Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 3:41:02-3:42:50

Starting US naval expansion ten years earlier

Earlier spending could accelerate American sea power and war with Spain, but a later budget collapse might damage the new industrial base.

IroncladsNaval RearmamentShipbuilding IndustrySpanish American WarUS Navy
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Question

What changes if US naval spending after 1870 begins ten years earlier?

Short answer

The United States develops modern naval infrastructure sooner and may confront Spain earlier, but risks wrecking that infrastructure if funding collapses after the first buildup.

Notes

Bringing each year's post-1870 naval funding forward by a decade would require an earlier expansion of American naval infrastructure. It could also create an earlier generation of powerful turret ships and bring the United States into two-power-standard calculations sooner. In the counterfactual, stronger ships could make an earlier war with Spain more plausible because the American fleet would no longer be so readily outmatched. The accompanying warning is that a subsequent budget cut could wreck the industrial capacity built during the initial expansion.