Theodore Roosevelt led the charge in the 1890s for the creation of a US fleet of modern, steel-hulled, heavily-armed warships. The future president and his intellectual soul mate, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, championed the theory of sea power to fuel America's emerging global expansion. The US victory in the Spanish-American War of 1898 vindicated these views. These essays chart the role of Roosevelt and the war in the origins of US sea power.

In the 1890s, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt led a campaign to modernize the navy. Paramount in Roosevelt's vision was the creation of a fleet of modern, steel-hulled warships armed with the most powerful weapons available. The future president and his intellectual soul mate, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, firmly believed that America's emerging global expansion would only reach its full potential through sea. power. The swift and overwhelming US victor in the Spanish-American War of 1898 vindicated the views of Theodore Roosevelt and Captain Mahan, and marked the debut on the world stage of the modern US Navy. Theodore Roosevelt, the U.S. Navy and the Spanish American War considers the impact Roosevelt had on the US navy in general and how his reforms affected the course and outcome of the Spanish-American war in particular. The nine contributors to this volume include leading historians, and prominent naval officers from the US and Spain. With essays ranging from the Roosevelt family's naval heritage to the impact of the Spanish-American War on enlisted forces in the navy, this work is a major contribution to our understanding of Theodore Roosevelt and 'his' navy.