The Brazilian armoured ship Riachuelo alarmed Congress by demonstrating that the United States was not automatically the strongest naval power in the Americas. Congress responded by authorising Texas and Maine, but political and industrial limits weakened both designs. Their insistence on wholly American skills and resources resembled Graf Zeppelin, another programme whose national self-reliance ran ahead of accumulated carrier or warship experience. During construction, the U.S. Navy sent officers abroad and studied foreign practice rather than relying only on domestic knowledge. The resulting Indiana class marked a large advance in armament, armour, and conventional broadside fighting.
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Texas and Maine pushed the U.S. Navy toward the Indiana class
Brazilian naval power prompted the first modern U.S. battleship and armoured cruiser, while their shortcomings encouraged institutional learning before the Indiana class.