ABSTRACT

The First World War spurred the United States to acquire – in the words of Woodrow Wilson – ‘incomparably the greatest navy in the world’, and amongst the many problems confronting Britain after 1919 was how to avoid an Anglo-American naval arms race. David Lloyd George was determined not to sleepwalk into another struggle for naval mastery. He rejected the expert opinion of his top naval advisers that building capital ships would enhance Britain’s security. Instead, he showed restraint in responding to the American naval build-up, while doggedly pursuing arms control talks with Washington. He thus prevented an escalation of the naval arms competition that emerged after the war, and so created the favourable conditions for a negotiated settlement of the naval rivalry with the United States and provided for Britain’s security at sea.

摘要

用伍德罗·威尔逊（Woodrow Wilson）的话说，第一次世界大战促使美国获得“世界上最大的海军”，这是无与伦比的。在1919年后英国面临的众多问题中，有一个是如何避免英美海军军备竞赛。大卫·劳埃德·乔治（David Lloyd George）下定决心，不愿再为争取海军统治而奋斗。他拒绝了他的高级海军顾问的专家意见，即建造首舰将增强英国的安全。取而代之的是，他顽强地回应美国海军的建立，同时顽固地追求与华盛顿的军备控制谈判。因此，他防止了战后出现的海军军备竞赛的升级，从而为谈判解决与美国的海军对抗创造了有利条件，并为英国的海上安全提供了条件。