The Influence of Theater Logistics on the Humanitarian Intervention in Somalia from 1992–1995

The election of President Franklin D. Roosevelt marked a significant change in America’s approach to naval rearmament. In the depths for the Depression, shipbuilding initially represented an opportunity for employment relief using emergency relief funds.  Soon thereafter, Representative Carl Vinson sponsored legislation to restore the US Navy to the maximum size allowed by treaty. The Vinson-Trammell Act of 1934 gave the president authority to rebuild the Navy, and in the process, reinvigorate the American shipbuilding industry in advance of the emergency and wartime building programs of the 1940s. The long-range, deliberate building plan authorized in the Vinson-Trammell Act and implemented by the US Navy using private and public shipyards provided a vital opportunity to rebuild the physical infrastructure and skilled labor force. This provided a core of experienced shipbuilders that allowed America to surge warship production and out build the Axis during World War II.