How should the US Navy have managed the period after the Civil War with congressional cooperation?
Short answerRetire unusable wartime ships, preserve a stable force, and fund a continuous progression of seagoing ironclad designs.
NotesThe proposed policy starts with predictable construction and replacement rather than allowing the wartime fleet to decay. Obsolete wooden ships and monitors unable to sail independently along the coast would be retired to release funds. A monitor unable to reach Canadian waters under its own power would contribute little to the blockade work expected in a conflict with Britain. Development could then proceed from USS New Ironsides through larger central-battery ironclads toward an oceangoing turret ship. HMS Monarch is offered as the sort of late-1860s or early-1870s outcome that a continuous American programme might approach.