Unfortunately with our expansion into the Pacific, after the Spanish-American War, we relied on the Royal Navy to help guard the Atlantic Ocean, as we moved Naval resources to the Pacific, to counter the threat of a rising Japan.
We didn’t have any realistic Atlantic threats and had little interest there beyond protecting a few hundred miles off the coast. trade with Europe was small, and we had no colonies out there.
But we did not fully trust the British even then. The Washington Naval Treaty showed they still thought that the USA was a threat to manage (from the Brit perspective).
That “special relationship” crap was not at all in full swing.