Naval Officer Corps at the end of the nineteenth century. Luce, the War College contributed greatly to the professionalization of the U.S. Founded in 1884 and placed under the direction of Commodore Stephen B. industry prepared the navy materially for an offensive war, a new institution, the Naval War College, prepared the service intellectually. Along with the battleship Iowa, authorized in 1892, this force formed the core of a new fleet willing to challenge European navies for control of the waters in the Western Hemisphere.
Their work bore fruit with the Navy Bill of 30 June 1890, authorizing construction of three battleships later named Indiana, Oregon, and Massachusetts. fleet strong enough "to be able to divert an enemy's force from our coast by threatening his own, for a war, though defensive in principle, may be conducted most effectively by being offensive in its operations." 4 Tracy proved to be an excellent administrator, and he marshaled allies for his expansionist policies in both Congress and the navy, including Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan. Later he urged Congress to authorize construction of battleships, giving support to Secretary of the Navy B.F. In his inaugural address, President Harrison called for the continued and rapid construction of modern warships, and the acquisition of bases to maintain the U.S. It was during the administration of Benjamin Harrison (1889-93) that the navy's strategy and policy began to change. Even the armored ships under construction were designed to counter the threat of similar vessels in South American navies. Navy still embraced a defensive oriented strategy with cruisers designed for commerce protection and raiding. Congress continued the process by approving additional steel warships, including the New Navy's first armored ships, USS Texas and USS Maine. President Arthur addressed a receptive Congress in his first annual message when he concluded, "I cannot too strongly urge upon you my conviction, that every consideration of national safety, economy, and honor imperatively demands a thorough rehabilitation of the navy." 2 Two years of debate on the nature of this expansion culminated with the Navy Act of 1883, authorizing the construction of the steel cruisers Atlanta, Boston, and Chicago, and the dispatch vessel Dolphin. control of communications across the isthmus of Central America drove the country towards naval expansion. Rapid growth in overseas markets and a foreign policy aimed at U.S. Modernization began during the administration of President Chester Arthur in the early 1880s. Navy's newest ships were wooden-hulled steam sloops built in the previous decade. Naval technology had stagnated in the U.S., illustrated by the fact that there was not a single high-power, long-range rifled gun in the entire fleet. By 1879 only forty-eight of the navy's 142 vessels were available for immediate service, and these were obsolete wooden or old ironclad ships.
In spite of international crises such as the Virginius Affair in 1873, contention with Great Britain over the Alabama Claims, and problems with France over a projected canal in Panama, the strength of the navy continued to decline. After the war, most were sold off or destroyed. Nearly all of the new ships were wartime purchases, hasty constructions, or made from unseasoned timber. Navy had in commission over 600 vessels at the close of the American Civil War. Navy, like all navies, was in the process of overcoming the challenges presented by the technology of the new steel warships. However, the war itself revealed the growing tactical and logistical complexities of modern naval warfare, and the U.S. The implications of these changes for the conduct of war at sea were not lost on America's naval leadership, who had spent the years and months prior to the war with Spain preparing for conflict with a European power. After twenty years of rapid decline into obsolescence following the American Civil War, the navy was in the process of re-equipping itself with steel warships of modern design. In contrast, the navy was asked during the Spanish-American War to gain control of the waters around the Philippine Islands and the Caribbean Sea. Traditionally the navy embraced a defensive strategy with an emphasis on commerce raiding. The United States Navy, much like the nation itself, was in a state of transition in 1898.
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