Book excerpt: Law, Force and Diplomacy at Sea, first published in 1985, is one of the few comprehensive treatments on the subject from a strategic perspective. It offers a detailed strategic analysis of the background and outcome of the Third UN Conference on the Law of the Sea, and its naval implications. The interplay between the interest of the naval powers in freedom of navigation and the interest of coastal states in control provides the setting for the strategic problems. The sea is taking on more properties of the land: it is becoming ‘territorialised’, and this is presenting fresh challenges and opportunities to which navies and their national governments have to respond. This study is designed for students of naval strategy, for international lawyers and for students of international affairs who wish to think about the important security questions in the maritime environment.