ABSTRACT
David Lloyd George stands as Great Britain’s leading political figure during the opening years of the twentieth century. As prime minister during the desperate closing stages of the First World War, he led Britain to victory and was acclaimed by the British people as the man who won the war. Winning the war, however, did not bring an end to naval rivalries among the great powers. Britain’s hard-won standing as the world’s leading sea power was threatened by the United States, which was constructing a force of the latest generation of large surface ships (or capital ships), more powerfully armed than any possessed by the British navy. Lloyd George feared that a head-to-head naval competition with the United States would endanger his postwar plans to revive the British economy, promote social reform, and uphold Britain’s international standing. His efforts to avoid a naval rivalry with the United States offers a fascinating study in the interplay of statecraft, strategy, and domestic politics.
