Abstract
Of all the various ways that American participation in World War II contributed to Allied victory, the most critical, and in the end the most decisive, was American industrial productivity, and particularly shipbuilding. United States ship construction between 1941 and 1945 dramatically outstripped both its own allies and all of its foes combined. The United States was not only the “arsenal of democracy” (Franklin Roosevelt’s phrase) but also the Allies’ shipbuilder, and superiority in shipping is what allowed the Allies to win the Battle of the Atlantic, conduct the D-Day invasion, and mount a simultaneous offensive in the Pacific.
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Cite this article
Craig L. Symonds, “For Want of a Nail: The Impact of Shipping on Grand Strategy in World War II,” The Journal of Military History 81, no. 3 (July 2017): 657–666.