British Maritime Policy in Transition

Abstract

It seems safe to assert that in her prime Britain was the greatest maritime power the world has yet seen. She possessed, as she still does, an immense merchant navy which contributed to making her the world's leading trader and which, for centuries, required armed protection. She maintained a dominant shipbuilding industry. She also commanded the supreme military navy, supported upon and in turn defending a worldwide network of bases. All of this, combined with an empire on every continent, made Britain a world power to a degree scarcely if ever equalled. The United States navy today is much more powerful in absolute terms than that of Britain ever was, but the United States has not yet come to take for granted the sustained acceptance of worldwide entanglements, obligations, opportunities, and interests that Britain displayed for some three hundred years. These familiar facts remind us how fundamental a shift in the maritime scene the recent British decision to withdraw to Europe represents. By the same token, the shift calls into question the role of a navy the necessity for which has long been taken for granted.