Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 42:19-42:35

Did combat fires influence Fisher's scrapping policy?

The Sino-Japanese and Spanish-American wars strengthened the case against vulnerable old cruisers, but surviving wooden ships show that Fisher did not apply that lesson consistently.

CruisersJohn FisherShip DisposalSino Japanese WarSpanish American War
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Question

Were Fisher's scrapping decisions influenced by cruiser fires in the Sino-Japanese and Spanish-American wars?

Short answer

Partly, but not consistently; some wooden ships still survived Fisher's cuts.

Notes

Cruiser fires in the 1894 Sino-Japanese War and the 1898 Spanish-American War helped the technical case for discarding vulnerable ships. Those examples do not fully explain Fisher's policy. Some wooden-hulled vessels survived the cuts, so construction and fire risk were not applied as universal disposal thresholds. The exchange reinforces the distinction between a legitimate criterion and the actual pattern of ships selected.