The Navy's advocacy for maintaining strong conventional military forces alongside nuclear deterrence is called what?

• A. Massive retaliation doctrine
• B. Balanced force strategy
• C. Mutually assured destruction
• D. Naval supremacy doctrine

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is that deterrence works best when a nation keeps both strong conventional forces and its nuclear deterrent ready. This balanced posture means you don’t rely solely on nuclear weapons for every crisis; you also maintain credible conventional power, so you can deter and, if needed, fight conventional wars without automatically escalating to nuclear options. For the Navy, this translates into a robust fleet and maritime capabilities to handle conventional threats at sea or in crises, while nuclear forces cover strategic deterrence in reserve. That flexibility is why the balanced force strategy fits best: it explicitly combines strong conventional strength with nuclear deterrence, rather than focusing only on nuclear retaliation or treating nuclear capability as the sole backbone of deterrence.