In the 1930s, six naval powers roamed the world’s oceans: Great Britain, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan. Each nation was subject to the Washington Naval Treaty, which granted 60% of the world’s battleships to the Royal and US Navy, 20% to Japan, and 20% to France and Italy. However by 1945, the United States Navy had expanded to a fleet larger than that of all the great powers. What exactly did that mean in the wake of WWII?

On this episode of UnTextbooked, producer Will Bourell interviews Professor Paul Kennedy, who argues that the expansion of the U.S. Navy during WWII cemented them at the top of a new international world order. 

BOOK: Victory at Sea: Naval Power and the Transformation of the Global Order in World War II

GUEST: Paul Kennedy

PRODUCER: Will Bourell

MUSIC: Silas Bohen and Coleman Hamilton

PRODUCTION: Pod People - Hannah Pedersen, Danielle Roth, Shaneez Tyndall, and Michael Aquino.

SHOW NOTES: Link to Paul Kennedy’s work