This book provides basic information about the ships which served in the US Navy during and before World War I, including the Spanish-American War. 1883 is an appropriate starting place as this was the year that funds were first appropriated for construction of modern naval vessels after a long period of decline following the Civil War. These ships and those that followed them, called the “New Navy”, were mostly still in service in 1917 when America came into the war that had been raging for three years.
At the end of the war, the United States Navy had become the second most powerful naval force in the world behind the British Royal Navy. Faced with the rising naval power of Japan, the United States was building and had projected even larger and more powerful ships. This naval race ended with the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. When contrasted with the small collection of obsolete ships of which the Navy consisted in 1883, it can be seen that a truly remarkable renaissance had taken place. This book gives details and information of all the ships of the United States Navy of this period. These include displacement, dimensions, machinery, armor thickness, armament and complement, as well as each ship’s official number, builder, date of launch and fate. Many contemporary photographs show the ships as they appeared during this period.
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