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Luce and College

by Stephen Luce at Newport RI 1884
A.T. Mahan - capital ship theory - 1
needed strong merchant marine to dominate world trade, protected by Navy based in distant ports and colonies, organized around very large "capital" ships able to fight surface battles against concentrated enemy fleets in distant waters, not rely on privateers or blockades or coastal gunboats and forts
Naval War College to train officers of "Blue Water" navy
Navy willing to embrace new ideas, 1888 competition for a "submarine torpedo boat" - 1

"Billion $ Congress" - T. Reed, N. Aldrich
appointed Benjamin Tracy - "Blue Water" admirals
crises: Chile, Italy, Samoa
Tracy idea to name battleships after states and cruisers after cities, to gain popular support for the Big Navy
Squadron of Evolution sent around world
First Annual Report Dec. 1889 - "a fighting force"
Eugene Hale and Charles Boutelle on Maine, Lodge of MA, Joseph Hawley of CT ("you cannot negotiate without a gun")
Navy Act of 1890 - from Boutelle's House Naval Affairs Committee, to build 3 "first-class" battleships with range of 5000 miles
"sea-going coast-line battleships" of 10,000 tons: Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon
2 fleets to replace "distant stations"