blue-water

[ bloo-waw-ter, -wot-er ]

adjective

1. designed to operate on and range over the open sea; oceangoing:

   a bluewater navy that can be dispatched throughout the world, far from its home base.

Word History and Origins

Origin of blue-water¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

The Chinese navy now has more ships than ours, giving Beijing a blue-water capability with bases stretching from its artificial and now militarized islands in the South China Sea to Pakistan to Djibouti,” Amb.

From Washington Times

The People’s Liberation Army Navy “has evolved from a coastal force to a blue-water navy signifying its ambition for global power projection,” the report said.

From Washington Times

“This one gesture has made a joke of both the government’s climate emergency and its will to be taken seriously by a country that has an expanding blue-water navy in our backyard.”

From Washington Times

The new missile is only one piece in a rapidly expanding arsenal that Beijing is deploying as it militarizes more of the South China Sea, builds out its blue-water fleet, expands its footprint in the Pacific Islands, and engages in the largest nuclear buildup since the Cold War.

From Washington Post

Its northern island commands the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan, a channel for Chinese fleets into blue-water Pacific.

From Washington Times