Recapitalizing the Fleet: A Material Analysis of Late-Nineteenth-Century U.S. Naval Power

摘要

In 1898, the United States won decisive naval victories over Spain at Manila Bay and Santiago. Accomplished with warships of the new steel navy, these triumphs marked America's emergence as a world power. Had a predominantly maritime war taken place earlier, however, the results probably would have been less than splendid. As late as 1893, the old navy constituted more than 70 percent of the country's naval forces, and the largest group of vessels in the service's inventory were those commissioned or laid down during the Civil War.