Blue versus Orange: The United States Naval War College, Japan, and the Old Enemy in the Pacific, 1945–1946

In the fall of 1945, the United States Naval War College (NWC) began its transition from a reduced wartime status to a peacetime stance as the Navy’s premier postgraduate school. Because the war ended so quickly, the NWC was not able to change its curriculum for 1945-1946, which had been planned the previous academic year. It is therefore not surprising to find that the primary supposed enemy for Blue (the United States) in the coming academic year was still Orange (Japan). This study looks at the Operations Problems simulated at the immediate end of the war and explores the mix of interwar and wartime doctrine that was employed to prepare for the early Cold War.