Hattendorf Historical Center Speaker Series: Naval Presence and the Interwar U.S. Navy and Marine Corps
This book examines the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps during the interwar years from a new perspective. Rather than focusing on the technologies developed, the wargames conducted, or the results of the now famous Fleet Problems, this work analyzes the global deployments of the rest of the U.S. fleet. By examining the annual reports of the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps over 20 years, the book traces the U.S. ships, squadrons, and fleets conducting naval diplomacy and humanitarian missions, maritime security patrols, and deployments for deterrent effect across the world’s oceans. Despite the common label of the interwar years as "isolationist," the deployments of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in that period were anything but isolated. The majority of the literature on the era has a narrow focus on preparation for combat and wartime, which provides an incomplete view of the history of U.S. naval power and also establishes a misleading set of precedents and historical context for naval thinkers and strategists in the contemporary world. Offering a wider and more complete understanding of the history of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from 1920 to 1939, this book demonstrates the tension between the execution of peacetime missions and the preparation for the next war, while also offering a broader understanding of American naval forces and their role in American and global history. This book will be of much interest to students of naval and military history, sea power, and International History.
About this Lecture
Lectures of Opportunity offers U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.
More on Lectures of Opportunity