Navies and Shipbuilding Industries: The Strained Symbiosis

(Hardback)

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The central theme running through this book is the mutual dependence of navies and shipbuilding industries. Historically, naval ambitions and the ambitions of industrialists converge, and a symbiosis is born. The technical competence of industry emerges as a key player in determining the effectiveness of navies. That industrial capability, for its part, rests increasingly on the navy as chief customer because progressive specialization renders it more and more unsuited for any other use. These trends are universal, afflicting the relations of all major navies and their industrial suppliers since the dawn of the modern age. They continue to complicate the running of navies today. The book enlarges on this fundamental fact, explaining why the symbiosis emerged and how it is manifested in the contemporary world.

Reviews

The central theme of this tightly argued, well-documented book is the mutual dependence of navies and shipbuilding industries. A symbiosis occurs since the technical competence of industry determines the effectiveness of navies, while navies are the chief buyers of warships. Strains on the symbiosis have occurred in recent decades because progressive specialization of warships renders naval shipbuilding increasingly costly and unsuited for any other use.-Choice
"The central theme of this tightly argued, well-documented book is the mutual dependence of navies and shipbuilding industries. A symbiosis occurs since the technical competence of industry determines the effectiveness of navies, while navies are the chief buyers of warships. Strains on the symbiosis have occurred in recent decades because progressive specialization of warships renders naval shipbuilding increasingly costly and unsuited for any other use."-Choice

Author Bio

DANIEL TODD is Professor of Geography at the University of Manitoba. MICHAEL LINDBERG is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Elmhurst College.