Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 3:30:08-3:31:21

Without treaties, a US-British race might stay qualitative

A no-treaty counterfactual distinguishes a large numerical building race from a slower competition to produce better capital ships.

Alternate HistoryNaval ProcurementNaval TreatiesRoyal NavyUS Navy
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Question

Without the naval treaties, would the United States have funded an arms race with Britain?

Short answer

Probably not a large quantitative race, but it might have funded a slower qualitative competition built around a few increasingly capable ships.

Notes

Congress probably would not have financed a large numerical race because it often failed to fund even the ships permitted under the treaty system. A qualitative competition is more plausible. The United States might have built a small number of increasingly capable "new standards" while Britain continued its own program. That pattern would differ from the pre-1914 Anglo-German competition in fleet numbers.