Mobley begins by setting out the state of the US Navy prior to 1880. Through the use of personal and official correspondence, government records, published memoirs, the popular press, and lectures, Mobley (himself a former naval officer) argues that by the time war broke out with Spain in 1898, elements of strategic thinking had permeated the navy’s professional culture. The changes that Mobley tracks, between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the Spanish-American War, were driven both by technological change and by what Mobley identifies as a “strategical awakening”: a new recognition of the importance of the actions officers took outside of battle, such as selecting locations, moving forces, and organizing logistical support. Far from being a bastion of tradition and conservatism, the US Navy was in line with other professions, such as medicine and academia, in its drive for a modern, “scientific” approach to its organization-and indeed, Mobley argues, was ahead of the curve in many respects. In Progressives in Navy Blue, Scott Mobley explores a pivotal period in the history of the United States Navy, when an influential group within the officer corps enthusiastically embraced the ideologies of progressivism.
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