A Man and His Ship: America's Greatest Naval Architect andHis Quest to Build the SS United States

摘要

The United States Navy and the American merchant marine have traditionally existed at opposite ends of the spectrum. From the birth of the United States, the merchant marine was the dominant maritime entity in the nation, until its decline in the latter half of the nineteenth century, as the new steel navy made its appearance. Today, the US Navy is the foremost military force sailing upon the oceans, while the American merchant marine ranks twenty-first in terms of tonnage, behind flags-of-convenience nations such as Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands, and nations which provide support to their commercial fleets, such as Greece, Norway, Denmark, and China.