ENVISIONING AMERICA’S FLEET: AN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY OF HOW THE NAVAL OFFICER CORPS INFLUENCED NAVAL MODERNIZATION, 1865-1898

Abstract

Between 1865 and 1898, the United States Navy underwent an unprecedented technological and professional modernization. This modernization involved the use of advanced technology in ship construction, propulsion, and armament. Steel replaced wood as the primary building material in ship construction, steam propulsion replaced sail propulsion, and rifled guns and automobile torpedoes replaced smoothbore and muzzle loading guns. The naval officer corps also moved towards professionalization with the creation of advanced training schools, such as the Naval War College. Utilizing the academic works of naval officers found in the Papers and Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute, it is possible to track the intellectual processes that facilitated naval modernization. Through decades of development and lobbying Congress for appropriations, naval officers influenced the modernization of the U.S. Fleet that decisively defeated the Spanish Navy during the battles of Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba.