-graduate institution for strategic and operational education. It houses the International Law Studies programme, one of the most authoritative academic centres for the law of armed conflict at sea, the law of the sea, and naval operations law. Scholars including Commander James Kraska are among its faculty.

In the context of the 8 May 2026 tanker strikes, NWC scholars became primary voices on the legality of the smokestack-bombing technique: whether disabling an Iranian-flagged commercial vessel in the Persian Gulf constitutes an armed attack under the UN Charter, and what obligations under UNCLOS Article 58 and the San Remo Manual Rule 67 the US incurred.

The NWC produces the authoritative Blue Book series on international law and the law of naval operations, which are widely used by US and allied naval commanders as operational guidance. Its assessments carry institutional weight beyond academia: the Pentagon and State Department regularly consult NWC faculty on real-time legal questions arising from US naval operations.