Financial neglect and the emergence of a modern U.S. Navy

The modern U.S. Navy's emergence is placed here in the years before the First World War. That argument concerns institutional development and leaves room for the service's earlier achievements in the American War of Independence, American Civil War, and Spanish-American War. Between those conflicts, repeated financial retrenchment and neglect had encouraged inconsistent procurement. The resulting ad hoc fleet was still part of the Great White Fleet's context. The Roosevelt period begins a more sustained development, although setbacks continued as the Navy grew into its larger role.