Two-Ocean Navy Act

Two-Ocean Navy Act

Other short titles	Vinson-Walsh Act
Long title	An Act to establish the composition of the United States Navy, to authorize the construction of certain naval vessels, and for other purposes.
Nicknames	Navy Construction Act of 1940
Enacted by	the 76th United States Congress
Effective	July 19, 1940
Citations
Public law	76-757
Statutes at Large	54 Stat. 779
Codification
Titles amended	34 U.S.C.: Navy
U.S.C. sections amended	34 U.S.C. §§ 494-497, 498-498k
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 10100 by Carl Vinson (D-GA) on June 19, 1940 Committee consideration by House Naval Affairs, Senate Naval Affairs Passed the House on June 22, 1940 (Passed) Passed the Senate on July 10, 1940 (Passed) with amendment House agreed to Senate amendment on July 11, 1940 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on July 19, 1940

The Two-Ocean Navy Act, also known as the Vinson-Walsh Act, was a United States law enacted on July 19, 1940, and named for Carl Vinson and David I. Walsh, who chaired the Naval Affairs Committee in the House and Senate respectively. The largest naval procurement bill in U.S. history, it increased the size of the United States Navy by 70%.

Modest naval expansion programs had been implemented by the Vinson-Trammell Act of 1934 and the Naval Act of 1938. In early June 1940, Congress passed legislation that provided for an 11% increase in naval tonnage as well as an expansion of naval air capacity. On June 17, a few days after German troops conquered France, Chief of Naval Operations Harold Stark requested four billion dollars from Congress to increase the size of the American combat fleet by 70% by adding 257 ships amounting to 1,325,000 tons. On June 18, after less than an hour of debate, the House of Representatives by a 316–0 vote authorized $8.55 billion for a naval expansion program, giving emphasis to aircraft. Rep. Vinson, who headed the House Naval Affairs Committee, said its emphasis on carriers did not represent any less commitment to battleships, but "The modern development of aircraft has demonstrated conclusively that the backbone of the Navy today is the aircraft carrier. The carrier, with destroyers, cruisers and submarines grouped around it[,] is the spearhead of all modern naval task forces." It was enacted on July 19, 1940.

The Act authorized the procurement of:

The expansion program was scheduled to take five to six years, but a New York Times study of shipbuilding capabilities called it "problematical" unless planned "radical changes in design" are dropped.

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