Removing Roosevelt does not eliminate American naval spending, because figures such as Senator Benjamin Tillman still favored construction. The harder question is what kind of fleet their politics would buy. A program centered on cruisers that Charleston Navy Yard could build would serve local industrial interests without necessarily producing the balanced battle fleet required against Britain and its partners. Electoral geography and shipyard capacity could therefore shape naval strategy before operational requirements did.
Notable Point · 50:08-50:54
Tillman, Charleston Navy Yard, and procurement politics
American rearmament under the counterfactual government may be shaped by what a senator's local navy yard can build rather than by the fleet's strategic requirements.