This reminds me of a story. After the US Civil War, the US Navy was as large and as new as ever. With so many ships, many were scrapped. No new ships were built, older ships were rebuilt.
America had its eyes focused on Manifest Destiny, the winning of the West. This was Army focused, and the Army received the lion's share of our funding.
Fast forward twenty years. During the past twenty years we let our navy rot. By this time our missionaries had reached Samoa. Steam ships were replacing sailing vessels. Ironclads were replacing wooden vessels. Since the steam ships were fueled by coal, none of the steam ships could steam to Asia without a refueling stop. To make a long story short.
At that same time Germany was expanding its influence, our missionaries and German marines conflicted at Samoa, the other islands had already fallen to European conquests, besides Hawaii which has another story.
German marines burned down American missions, and British businesses. Outraged America sent three wooden hulled square rigged steamers. The Germans sent three ironclads. Not to be ignored the British sent their armored ship, Calliope.
A large typhoon strikes the islands, not once but twice, as it made a U-turn. The British ship rode the storm out at sea, the Germans and the Americans played a game of chicken, refusing to leave. After the storm all three of the German ships and all three of the American ships dragged their anchors, struck, and sunk on the reefs.
The British ship returns after the storm. The British win again. Aware that the US and Germany would need a coaling station in the Pacific, the British split Samoa three ways. That is how the US gained American Samoa. The British were more interested in keeping the Germans and the Americans out of their other Pacific territories.
We didn't buy, we didn't win, nor did we annex American Samoa.
Furthermore, the US Navy was down to less than 20 ships. Those three ships at Samoa were our Pacific fleet, all of it. It didn't take long before the cries went out, where is our fleet? America started to build its new steel navy, the navy which within ten years won the Spanish-American War.
The moral of the story from a military point of view is its not a good idea not to buy warships over a period of twenty years, by then the fleet will be obsolete. The US couldn't do so during the late 1800s, and we can't do so now in the twenty-first century.
