The central theme running through this book is the mutual dependence of navies and shipbuilding industries. Historically, naval ambitions and the ambitions of industrialists converge, and a symbiosis is born. The technical competence of industry emerges as a key player in determining the effectiveness of navies. That industrial capability, for its part, rests increasingly on the navy as chief customer because progressive specialization renders it more and more unsuited for any other use. These trends are universal, afflicting the relations of all major navies and their industrial suppliers...

From riverine operations in the American Civil War and China in the 1860s to the major fleet engagements of the World Wars, plus more recent naval actions in the Falklands/Malvenas War and Gulf War, Lindberg and Todd methodically show how geography has shaped the strategy, tactics, and tools of naval warfare. Alfred T. Mahan was perhaps the first naval professional to recognize and acknowledge fully the influence of geography on navies and naval warfare. Many of his principles of seapower were inherently geographical and influenced both what kind of naval force a state would possess and...

The expansion of the shipbuilding industry in Britain and the United States between 1938 and 1945 was one of the greatest economic feats in history. This study examines in detail the unprecedented growth both in total industrial capacity and that of individual shipyards. Lindberg and Todd go beyond the normal descriptive historical account of this expansion to analyze it through the application of a geographical perspective. Specifically, they apply the geographic concepts of clustering and agglomeration to the merchant and naval shipbuilding industries of both nations during this vital...