The Influence Of Sea Power Upon History: 1660-1783 -

The year was 1890, and the United States Navy was, quite frankly, a mess. While European powers were building steel monsters, American sailors were still scrubbing the decks of rotting wooden ships left over from the Civil War. Then came .

Mahan’s book argued that "cruiser warfare"—harassing enemy merchant ships—was a waste of time. Instead, he obsessed over the He believed nations needed massive fleets of battleships to meet the enemy in one giant, cataclysmic showdown. Whoever survived that single afternoon would own the ocean for a generation. The Global Impact The Influence of Sea Power upon History: 1660-1783

By looking back at the age of sail (1660–1783), Mahan actually predicted the age of steel—and every aircraft carrier patrolling the globe today is, in a way, a ghost of his 1890 theories. The year was 1890, and the United States