Brassey's on merchant shipping after the First World War

The annual examines governments that had controlled or owned large parts of merchant shipping during wartime and the difficult transition afterward. Britain returned government-built and surrendered tonnage to private owners, while the United States intended a similar transition but struggled to reconcile that goal with building a national merchant marine. France was already liquidating a state scheme judged unsuccessful, whereas Australia and Canada planned to continue operating commercial fleets despite weak prospects. The comparison shows that reference annuals can illuminate the economic and institutional context of sea power, rather than limiting themselves to fleet lists. Its contemporary perspective records how different governments understood the boundary between wartime control, state ownership, and private shipping immediately after the conflict.