ABSTRACT
A war with America would be of so different a nature that the navy required for that purpose is altogether a thing apart; the contest must be in European waters; the Channel, the Mediterranean, or the Baltic, will be scenes of strife fearful to contemplate. When Chief Engineer James W. King was sent to report on naval developments in Europe, ten years after the end of the Civil War, his findings were hardly surprising. The Balance of Power was alive and well and Britain and France especially kept themselves fully armed with a watchful eye on each other as well as upon Russia, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Turkey and the re-unified nation states of Italy and Germany. While the relative cost of modern ironclads declined in the early 1870s the newest models, from Dreadnought to Alexandra, were much higher again. Repairs of all ironclads had become increasingly vital and lavish.
