Im interested in seeing which ones became stronger, which ones became weaker etc. In particular I am interested in the British Royal Navy, which has long been regarded as one of the strongest, if not the strongest in history, and which is now a shadow of its former strength, and I am wondering if the losses of the British Empire in WW2 had something to do with that
Good Christ, I just wrote nearly 5,000 words on this and my browser crashed.
Anyhow, to sum up: Capital ship strength before WWI was measured in terms of dreadnought battleships. At the start of WWI, Britain had 29 large naval vessels (dreadnought types), while Germany had 17 and France and the USA 10. The only dreadnought battles of WWI were indecisive, partly because dreadnoughts were rapidly becoming eclipsed by submarines and other "asymmetrical" threats. At the end of the war, the German navy was interned in Scapa Flow, and eventually intentionally scuttled by its crew members.
The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 started a set of talks to disarm or cut building of battleships, to some effect. Crucially, it did not limit submarines, and set only some limits on aircraft carriers and other small ships.
At the start of World War II, Britain and the U.S. still had the lead in numbers of battleships, but airpower would prove decisive in WWII. In 1941, Japan had the best carrier navy in the world, but all six of the fleet carriers that it started the war with were sunk (4 at Midway, the other 2 by 1944). During the war, the U.S. would lose three fleet carriers, but would build an astonishing 100 carriers of all types (fleet, light and escort); Japan would build a total of 2. The British carrier fleet in 1940 was negligible, partly due to the nature of power projection in the North Sea and Mediterranean (airports are unsinkable, and ranges were vastly smaller than in the Pacific).
After WWII, the dismantling of Britain's overseas empire and its general economic malaise meant that there was less need for a large fleet and less money to pay for it. The United States, while not having an overseas empire, promised security for Europe and Japan, which is why we operate 11 super carriers now.
I'm sorry, I'm really dispirited at losing so much work. I hope this helps, and if you have questions, let me know.
Readings on this:
