The battle was evidence that a great tonnage Navy armed with large guns was necessary to defend U.S. shores and merchant ships on the seas in the event of war.

Not until August 8 did Rep. Lemuel P. Padgett, Tennessee Democrat and Chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee, confer with President Wilson and agree to support the Senate bill.

Democrat Rep. Claude Kitchin of North Carolina despaired: "The United States today becomes the most militaristic naval nation on earth."

With the entry of the United States into the World War in 1917 the battleship program was paused in favor of the smaller ships that were more urgently needed to deal with the threat of German U-Boats.

However the expectation of a ruinous arms race with the British and the Japanese led to the Washington Naval Conference of 1921–22 and the tonnage limit ratio agreements with the US having parity with the Royal Navy.