3 ms·

Construction Physics has a good discussion of this as well: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-cant-the-us-build-ships https://www.construction-physics.

Construction Physics has a good discussion of this as well: https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-cant-the-us-build-ships https://www.construction-physics.com/p/why-cant-the-us-build... One thing that really hurt US commercial shipbuilding after WW2 was the glut of surplus Liberty and Victory ships in circulation. Nobody was buying new ships for a long enough time that the shipyards couldn’t stay in business even if they tried.

alephnerd 1y ago
That's based on the premise that we were a major blue water shipbuilder. We weren't, as data from the mid-20th century showed [0] Japan had a larger blue water shipbuilding capacity than the US by 1910 in both sail and steam. We were on par with newly independent and much poorer Greece (Greece's developmental indicators didn't catch up with Western Europe until the last 3-5 years). [0] - https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/288698.pdf https://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/288698.pdf
- alephnerd 1y ago
  To be fair, we heavily invested in railroads for transcontinental transportation during that era so we didn't have much of a need for long distance seafaring until the World Wars.
  - mitthrowaway2 1y ago
    To be extra fair, Japan was also heavily investing in railroads at the same time.
    - alephnerd 1y ago
      Not to the same level in the pre-WW2 era which is my point. Please try to read my comments and let them sync in instead to immediately trying to find some point of contention.
- philwelch 1y ago
  > That's based on the premise that we were a major blue water shipbuilder. We were—during WW2.