This book examines the twenty-year period that saw the US fleet shrink under the pressures of arms-limitation treaties, and then grow again to a world-class force.

The authors trace the Navy’s evolution from a fleet centred around slow battleships to one that deployed most of the warship types that proved so essential in World War II. Both the older battleships and the newer ships are captured in stunning period photographs that have never before been published. An authoritative yet lively text explains how and why the newer ships and aircraft came into being.

Desperately short of men and funding, the Navy nevertheless pioneered carrier aviation, shipboard electronics, codebreaking and, with the Marines, amphibious warfare– elements that made America’s later victory in the Pacific possible. Based on years of study of official records, this book presents a comprehensive view of the foundation of a navy that would become the world’s largest and most formidable.

From their adventures on Yangtze River gunboats to carrier landings on the converted battle cruisers Saratoga and Lexington, the men are profiled along with their ships. This combination of popular history with archival history will appeal to a general audience of naval enthusiasts.

Thomas C. Hone, an executive in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, is the author of American and British Aircraft Carrier Development, 1919–1941. He has taught at the Naval War College and the National Defense University among other institutions. Trent Hone has published several articles on the US Navy’s tactical development before World War II. Both father and son are residents of Arlington, Virginia.