Naval Presence and the Interwar US Navy and Marine Corps: Forward Deployment, Crisis Response, and the Tyranny of History

This book examines the US Navy and Marine Corps during the interwar years from a new perspective.

Rather than focusing on the technologies developed, the wargames conducted, or the results of the now famous Fleet Problems, this work analyzes the global deployments of the rest of the US fleet. By examining the annual reports of the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps over 20 years, the book traces the US ships, squadrons, and fleets conducting naval diplomacy and humanitarian missions, maritime security patrols, and deployments for deterrent effect across the world’s oceans. Despite the common label of the interwar years as ＂isolationist,＂ the deployments of the US Navy and Marine Corps in that period were anything but isolated. The majority of the literature on the era has a narrow focus on preparation for combat and wartime, which provides an incomplete view of the history of US naval power and also establishes a misleading set of precedents and historical context for naval thinkers and strategists in the contemporary world. Offering a wider and more complete understanding of the history of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from 1920 to 1939, this book demonstrates the tension between the execution of peacetime missions and the preparation for the next war, while also offering a broader understanding of American naval forces and their role in American and global history.

This book will be of much interest to students of naval and military history, sea power, and International History.

Benjamin Armstrong is an officer in the U.S. Navy and an associate professor of War Studies and Naval History at the U.S. Naval Academy. He is the author or an editor of four books, including Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy (2019).