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Review

• Technological improvements in capital ships• Allies v. Central Powers• British Naval Strategy• German Naval Strategy• Major Campaigns & Battles• Causes of US Entry into war• US Contributions to the war effort• How do Mahanian concepts work out?• Lessons learned

Lesson 14:

US Naval Strategy and National Policy

1919-1941

Learning Objectives

• Comprehend the principal points of controversy among the great powers at Versailles and the main shortcomings of the treaty finally produced.

• Know the reasons for the U.S. not joining the League of Nations and the reasons for the League’s ultimate failure to keep the peace.

• Comprehend the treaties resulting from the Washington Naval Conference and the subsequent changes in naval technology and strategy.

• Comprehend the relationship between international affairs and national defense goals in the context of sea power.

• Comprehend the ways in which changes in American society affected foreign policy and the development and employment of the U.S. Navy during this period.

Remember our Themes!

• The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy• Interaction between Congress and the Navy• Interservice Relations• Technology• Leadership• Strategy and Tactics• Evolution of Naval Doctrine

German High Seas Fleet

• Armistice of 11 November 1918:– High Seas Fleet undefeated in battle.– Germany must surrender most of its ships to Allies.

• High Seas Fleet interned at Scapa Flow.• Fleet scuttled by German naval officers on 21

June 1919 due to fear of resumption of war.– During negotiations of Treaty of Versailles.

• Great Britain and France require Germany to relinquish control of the rest of its Navy.

German Battleship BayernScuttled at Scapa Flow

- 21 June 1919

German Battle Cruiser HindenburgScuttled at Scapa Flow

Treaty of Versailles -- 1919

• U.S. President Woodrow Wilson– Attempts to use U.S. power to ensure peace in Europe.

• Germany– Forced to follow military limitations and pay reparations.

• Wilson's “Fourteen Points”– Second Point

• Freedom of the seas and illegality of blockades.• British opposition.

– Self-Determination for European peoples.– League of Nations: Republican U.S. Senate rejects due

to isolationist sentiments.

The British Royal Navy

• Several desires for the Royal Navy:– Maintain naval predominance in the face of the

challenge from the U.S. Navy.– Avoid a naval construction race with the U.S. Navy.– Destruction of the German High Seas Fleet.

• Opposed Wilson's principle of freedom of the seas.– Advantage of dominant fleet would be relinquished.

• Attempted to deter the U.S. from adopting a large building program.

The Japanese Imperial Navy

• Seized German Pacific possessions early in the war.– Island groups in central Pacific. – Chinese port facilities.

• Engaged in a major naval building program. – Designed to give Japan naval dominance in the

western Pacific to protect expansion.

• Cannot afford an arms race with U.S.– Insufficient resources and capabilities.

The U.S. Navy

• Woodrow Wilson– Opposes British rejection of Second of the Fourteen Points.

• Major naval building program begins - 1919. – Naval Act of 1916 continued and expanded.– Emphasis back on capital ships.– Need for a large fleet to protect both coasts.– Construction planned to rival and eclipse the Royal Navy.

• American people seek a “Return to Normalcy”. – Do not support a Navy “second to none”.– Republican Congress supports disarmament.– Republican President Warren G. Harding elected in 1920.

• Wilson’s building program cancelled.

Washington Naval Conference -- 1921-22

• Issues for U.S.– Security of possessions in the Pacific.

• Dislike of Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902.(Potential threat to U.S. interests in the Far East)

– End to the naval arms race.• Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes

– Dramatic proposal for disarmament:• Immediate 10-year “Holiday” on construction of new

capital ships. • Scrapping of ships already commissioned.

– Designed for appeasement of Congress.(Determined to cut military spending after WW I)

Washington Naval Conference

Five Power Naval Limitation Treaty• U.S., Britain, Japan,

France, Italy• Capital ship tonnage

ratio of 5-5-3-1.7-1.7• Limits on displacement

and caliber of guns on capital ships.

• No limit to cruisers, destroyers, submarines

• Non-fortification of Pacific possessions.U

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Effects of the Five Power Treaty

Effects of the Five Power Treaty

Other Treaties

• Four-Power Pact– U.S., Great Britain, Japan, and France.– Terminates the Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902.– Respect Far Eastern possessions of other countries.– Mutual consultation in crisis.

• Nine-Power Treaty– U.S., Great Britain, Japan, France, Italy, China,

Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal.– Guarantees “Open Door” in China.

• Freedom of trade for all countries.

Treaty Implications to U.S.

• Negative– Japanese angered by limits on their expansion.– Smaller classes of ships not included.– Did not recognize that U.S. and Great Britain were no

longer rivals.

• Positive– Ensure “Open Door” in China.– Naval limitations realistically accepted congressional

budget limitations.– U.S. Navy able to develop new technology.

Technological Improvements

• Battleship Backbone of the Fleet- very Mahanian!• Conversion from coal to oil fuel source for engines:

– Underway replenishment much easier to accomplish.• Aircraft carriers: Attack and fighter aircraft developed.

