In Defence of Naval Supremacy : Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914

In his groundbreaking work, In Defence of Naval Supremacy, Sumida presents a provocative and authoritative revisionist history of the origins, nature and consequences of the "Dreadnought Revolution" of 1906. Based on intensive and extensive archival research, the book strives to explain vital financial and technical matters which enable readers to observe the complex interplay of fiscal, technical, strategic, and personal factors that shaped the course of British naval decision-making during the critical quarter century that preceded the outbreak of the First World War. Review "In the 1990s, Jon Sumida and Nicholas Lambert reexamined the British naval building program of 1905 to 1914. . . . Between them, Sumida and Lambert completely overturned the Marder interpretation of British naval policy." --The Journal of Modern History From the Back Cover Sumida presents a provocative and authoritative revisionist history of the origins, nature, and consequences of the "Dreadnought Revolution" of 1906. Based on intensive and extensive archival research, the book strives to explain vital financial and technical matters that enable readers to observe the complex interplay of fiscal, technical, strategic, and personal factors that shaped the course of British naval decision making during the critical quarter-century that preceded the outbreak of the First World War. About the Author Jon Tetsuro Sumida is the author of Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan Reconsidered (1997), and Decoding Clausewitz: A New Approach to On War (2008). He is professor of history at the University of Maryland. Publisher : Naval Institute Press; Reissue edition (February 15, 2014) Table of Contents; List of Figures and Schematic Diagrams; Preface to the Naval Institute Press Edition; Acknowledgments; List of Abbreviations; Introduction to the Paperback Edition; PART I: 1889-1906; 1. The Strategy of Numerical Superiority: Naval Rivalry and Financial Crisis, 1889-1904; 1. State Finance and Pre-industrial British Naval Power; 2. The Industrial Revolution and British Naval Supremacy; 3. Technology, Finance, and British Naval Expansion; 4. The Naval Defence Act and Spencer Program; 5. Technological Change, Colonial War, and Financial Retrenchment