Transcript Document

Sea Power & Maritime Affairs
Lesson 6
TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGY
1865-1890
Admin
 Anything you want to include
– Quizzes
– Assignments
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Last Class
American Civil War
 Causes
 Outbreak of war
 Union and Confederate strategies
 Navies' roles in war
 Lessons from war
Today
Post American Civil War
 Revolution in Navy technology
8 Key Themes
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3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Navy as an instrument of foreign policy
Interaction between Congress and Navy
Interservice relations
Technology
Leadership
Strategy & Tactics
Evolution of US Naval Doctrine
Future missions of Navy and USMC
SEAPOWER & MARITIME AFFAIRS
Post Civil War - WWI
How strong is the US Navy?
End of Civil War
 700 Ships
 5000 Guns
 58,000 Sailors
5 Years Later
 52 Ship
 500 Guns
 6000 Sailors
Reason?
Post-war Domestic Issues
–
–
–
–
“Reconstruction”
economic depression
Federal debt
Political squabbling
Result
– Internal focus
– External Isolationism
– Naval Defense loses importance
Impact on American Sea Power?
US Naval Sea Power
 US sea power declines
 no longer major naval
power
 #1 (or #2) in world to #12
Naval Force
 Navy underfunded
• Ships
• R&D
• People (Officers/Enlisted)
• Training
“Dark Ages
Navy Stagnates for 15 years
Technology
Era of experimentation
Development of “Modern Warship”
Who Leads It?
 British
French
Germans
What is different?
What is different?
Changes to Ships
Ship Design
Hull material (40 years)
 Wood-Iron
 Iron
 Iron-steel
(1872)
 Steel
(1886)
 Nickel-Steel
Other features
 Gun concentration in center
 Compartmentization
 Engine efficiency increases
 Oil replaces coal
 Rams
Armor
 24” to 6” (20 years)
Turn of 20th Century:
Armor ineffective
New Ships
HMS Dreadnought
–
–
–
–
All-Big-Gun Battleship
1905
Turbine Engines / 21 KIAS
“Dreadnought”
v.
“Pre-Dreadnought”
** All battleships obsolete
Battle Cruisers
 As big as battleships
 Less armor
 Many guns and fast
Destroyers
 Attack torpedo boats
 Torpedo carrier
 Screen for capital ships
 Anti-submarine
 Scouting
1905
HMS Dreadnought
“Pre-Dreadnought” or “Dreadnought”
Changes to Guns & Munitions
Guns
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Breech-loading
Wrought Iron
Steel (1881)
Recoil
Munitions
 Brown powder
 Smokeless powder
 Armor-piercing shells
Torpedoes
Torpedoes
Torpedo Boats (Destroyers)
 Fish Torpedo (1871)
 First effective destroyer
 Led to need for
submarine destroyers
Submarine
 John Phillip Holland
– Irish-American
 1900 – USS Holland
– Mechanically-powered
– Attacking armored vessels and harbor protection
– No counter-weapons
Emerging Technology
1903
– Wright Brothers
Purpose
– Torpedo plane
– Scout
1910-1912
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–
–
–
Eugene Ely
Glenn Curtis
LT T. G. Ellyson
Naval Flight School
Aircraft
Emerging Technology
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Eugene Ely
Nov. 14, 1910
Hampton Roads
USS Birmingham
Aircraft
Emerging Technology
 Glen Curtis
 Curtis Seaplane
Aircraft
Emerging Technology
 1910-1912
– LT T. G. Ellyson
– Naval Flight School
Aircraft
Radio
**Invention of greatest immediate
consequence
– Instantly implemented
– Enormous consequence in succeeding wars
The “Big Picture”
 Accelerating technological
advancements
– Fast obsolescence
 Short life for cutting-edge ships
– Competition to stay ahead of others
– US Navy was a laggard
Was this good or bad?
ABCD Ships
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1883
Reason: Diplomatic impotence
USS Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dolphin
First “All-Steel” ships
Boon for steel industry
Why do we care?
Congress begins authorizing consistent ship construction.
How did tactics change?
Tactics more complex but not institutionalized
– Battle of Lissa
– Spanish-American War
– Russo-Japanese War
Overall
– Less formality (no line)
– Distant engagements
– Battle Group tactics
• Ships
• Attacks
• Munitions
History
Wars, conflicts, and interventions
Diplomacy
Major Events?
US Conflicts
– Small international conflicts
• Pacific & Caribbean
– Spanish-American War (1898)
Uninvolved International Conflict
– Russo-Japanese War (1905)
American foreign Policy?
 “Open Door Policy” (1899)
 Roosevelt Corollary (1904)
– Venezuela, Dominican Republic & Cuba
– “Speak softly and carry a big stick”
Overall foreign policy
 Spirit of Imperialism
 Awareness of Navy’s role
– Economy
– National Strength
– Foreign Policy
Colonialism
Pre-1900
1873-1875
Virginius Affair
 Cuban Civil War
 Virginius was American ship hired by
insurrectionists to supply revolution
– American & British crew
– Spanish capture it
– (53) executed for piracy
 Enormous international tension
– US poised to declare war
– Settlement: Reparations for affected families
 Sparks Naval Renaissance: we realize there
is no weight to our threats
1887-1889
Samoan Crisis
 Samoan Civil War
– Germany interfering (colonial ambition)
 US and Great Britain opposed Germany
– Tense standoff
– (3) American v. (3) German warships
 Before hostilities, a cyclone wrecked all (6)
ships.
 Standoff ends
 Agreed to partition
– American Samoa
– German Samoa
1891
True Blue Saloon Incident
 Chilean Revolution
 USS Baltimore sent to
protect American
interests
 2 killed, 18 wounded at bar in
Valparaiso
 US demands restitution
 Chile pays, but US realizes its Navy is
weaker than Chile’s Navy.
What do these incidents teach US?
 Reinforce “Social Darwinism”
 Navy is key to
– International diplomacy
– National prosperity
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Dawning of the Age of Mahan