In the 1890s, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt led a campaign to modernize the navy. Paramount in Roosevelt's vision was the creation of a fleet of modern, steel-hulled warships armed with the most powerful weapons available. The future president and his intellectual soul mate, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, firmly believed that America's emerging global expansion would only reach its full potential through sea. power. The swift and overwhelming US victor in the Spanish-American War of 1898 vindicated the views of Theodore Roosevelt and Captain Mahan, and marked the debut on the world stage of the modern US Navy. Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy and the Spanish American War considers the impact Roosevelt had on the US navy in general and how his reforms affected the course and outcome of the Spanish-American war in particular. The nine contributors to this volume include leading historians, and prominent naval officers from the US and Spain. With essays ranging from the Roosevelt family's naval heritage to the impact of the Spanish-American War on enlisted forces in the navy, this work is a major contribution to our understanding of Theodore Roosevelt and 'his' navy.

Autorentext

EDWARD J. MAROLDA is the Senior Historian of the Naval Historical Centre in Washington, DC. He has authored, co-authored, and edited several books on the history of the US Navy.

Inhalt

Preface; E.J.Marolda Introduction; D.Brinkley Theodore Roosevelt, the Navy, and the War with Spain; A.K.Nelson New Interpretations of How the USS Maine was Lost; D.Wegner Army-Navy Joint Operations in the Spanish-American War; G.A.Cosmas Theodore Roosevelt and the Heritage of the U.S. Navy; J.A.Gable Roosevelt's Naval Thinking Before Mahan; H.J.Hendrix II The Spanish Navy and the Spanish-American War; M.A.Fernandez The Experience of the Spanish-American War and Its Impact on Professional Navy Thought; J.B.Hattendorf The Influence of the Spanish-America War on the U.S. Marine Corps; J.Shulimson The Men Behind the Guns: The Impact of the War with Spain on the Navy Enlisted Force; J.R.Reckner