Naval Defense Act 1889

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The Naval Defense Act 1889 was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament . It was passed on May 31, 1889. The aim of the law was to enlarge the Royal Navy . The so-called “ two-power standard ” was formally laid down in the law. This standard stated that the number of battleships in the Royal Navy should be at least as large as the sum of the number of battleships in the next two largest naval forces. At the time, these were the fleets of France and Russia .

Battleship HMS Royal Sovereign , Royal Sovereign class
Battleship HMS Centurion , Centurion- class
Cruiser HMS Gibraltar , Edgar- class
HMS Spartan , Apollo- class
HMS Forte , Astraea- class
HMS Tauranga , Pearl- class

background

The law was passed under the government of Lord Salisbury . It provided for a total of £ 21 million over five years. Initially, Parliament opposed moves to increase shipbuilding spending for the Royal Navy. Parliament's position on this issue changed due to various influences. The reports submitted to Parliament in December 1888 and February 1889 gave a critical picture of the state of the Royal Navy. The growth of the French and Russian naval forces was another factor that underscored the supposed British weakness. As a result, public support for strengthening the Royal Navy grew. This increased the pressure on parliament to support the law.

In reality, the “two-power standard” was already in use for the past seventy years. For a short period of time during the 1850s, the Royal Navy had achieved the prescribed balance of power. The Royal Navy has always had superiority over the naval forces of other countries. The Naval Defense Act renewed this requirement through formal adoption and was intended to raise the superiority of the Royal Navy to an even higher level.

The primary motivations behind the Naval Defense Act were military and economic. Militarily, the First Lord of the Admiralty , George Francis Hamilton , argued that the size and scope of this rebuilding program would discourage the ambitions of the other powers. In his opinion, this deterrence at the moment would mean that Great Britain would have to provide fewer funds for shipbuilding in the future. Providing finance over a longer period of time would also have economic effects. Shipbuilding was funded annually until the Naval Act . The lack of financial means at the end of the budget year prevented the ships from being completed immediately. As a result, construction took longer and was more expensive. With financial planning over a period of five years, unused finances could simply be carried over to the following year. This made it possible to continue building, which would lead to a considerable reduction in costs. The completion of the new buildings would also be faster than in other countries. In theory, the size and speed of production would not only reduce costs, but would also have a deterrent effect on the other powers, who would never be able to compete with the British naval armament.

Fleet expansion

The expansion of the fleet was realized by building ten battleships, 42 cruisers and 18 torpedo boats . The battleships were the core element of the fleet expansion. Eight first class battleships ( Royal Sovereign class ) and two second class battleships ( HMS Centurion and HMS Barfleur , Centurion class ) were commissioned. The ships of the Royal Sovereign class were the largest and most powerful battleships of their time. The cruisers were intended to protect British supply lines. The law provided for the construction of nine 1st class cruisers ( Edgar class ), 29 2nd class cruisers ( Apollo class and Astraea class ) and four 3rd class cruisers ( Pearl class ) . The eighteen torpedo boats were intended to protect the battle fleet.

Results

In practice, the Naval Defense Act of 1889 had limited economic success but did not act as a deterrent. Funding the warships for five years allowed for uninterrupted production with little cost overruns and limited delays. The simultaneous demand for merchant ships built in the same private shipyards, however, led to slight increases in labor and material costs. Lord Hamilton's hoped-for deterrent was dashed as the British naval armor prompted increased efforts by France and Russia. France and Russia built a total of twelve battleships from 1893 to 1894, more than Britain. As a result, the Spencer program was launched in 1894 . It was intended to enable it to catch up with the French and Russian naval armaments and cost more than £ 31 million. Instead of acting as a deterrent to other states' naval armaments, the Naval Defense Act of 1889 led to a maritime arms race. Smaller sea powers such as the German Empire or the United States of America also enlarged their fleets faster than Great Britain in the following years.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Sondhaus, p. 161.
  2. ↑ Sumida, p. 13.
  3. ↑ a b c Sumida, p. 15.
  4. ↑ Sondhaus, S. 162nd
  5. ↑ Sumida, p. 16.
  6. ↑ Sondhaus, p. 168.

literature

  • Jon Tetsuro Sumida: In Defense of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914 . Routledge, London (et al.) 1993, ISBN 0-415-08674-4 .
  • Lawrence Sondhaus: Naval Warfare, 1815-1914 . Routledge, London (et al.) 2001, ISBN 0-415-21478-5 .
  • Roger Parkinson: The Late Victorian Navy: the Pre-Dreadnought Era and the Origins of the First World War . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2008, ISBN 978-1-8438-3372-7 .
  • England's New Fleet. In: Washington Post . June 29, 1890, ISSN  0190-8286 , p. 16.
  • Nicholas A. Lambert: Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution . Univ. of South Carolina Press, Columbia 2002, ISBN 1-57003-492-3 , pp. 3,4,29,30.

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