Steam rates belonged to an unusually compressed technological transition. The survey counts 112 converted or newly built vessels, 59 of them in Royal Navy service. Isolated hostile quotations do not establish institutional policy, especially when the same officer may have changed his view later. A sound account should show both statements and explain the intervening change. France and Russia also invested heavily, though Britain and France together dominated the total. The historical question is how navies adapted doctrine and infrastructure while the technology changed.
Chapter · 13:26-17:34
The scale of steam-rate adoption across the major navies
The scale of converted and purpose-built steam ships challenges the idea that leading navies simply rejected steam power.