Who Rules the Waves? -- A Case Study in System Description

A rigorous, but relatively routine, approach to system description is clearly desirable for the analysis of complex problems. The system description facilities of system dynamics can be reformulated to provide such a procedure, and this paper presents the methods in the context of naval control of a disputed sea area. It is shown that the method can assist in the identification of the more important sub-system problems facing one of the principal actors, at least to the extent of a first working plan. Some surprising results are seen to emerge, and the scope of the method for further quantitative analysis, using the more conventional system simulation facilities of system dynamics, or analyses using other Operational Research methods, is indicated.