Perhaps one of the most prominent aspects of this period is the rise of the steel navy. After several decades of decline, the navy made a bold move and built a small fleet of steel warships. There was a growing, often fractious, political consensus that the navy needed to move forward. The move toward steel ships triggered the evolution of the American manufacturing base, slowly building the capacity to cast and mold steel, as well as build modern weapons made of the same material. We take the story up to the creation of the first four steel ships and will continue the expansion of the fleet in the next episode.

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