– Slow integration into the fleet.• Army General Billy Mitchell: Navies are obsolete.• Carriers still seen as support for battleships.• Lexington and Saratoga - Converted battle cruisers.• Ranger - 1934 - First carrier built from the keel up.

• Modern radio communications.• Submarines - Ability to fire torpedoes submerged.• Aluminum and plastic reduce weight and increase

speed.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Uss_lexington_cv2.jpg

General John A. LejeuneCommandant of the Marine Corps

1920-1929

U.S. Amphibious Doctrine

• Focus on Japanese-controlled island groups in the Pacific.

• Major Earl H. “Pete” Ellis, USMC:– Assigned by General Lejeune to develop plans for Marine

operations in support of War Plan Orange.– “Advanced Base Operations in Micronesia” approved 1921.

• Necessary to seize and defend advanced naval bases.• Need the ability to perform opposed amphibious assaults.

– Special landing craft and heavy weapons needed.• Incorporated lessons from Gallipoli on proper planning.

– Ellis is killed on Palau in 1923 while studying islands.• General Lejeune:

– Marine Corps exists to perform missions with the fleet.

Geneva Conference of 1927

• U.S. hopes to extend 5-5-3 ratio to cruisers.

• Different types of ships:

– U.S. -- fewer, bigger cruisers.

– Britain -- more, smaller cruisers.

• Britain, France and Japan oppose limits.

• No agreement is reached.

London Conference of 1930

• Cruisers reclassified:– Heavy > 6.1” guns.– Light < 6.1” guns.

• U.S., Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.• Results:

– U.S.-British parity in all types of vessels.– Increased Japanese ratio in cruisers and destroyers

to 10:10:7.– Japanese parity in submarines.– France and Italy do not participate.– Ban on new capital ships extended until 1936.

Fascism in Europe

• Mussolini - “Il Duce”: 1922– Invasion of Ethiopia - 1935

• Hitler - “Fuhrer”: Chancellor of Germany - 1933– Nazi Third Reich replaces Weimar Republic.– Promise of German economic recovery.– Beginnings of the Holocaust.– German rearmament begins.

• Spanish Civil War - 1930’s– Generalissimo Francisco Franco supported by fascists.

• Anglo-German Naval Treaty of 1935.• Remilitarization of the Rhineland - 1936

– German rejection of the Treaty of Versailles.

Fascism

• General traits:– Rejection of individualism.– Rejection of representative government.– Idealization of war.– Disallowance of the class struggle (anti-communist).– Unity and indivisibility of the nation.– Military build-up.– Territorial expansion.

• Rome-Berlin Axis - 1936• Tripartite Pact: Germany, Italy, Japan - 1940

– Mutual support if one party is attacked by a power not already involved i.e. Soviet Union.

“Il Duce”

Adolf Hitler

Japanese Imperialism

• Expansion - Natural Resources– Formosa (Taiwan) - Annexed: 1895– Korea- Protectorate: 1905, Annexed: 1910– Invasion of Manchuria – 1931

• Non-recognition” doctrine-President Hoover• Beginning of Japanese expansion into China,

leading to WWII

Other Conferences

• Geneva Conference of 1932– Complete failure.– Japan resists.

• Invasion of Manchuria.– France resists.

• Hitler and Nazi party emerging in Germany.

• Second London Naval Conference of 1936– Britain already allows Germany 35% of tonnage and

parity in submarines - 1935 agreement.– Mild limitations on size of naval craft proposed.– Italy and Japan do not sign.– Effective end of naval limitations.

Depression and the U.S. Navy

• Strong support of isolationism in U.S. public and Congress.

• Neutrality Acts 1935-37– Renounce U.S. neutral rights: (1812, 1917)

• 1935: Sale or transport of munitions prohibited.• 1936: Loans prohibited.• 1937: “Cash and carry "policy enforced.• 1939: Embargo lifted, but President can prohibit

American ships from entering “danger zones”.

• Japanese Imperial Navy -- Large build-up begins in 1936.– Stress on importance of aircraft carriers to the fleet.

Rearmament

• 1940 rearmament begins in earnest• Authorized 200 ships in addition to:

– 130 already under construction– 358 then afloat– 7 BB– 18 CVs– USMC strength from 19K to 66K

• Sep 1941: Victory Program

War Plan Orange – Rainbow Plans

• Scenario: U.S. and Japan at war in the Pacific.– Attempt to hold Philippines.– Build up naval forces in Hawaii.– Offensive across the Pacific.

• Amphibious operations to seize advanced naval bases.– Defeat Japanese Navy in a fleet engagement.

• Recapture Philippines.– Threaten Japanese “Home Islands” with naval forces.

• Open Door -- Maintain territorial integrity of China.• Guam and Philippines -- remain relatively unfortified.

– 1922 Five Power Naval Limitation Treaty• Japanese Islands: Marshalls, Marianas, and Carolines

fortified

Liabilities of Mahanian Theory

• Assumption that a battle fleet alone will force Japan’s surrender

• Air and amphibious operational advance not taken into account

U.S. Fleet

• Majority of U.S. Fleet based in the Pacific.– Pacific Fleet moves to Pearl Harbor - 1940

• Battleships - Capital ships of the fleet.• Aircraft Carriers - Fleet Exercises demonstrate potential.

