Obstacles to naval reform until 1883

• party stalemate in Congress
  
• corruption - John Roach for Phil Navy Yard
  
• no steel industry until Carnegie
  
• naval prejudice - "frigate, sloop, sails"
  
• defensive strategy
  

Foreign navies changing

• Austrian ram Ferdinand Max 1866
  
• Robert Whitehead's torpedo
  
• HMS Devastation 1873, Majestic 1893
  

Chet Arthur 1881-5

• appoints Wm. Chandler, Rodgers Board
  
• Navy Act of 1883 - ABCD ships
  
• Gun Foundry Board 1883
  
• Navy Act of 1885 - 30 new steel ships
  

Naval War College

• by Stephen Luce at Newport 1884
  
• A.T. Mahan - capital ship theory
  
• see Museum page from the Naval War College

Benjamin Harrison 1889-93

• "Billion $ Congress" - T. Reed, N. Aldrich
  
• appoints Ben. Tracy - "Blue Water" admirals
  
• crises: Haiti, Chile, Italy, Samoa
  
• Squadron of Evolution sent around world
  
• First Annual Report Dec. 1889 - "a fighting force"
  
• Navy Act of 1890 - Hale, Boutelle, Lodge, Hawley
  
• "sea-going coast-line battleships" of 10,000 tons
  
• 2 fleets replace "distant stations"
  

Hilary Herbert 1893-96

• pro-Mahan strategy

Resources:

• Hagan, Kenneth. American Gunboat Diplomacy and the Old Navy, 1877-1889. Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press, 1973, and This People's Navy: The Making of American Sea Power. New York: Free Press, 1991. Subjects: United States -- History, Naval. CL Book Stacks 359.00973 H141t.
• Gray, Edwyn. The Devil's Device: Robert Whitehead and the History of the Torpedo. Rev. and updated edition. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1991. 310 p.: ill.; bibliographical references (p. 293-299) and index. V855.W5 G7 1991 (my thanks to Rod Greenhalgh for recommending this book).