Doubling The Fleet: An Analysis of the Causal Factors Behind the U.S. Navy's Warship Building Program from 1933-1941

Barrett, John M.

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On 7 December 1941, the US Navy had 343 warships in commission; however, a “second” fleet, consisting of 344 warships, was in various stages of construction in shipyards across the country. Given that building a warship could take anywhere from less than a year for a destroyer, to over three years for a battleship or aircraft carrier, it is clear that the foresighted building of warships in the years prior to US involvement in World War II would play a major role in enabling the US Navy to count