Page 555 - 1992 - XVIII Congresso Internazionale di Storia Militare

THE UNJTED STATES NAVY ANO THE BIRTH
OF AMERJCAN MILJTARY POWER AT THE END OF
THE NTNETEENTH CENTURY

BENJAMIN f. COOUNG

The Uniced Staces and ics Navy scood on thc threshold of what has bcen srylcd
''The America n Ccnrury" in 1900. Buoyam, even srridenr as a rcsulc of ics vktory
ovcr Spain rwo years bcfore, tbe image of America at chat cime conrrascs sharply
wich coday's uncc([ain su per power as it downsizes ics milicary services forche l990s.
Confidencc in American principles and institurions (except for policicians) remains
h!gh, but ninery-r:wo years ago, an adolescendy exuberanr young gian srrode onro
che world scage with a posruriog borne upon che quanerdecks of ics glearning buff
and white navy. Thac navy appropriacely rcflecced che nacion's industriai advance,
and ics people, deccrmined char rhey sbould lead the world.
The influence of American sea power has underlaid che inrervening ycars ro
a large exrent. The new America n sreel navy of che 1880s and 1890s concribured
co milirary hiscory in chis rcgard. Proclairnjng rhe vanguard of Arnerican poliucal
and economie powc.r, che navy soon propelled America as ycr anod1er new player
for che carefuUy crafted O Id World geopoliticaJ game. Moreover, America n sea powc.r
conrribured che permjcr sea power theorist ofhis rime, Alfred Thayer Mahan, whose
influence extended around che world. and whose reners continue ro guide major
navies roday. American sea power also reflecced appreciation of new devdopmcntS
in weaponry of rhe era - rhe submarine and che Bliss corpedo, for example. But,
like che subsequenc grafting of air power onco sea power, America n naval conrri·
buòon lay in application not in individuai cools chemsclves. These tools were represen·
carive of a dcveloping armamenrs industry. This armaments induscry became the
envy of the world ovcr, a t least in world wars and che subsequenr Cold War peci·
ods. Enabled by secure occanic moatS co prosper in ti me of war, coday's military·
industriai complex uaces ics origins ro rhe era of the sream and sceel navy. FioaUy,
injecrion of rhe human elemenc inro che equauon equaces w i eh che rise of educaced,
professional naval offìcer corps who ow~d so very much co insrirucions like che New·
port Wac College and the Urutcd States Nava.l lnscirure as forums for expression
of ideas.
The epoch of che pasr o ne hundred years concluded ics fìrst segment wich 11n
annihilacion viccory ovcr a sccond-class encmy. Home from the Spanish-American
war of 1898 as wdl as Destri Storm of 199 L ca me only slighdy scarred America n