The story of how the US Navy developed its first battleship fleet,
their first combat test in the Spanish-American War, and the
battleships' careers through World War I.
This fully illustrated study examines the US's first six battleships, a
story of political compromises, clean sheet designs, operational
experience, and experimental improvements. These ships directly inspired
the creation of an embryonic American military-industrial complex,
enabled a permanent outward-looking shift in American foreign policy,
and laid the foundations of the modern US Navy.
After the American Civil War, the US Navy had been allowed to decay into
complete insignificance, yet the commissioning of the modern Brazilian
battleship Riachuelo and poor performance against the contemporary
Spanish fleet, forced the US out of its isolationist posture towards
battleships.
The first true US battleships began with the experimental Maine and
Texas, followed by the three-ship Indiana class, and the Iowa class,
which incorporated lessons from the previous ships. These initial ships
set the enduring US battleship standard of being heavily armed and
armored at the expense of speed.