Progressives in Navy Blue: Maritime Strategy, American Empire, and the Transformation of U.S. Naval Identity, 1873 * 1898

by Scott Mobley

This study examines how intellectual and institutional developments transformed the U.S. Navy from 1873 to 1898. The period was a dynamic quarter-century in which Americans witnessed their Navy evolve. Cultures of progress–clusters of ideas, beliefs, values, and practices pertaining to modern warfare and technology–guided the Navy’s transformation.

The agents of naval transformation embraced a progressive ideology. They viewed science, technology, and expertise as the best means to effect change in a world contorted by modernizing and globalizing trends. Within the Navy’s progressive movement, two new cultures–Strategy and Mechanism–influenced the course of transformation. Although they shared progressive pedigrees, each culture embodied a distinctive vision for the Navy’s future.

Interview with the Author

New Books Network
Scott Mobley, “Progressives in Navy Blue: Maritime Strategy, American Empire, and the Transformation of U.S. Naval Identity, 1873 – 1898 (Naval Institute Press, 2018)
3/6/19       66 min

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The Strategy Bridge
The U.S. Navy’s Strategical Awakening with Scott Mobley
10/13/19         58 min

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Midrats
Episode 451: A Navy of the Gilded Age, with Scott Mobley
8//18       66 min

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