FDR and the U.S. Navy presents the work of prominent biographers and historians who analyzed Franklin D. Roosevelt's long, close, and eventful association with the U.S. Navy, in war and peace, from the turn of the century to the end of World War II. The contributors show how, as president during the 1930s, FDR endeavored with naval leaders, not always successfully, to build a combat-capable fleet and to deter the aggressor nations of Europe and Asia. The essays argue that one of Franklin Roosevelt's greatest achievements was his direction as commander in chief of the U.S. Navy and the other American armed forces during World War II, when the very survival of the nation was at stake.