Note 278 — Chapter XXVIII · THE NATIONAL DEFENCE

The beginnings of the American Navy go back to the time of the Revolutionary War, when a few frigates were placed in service; but when the war was over these ships were sold and the navy abolished. In 1794, however, Congress authorized the building of six new frigates, and four years later a Department of the Navy was created, with a member of the Cabinet at its head. The number of vessels increased very slowly and when the War of 1812 began the United States had only sixteen war vessels, some of them too small to be of great usefulness. This small navy, nevertheless, gave a good account of itself during the course of the war at sea. From 1815 to the outbreak of the Civil War little attention was paid to the upbuilding of American naval strength, but during the course of this struggle a great expansion took place. The invention of the iron-clad Monitor revolutionized naval construction. But when the South had been subdued the Navy was once more allowed to dwindle and it was not until after 1885 that the United States again made a serious attempt to build up a strong naval establishment. Since that date naval progress has been steady and today the United States navy ranks second in point of size among the sea forces of the world. By the terms of the agreement concluded among the chief naval powers of the world at Washington in 1922 it has been arranged that the United States, Great Britain, and Japan shall each destroy certain war vessels now built or in process of building, and that each shall refrain from building new capital ships (except for purposes of replacement), during the next ten years. At the end of this period the navies of the United States and Great Britain will be approximately equal in strength, while that of Japan will be about three-fifths as strong. See also p. 577.