Transcript The U.S. Navy and American Imperialism (1898

Sea Power and Maritime
Affairs
Lesson 6: Developments of Naval technology
and Strategy, 1865-1890
Learning Objectives

Know the principal changes affecting warship hull design and
propulsion during the period 1865-1890.

Know the principal milestones in the evolution of warship armament
during the period.

Know the principal naval weapons systems conceived or adopted by
nations desiring inexpensive methods to overcome or neutralize
expensive naval hardware, such as the capital ship.

Know the technological responses of the major naval powers to
counter the threats of low cost weapons.
Learning Objectives

Know the reasons H.M.S. Warrior marks the beginning and end of
this period as a major step in the evolution of the principal weapons of
naval might.

Know congressional attitudes toward the Navy in this postwar period.

Comprehend the difficulty in maintaining technological leadership
and the debate over whether to remain technologically current.

Comprehend the reasons for the rebuilding of the US Navy and the
historical conditions accounting for the emergence and success of
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan’s lectures and books.
Remember our Themes!

The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign
Policy
 Interaction between Congress and the Navy
 Interservice Relations
 Technology
 Leadership
 Strategy and Tactics
 Evolution of Naval Doctrine
International Affairs

“Pax Britannica”
- Late 19th Century
– Era of peace continues - British Empire dominates the seas.

Japan - Meiji Restoration
– Continued increase in foreign trade.
– Rapid modernization begins.

German and Italian unifications - 1870-71.
 Austro-Hungarian Empire’s “Dual Monarchy” - 1867.
 Continued collapse of Ottoman Empire through 1800’s.
– Balkan Peninsula: Independence of European states.

New era of European imperialism:
– European powers vigorously compete to establish colonies on
remaining world territories.
Unification of Germany - 1871
Otto
von
Bismarck
“Iron Chancellor”
of the
German Empire
Evolution of Warship
Construction

Construction materials:
–
–
Steel hulls replace iron hulls.
Steel has higher strength and less weight than iron.

Compartment divisions.
 Protective decks.
 Armor protection.
–
–

Iron to steel-plated iron to steel.
Location of armor:
 Vulnerable areas get more armor.
 Unable to armor the entire ship due to weight of armor.
Rams
H.M.S. Warrior
U.S.S. Monitor
Battle of Lissa - 1866

First battle between ironclad fleets.

Adriatic Sea off Dalmatian coast (present-day Croatia).

Italians attempt amphibious assault of the island of Lissa
without command of the sea.

Austrian Fleet takes “V” formation.
– Breaks the Italian line.
– Ferdinand Maximilian sinks Re d’Italia with the ram.

Rams in warship design:
– Remain prominent until late into the nineteenth century.
Iron-clad Screw-Frigate
Re D’Italia
Evolution of Armaments

Muzzle loaders to breech loaders.
– Safety and rate of fire increases.

Rifled guns.
–

Increased accuracy and ranges.
Mounting of guns.
– Hydraulic recoil mechanisms.

Cartridge shells.
– Round and charge are combined.
– Rate of fire increases.
– Greater penetrating power and range.

Self-propelled torpedo:
– Invented by Englishman Robert Whitehead in 1866.
Ship Propulsion Innovations

More efficient steam engines developed.
– Increases in speed.
– Longer ranges.
– Coaling stations required at regular intervals
while transiting overseas.


Further incentive to acquire overseas colonies.
Many ships still use sail as alternate means of
propulsion.
– Hybrids with stacks and sails.
New Propulsion Ships Coaling
Revolving Turret
Low Cost Weapons vs “Capital”
Ships

Capital ships:
– Large ships with heavy guns - core of a battle fleet.



Battleships (Heavily armored).
Cruisers (Faster but less heavily armored than battleships).
New low cost weapons:
–
–
Self-propelled torpedoes launched from “torpedo boats”.
Mines - Stationary torpedoes to protect coastlines and ports.
Countermeasures

Continued advances in compartmentation.

New ship types:
– “Torpedo boat destroyer” shortened to just
“destroyer” used to screen capital ships from
torpedo attacks.
– Minesweepers used to clear minefields.
New Submarine Design
Torpedo Boat
Torpedoes
Post-Civil War U.S. Navy

1865-1870 -- Decline of the Navy.
– Large reductions in naval appropriations: 700 to 52 ships.
– Isolationism due to the need for:



Reconstruction of the South.
Continued westward expansion.
Primary mission: Protection of maritime trade overseas.
Post-Civil War U.S. Navy

Naval Doctrine
– Commerce raiding and coastal defense still emphasized.

Alabama Claims -- 1871-2
– International arbitration at Geneva.
– Great Britain pays United States large award.
– Based on Union merchant ships captured by
Confederate commerce raiders which were built in
Great Britain.
Rebirth of the U.S. Navy

Naval funding begins to increase in 1880.

ABCD ships - construction begins in 1883.
–
–
–

Steam (Sail used as secondary means of propulsion).
Steel hulls and heavy armor.
Rifled breech-loading guns.
Battleships - construction begins in 1889.
Rebirth of the U.S. Navy

Naval Institute established by naval officers
- 1873.
– Proceedings - professional journal for naval
personnel.

Office of Naval Intelligence established 1882.
 Naval War College established - 1884.
 Engineering Duty Officers enter the Line -1899.
–
Increased importance of technical knowledge is
apparent.
Naval War College

Commerce raiding and coastal defense =
Accepted strategies of the U.S. Navy after Civil War.
 Strategies seem obsolete to an influential group of
American naval leaders.
 Commodore Stephen B. Luce
– Establishes Naval War College in 1885 at Newport,
Rhode Island to:
 “Apply
modern scientific methods to the study and raise
naval warfare from the empirical stage to the dignity of a
science.”
–
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan is one of the first
instructors to serve under Luce.
Alfred Thayer Mahan
“Historians generally have
been unfamiliar with the
conditions of the sea,
having as to it neither
special interest nor special
knowledge; and the
profound determining
influence of maritime
strength upon great issues
has consequently been
overlooked.”
The Influence of Sea Power Upon
History 1660-1783

Published in 1890 - Mahan’s first book.
– Based on a series of Naval War College lectures.

Strong arguments for the U.S.:
–
–
–

Maintaining naval strength during peacetime.
Building a fleet of capital ships.
Acquiring colonies abroad for secure coaling stations.
Ideas strongly appeals to:
- Industrialists
- Nationalists
- Merchants
- Imperialists
Discussion
Next time: The Dawning of the Age of Mahan