"It will be of interest to see how the personnel
of the Navy expanded in former wars, and how at
the peace it was invariably reduced to something
like its pre-war figures. This can readily be done
in tabular form:

NAVAL PERSONNEL (_Numbers Voted_)

Year Name of War Before War Maximum After the
during War Peace
1689} 7,040 -- --
1697}League of Augsburg -- 40,000 --
1700} -- -- 7,000

1700} 7,000 -- --
1712}Spanish Succession -- 40,000 --
1713} -- -- 10,000

1738}Austrian 10,000 -- --
1748}Succession -- 40,000 --
1759} -- -- 10,000

1754} 10,000 -- --
1762}Seven Years' War -- 70,000 --
1764} -- -- 16,000

1775}American 18,000 -- --
1783}Independence -- 110,000 --
1785} -- -- 18,000

1793}French 16,000 -- --
1801}Revolution -- 135,000 --
1803} -- -- 50,000

1803} 50,000 -- --
1812}Napoleonic War -- 145,000 --
1817} -- -- 19,000

1853} 45,500 -- --
1856}Russian War -- 76,000 --
1857} -- -- 53,000

1914}The Present War 146,000 -- --
1918} -- 450,000 --

"It appears at once from these figures that the
naval expansion during earlier wars was in most
cases much greater proportionately than it has
been in this. Roughly the personnel in this war
has been multiplied by three; in earlier wars it
was increased six, seven,