What American navalism loses without President Roosevelt

How would United States naval policy change if Theodore Roosevelt never became president?

His published naval ideas would remain, but the participants leave the effect on the Great White Fleet and naval expansion uncertain.

The counterfactual asks how naval development would change if Roosevelt died protecting McKinley and never became president. His already-published naval history would still be available, while the Great White Fleet loses his later presidential sponsorship in the scenario. The participants suggest that naval expansion could take longer. They also raise the opposite possibility that McKinley and others might adopt Roosevelt's cause after his death. The exchange leaves these alternative paths unresolved.