– USS Lexington (CV 2)– USS Saratoga (CV 3)– USS Ranger (CV 4)– USS Yorktown (CV 5)– USS Enterprise (CV 6)– USS Wasp (CV 7)– USS Hornet (CV 8)

• Submarines

Japanese Imperialism in Asia

• Undeclared War with China - 1937– “Shanghai Incident” – USS Panay sunk on Yangtze River.– Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Tse-tung.– Occupation of French Indochina - 1940

• Oil embargo; other natural resources - July 1941.– U.S., Great Britain, and the Netherlands.

• General Tojo: Military government installed - October 1941.

USS Panay Incident

• Yangtze River Patrol, China• Sunk by Japanese naval aircraft Dec 1937.

U.S. Options

• Military intervention• Economic sanctions• Joint military and economic moves with

Britain• Indirect response

U.S. Response

• FDR’s quarantine speech called for “positive endeavors to preserve peace.”– Not effective: lack of popular support– Did not impose Neutrality Act

• Hurt China more than Japan

– No joint action with Britain: disagreements– Indirect response:

• 1938 Naval Expansion Act-ships not avail until 40-41• Lesson: A COUNTRY CANNOT EXERT FORCE WITHOUT

THE MILITARY FORCE TO BACK IT UP!

Force Level of U.S. Fleet 1937

• Manning– Navy officers and enlisted: 113,617– Marine officers and enlisted: 18, 223

• Fleet• Battleships: 15• Aircraft Carriers: 3• Heavy cruisers: 17• Light cruisers 10• Destroyers: 196 (162 over age)• Subs: 81 (50 over age)

Force Level of U.S. Fleet 1937

• Strategic disposition• Pacific Coast: Main U.S. battle fleet at Pearl• Atlantic: Training squadron• Asia: Asiatic fleet 2-CAs, 13-DDs, 6-SS, 10

gunboats• Panama: Service squadron 1-DD, 2 gunboats, 6-

SS• Europe: 1-CA, 2-DD

• Most probable enemy: Japan– strategy, War Plan Orange

Retreat Toward Hemispheric Defense

• Impracticality of War Plan Orange• Lack of forward bases• Crisis in far east over shadowed• Army-Navy conflicts• European Commitments• U.S. fleet divided between Atlantic and Pacific• Revisions to strategic planning• The Rainbow War Plans

Navy’s Ability to Carry out Plans

• Capital ships– Enough for offense in Atlantic, Defense in Pacific

• Aircraft carriers– Insufficient

• Cruisers– Barely sufficient for battle fleet screening and scouting

• Destroyers – Not enough to fill multiple roles

• Submarines– 40% below war strength

Navy’s Ability to Carry out Plans

• Aircraft– Shortage of long range patrol bombers– Lack of modern carrier aircraft

• Landing Craft– Only a few experimental

• Manpower– Enlisted personal manning at 78% of prescribed

• Bases– Critical deficiencies

• Patrol plane bases needed at Oahu, Midway, Johnston, Palmyra, Wake, and Puerto Rico

• Advance fleet bases required in Trinidad, Brazil, West Africa, Guam, Wake, and the East Indies

• Existing facilities not adequately defended• Marine Corps

– 1/3 of desired strength

Europe’s Events• German annexation of Austria (Anschluss) - March 1938. • Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - August 1939

– Non-aggression treaty between Soviet Union and Germany.• Munich Crisis - September 1938.

– Czechoslovakia’s German-speaking Sudetenland.• Appeasement of Hitler by Western leaders. • British Prime Minister Chamberlain: “Peace in our time.”

• German occupation of Czechoslovakia - March 1939.• Italian occupation of Albania - April 1939.• Guarantee of protection of Poland: Britain and France.

– March 1939 (Also Holland and Belgium.)

Preparations for war in the Pacific

• Rainbow II• U.S. fleet kept in Pearl as deterrent to Japan• U.S. refuse to send forces to Singapore• Shift in Strategy from Rainbow II to “Atlantic

First”– Strong offensive in Atlantic, Defensive in Pacific– Defeat Germany and Italy first, then Japan– Support Brit forces in East Indies, and defend

Midway, Johnson, Palmyra, Samoa, and Guam. – Defend Philippines as long as possible

Political Developments

• Leading to the War in the Pacific:– 26 Jul 1940: embargo on aviation fuel– Sept 1040: Japan joins Axis– 13 Apr 1941: Japan signs 5 year neutrality treaty with Russia– Jun 1941: Japan forces French to turn over bases in S.

Indochina– 26 Jul 1941: U.S. freezes all Jap assets and cuts of oil– Oct 1941: Tojo/War party takes political control of gov’t– Japan sends “last proposals”– 26 Nov 1941: U.S. responds with demand for Jap withdrawal

of China and Indochina– 6 Dec 1941: Roosevelt personally appeals to Emp Hirohito

for withdrawal. Answered 0755 next morning: Pearl Harbor