Change and the Construction of Identity in the US
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Abstract Title of Dissertation: “THE SQUADRON UNDER YOUR COMMAND”: CHANGE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN THE U.S. NAVY’S NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, 1874-1897 James C. Rentfrow, PhD, 2012 Dissertation Directed by: Professor Jon T. Sumida Department of History This dissertation examines the transformation of the United States Navy as a fighting organization that took place on the North Atlantic Station between 1874 and 1897. At the beginning of this period, the warships assigned to this station were collectively administered by a rear-admiral, but were operationally deployed as individual units, each of whose actions were directed by their captains. By 1897 the North Atlantic, or “Home” Squadron as it was known, was a group of warships constituting a protean battle fleet – that is, an organized body moving and fighting in close-order, which meant that the actions of the captains were directed by a commanding admiral. The development of an American battle fleet resulted in the construction of a new organizational identity for the North Atlantic Squadron. This process was as critical as the eventual outcome. It was not linear, but one in which progress in critical areas was modulated by conflicting demands that caused distraction. From 1874-1888, exercises in fleet tactics under steam were carried out sporadically utilizing existing wooden cruising vessels. From 1889-1894, the last wooden cruisers were decommissioned and the Squadron consisted entirely of new steel warships. Ad-hoc concentrations of vessels for purposes besides exercise and training retarded the continued development of doctrine and tactics necessary for a multi-ship fighting capability during this time. However, much work was done to develop a concept of multi-ship operations. From 1895-1897, the identity of the North Atlantic Squadron as a combat unit solidified. Tactical exercises were held that had specific offensive and defensive wartime applications. These exercises were necessary to develop a combat capability. The results of this study demonstrate that the United States government had an interest in developing an offensive naval combat capability as early as the 1870’s. Based on the record of the North Atlantic Squadron, it is argued that imperial aspirations, in the sense of possessing a capability to restrict the actions of other great powers in the Caribbean region, existed prior to the War of 1898. However, the process of change often resulted in the appearance of capability without the rigorous exercise necessary to possess it. “THE SQUADRON UNDER YOUR COMMAND”: CHANGE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN THE U.S. NAVY’S NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, 1874-1897 By James Christopher Rentfrow Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2012 Advisory Committee: Professor Jon Sumida, Chair Professor Julie Greene Professor Whitman Ridgway Dr. David Alan Rosenberg Professor David Segal © Copyright by James C. Rentfrow 2012 i United States Department of Defense Disclaimer The views expressed in this dissertation are those of the author. They do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Navy, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. ii “It has to do with the fact that the Navy is not only an armed force: it is a society. In the forty years following the Civil War, this society had been forced to accommodate itself to a series of technological changes---the steam turbine, the electric motor, the rifled shell of great explosive power, case-hardened steel armor, and all the rest of it. These changes wrought extraordinary change in ship design, and therefore in the concepts of how ships were to be used: that is, in fleet tactics, and even in naval strategy. The Navy of this period is a paradise for the historian or sociologist in search of evidence of a 1 society's response to change.” 1 Elting E. Morison, "A Case Study of Innovation," Engineering and Science Magazine 13, no. 7 (April 1950) (1950): 9. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... I TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................................... IV LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES ...................................................................................... VI INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 1 HISTORIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................................... 2 ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE ........................................................................................................................ 5 THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON’S AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY .............................................................. 12 THE U.S. AND EMPIRE ............................................................................................................................... 15 DISSERTATION OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................ 17 CHAPTER 1: THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, THE VIRGINIUS AFFAIR, AND THE BIRTH OF SQUADRON EXERCISES, 1874-1881 ............................ 24 NAVAL TACTICS, 1874 .............................................................................................................................. 25 THE U.S. NAVY, 1874 ............................................................................................................................... 32 THE ROYAL NAVY, 1874 ........................................................................................................................... 42 THE VIRGINIUS AFFAIR ............................................................................................................................. 48 THE 1874 SQUADRON EXERCISES ............................................................................................................. 58 RETURN TO STATION CRUISING, 1874-1876.............................................................................................. 68 THE 1877 LABOR RIOTS ............................................................................................................................ 79 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 86 CHAPTER 2: TOWARDS A NEW IDENTITY, 1882 - 1888 ............................................... 89 POLICY AND MATERIEL DEBATES: “PROCEEDINGS” AND THE NAVAL ADVISORY BOARDS...................... 90 SQUADRON EXERCISES, 1882 .................................................................................................................... 99 REAR ADMIRAL COOPER AND THE LIMITS OF WOODEN CRUISING VESSELS ........................................... 105 STEPHEN B. LUCE AND THE NAVAL WAR COLLEGE ................................................................................ 115 REAR ADMIRAL JOUETT AND INTERVENTION IN PANAMA, 1885 ............................................................. 122 STEPHEN B. LUCE AND THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON .................................................................... 134 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 144 CHAPTER 3: THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON AND THE SQUADRON OF EVOLUTION, 1889-1891 ................................................................................................. 147 BANCROFT GHERARDI AND THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON – 1889 .................................................. 148 JOHN GRIMES WALKER AND THE SQUADRON OF EVOLUTION ................................................................. 153 GHERARDI AND THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, 1890 ...................................................................... 163 WALKER AND THE SQUADRON OF EVOLUTION, 1890 .............................................................................. 173 THE TWO SQUADRONS COLLIDE, 1891 ................................................................................................... 178 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 194 CHAPTER 4: THE LIMITS OF AD-HOC CRISIS RESPONSE, 1892 – 1894 ................... 198 WAR SCARE WITH CHILE AND CONCENTRATION IN MONTEVIDEO, 1892 ................................................ 200 THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON – OPERATIONS 1892 ........................................................................ 209 JOHN G. WALKER AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ......................................................................................... 217 GHERARDI AND THE SQUADRON FOR SPECIAL SERVICE .......................................................................... 218 WALKER, THE NORTH ATLANTIC SQUADRON, AND UNREST IN VENEZUELA .......................................... 224 THE INTERNATIONAL NAVAL REVIEW, 1893 ........................................................................................... 230 REAR ADMIRAL A.E.K. BENHAM TAKES OVER ...................................................................................... 244 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................