Kategoria BISAC: History >> Military - Naval

Rear Admiral Raja Menon contends that nations embroiled in Continental wars have historically had poor maritime strategies. After an analysis of existing literature on this subject and a discussion of case studies, he develops the argument that those navies that have been involved in such wars have made poor contributions to the overall politial objectives. Government neglect, inadequate funding and structures that are more appropriate to purely maritime wars are symptomatic of a universal strategic dilemma that arises from inadequate strategic theory.

In this work, two senior naval historians analyze the discussions held in leading Soviet political, military, and naval circles concerning naval strategy and the decisions taken for warship-building programmes. They describe the reconstitution of the fleet under difficult conditions from the end of the Civil War up to the mid-1920s, leading to a change from classical naval strategy to a Jeune ecole model in the first two Five-Year Plans, including efforts to obtain foreign assistance in the design of warships and submarines. Their aim is to explain the reasons for the sudden change in 1935 to...

Presents a range of insights into the crucial effort of the Second World War. This work describes the vital role of the Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945 and was issued by the Historical Section of the Admiralty as a confidential study for use within the Royal Navy in 1954. It is for students with an interest in the Arctic Convoys, and the World War II.

Navies in Northern Waters is a collection of articles covering the roles played by the secondary navies of northern European powers and the United States within the maritime balance of power. The contributions covering the 18th and 19th centuries focus on their relations with each other as they sought to create a counterweight to the dominant naval power of Britain.
The inter-war years are treated from the perspectives of international disarmament efforts within the framework of collective security, and the subsequent naval rivalry in the Baltic area in the years leading up to...

A revealing new examination of Palmerstonian diplomacy during the pivotal decade of the 1860s, the evolution of the modern capital ship and the real nature of empire', technology' and seapower'. In contrast to the standard image of the mid-Victorian Royal navy as all-powerful, Howard Fuller shows how it suffered serious challenges in this period. Global naval supremacy was no longer unassailable' or certain. He skilfully demonstrates how what was good naval practice during the Trent Affair was no longer good in the American Civil War once the Unionist side introduced the monitor' form of...

The articles collected here (two appearing for the first time in English) cover a number of topics central to naval history and illustrate the author's contention that this is not only, or even chiefly, a distinct area of special study, but rather a central theme running through the history of England, and of the whole British Isles. Though the subjects and the styles vary a good deal, the studies are linked by a common approach and some common ideas. Hence many examine ways in which naval history has formed a key element in such subjects as intellectual, religious, administrative or medical...

The Indian Navy has gradually emerged as an indispensable tool of Indian diplomacy in recent years, making it imperative for Indian policy-makers and naval thinkers to think anew the role of the nation s naval forces in Indian strategy. There is a long tradition in India of viewing the maritime dimension of security as central to the nation s strategic priorities. With India's economic rise, India is trying to bring that focus back, making its navy integral to national grand strategy. This volume is the first full-length examination of the myriad issues that have emerged out of the recent...

The Office of Ordnance has been ill-served by previous accounts of its role in arming the Royal Navy during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Cole offers an in-depth examination of its organizational structure and demonstrates how the department responded to the pressures of war over an extended period of time.

This book examines India's naval strategy within the context of Asian regional security.

Amidst the intensifying geopolitical contestation in the waters of Asia, this book investigates the growing strategic salience of the Indian Navy. Delhi's expanding economic and military strength has generated a widespread debate on India's prospects for shaping the balance of power in Asia. This volume provides much needed texture to the abstract debate on India's rise by focusing on the changing nature of India's maritime orientation, the recent evolution of its naval strategy, and its...

A new examination of why Cuba, a Caribbean country, sent half a million of its citizens to fight in Angola in Africa, and how a short-term intervention escalated into a lengthy war of intervention.

It clearly details how in January 1965 Cuba formed an alliance with the Angolan MPLA which evolved into the flagship of its global 'internationalist' mission, spawning the military intervention of November 1975 culminating in Cuba's spurious 'victory' at Cuito Cuanavale and Cuba's fifteen-year occupation of Angola.

Drawing on interviews with leading protagonists, first-hand...

This is a fascinating insight into China's strategic abilities and ambitions, probing the real depths of its plans for the twenty-first century.

China's Rising Sea Power explores similarities between China's strategic outlook today and that of earlier continental powers whose submarine fleets challenged dominant maritime powers for regional hegemony: Germany in two World Wars and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Using insights from classical naval strategic theory, Peter Howarth examines Beijing's strategic logic in making tactical submarines the keystone of China's...

Investigating the employment of British aircraft against German submarines during the final years of the First World War, this new book places anti-submarine campaigns from the air in the wider history of the First World War.

The Royal Naval Air Service invested heavily in aircraft of all types-aeroplanes, seaplanes, airships, and kite balloons-in order to counter the German U-boats. Under the Royal Air Force, the air campaign against U-boats continued uninterrupted. Aircraft bombed German U-boat bases in Flanders, conducted area and 'hunting' patrols around the coasts of Britain,...

This volume is a compendium of four Battle Summaries or Naval Staff Histories produced soon after the war by the Naval Historical Branch of the Admiralty. Originally classified and designed for internal use only, these histories are published here for the first time. The documents in this book cover the actions that resulted in the sinking or immobilising of the German warships "Bismarck" and "Graf Spee," and records the struggle to rid the seas of the meance of the armed merchant raiders.

This new collection of essays by a panel of established international scholars sheds new light on what some of those influences were and what actions were taken as a result of Britain's Far Eastern commitments.

Not only are new evidence and approaches to those issues addressed presented, but new avenues for further research are clearly outlined. This new study shows how the use of the sea as a means of projecting power and influence beyond national borders holds a unique place in the history of Great Britain. Directly linked to the concepts of empire, great power and strategic...

This new book reviews critically recent studies of fire control, and describes the essentials of naval gunnery in the dreadnought era.

With a foreword by Professor Andrew Lambert, it shows how, in 1913, the Admiralty rejected Arthur Pollen's Argo system for the Dreyer fire control tables. Many naval historians now believe that, consequently, British dreadnoughts were fitted with a system that, despite being partly plagiarised from Pollen's, was inferior: and that the Dreyer Tables were a contributory cause in the sinking of Indefatigable and Queen Mary at Jutland.

This book...

This text examines the military collapse of China's Ming Dynasty to a combination of foreign and domestic foes. The Ming's defeat was a highly surprising development, not least because as recently as in the 1590s the Ming had managed to defeat a Japanese force considered to be perhaps the most formidable of its day when the latter attempted to subjugate Korea en-route to a planned invasion of China.

This book focuses on the key naval strategic objectives of obtaining and maintaining sea control.

During times of war, sea control, or the ability of combatants to enjoy naval dominance, plays a crucial role in that side's ability to attain overall victory. This book explains and analyzes in much greater detail sea control in all its complexities, and describes the main methods of obtaining and maintaining it. Building on the views of naval classical thinkers, this book utilizes historical examples to illustrate the main methods of sea control. Each chapter focuses on a particular...

In Britain, memory of the First World War remains dominated by the trench warfare of the Western Front. Yet, in 1914 when the country declared war, the overwhelming expectation was that Britain s efforts would be primarily focussed on the sea. As such, this volume is a welcome corrective to what is arguably an historical neglect of the naval aspect of the Great War. As well as reassessing Britain s war at sea between 1914 and 1918, underlining the oft neglected contribution of the blockade of the Central Powers to the ending of the war, the book also offers a case study in ideas about...

This book provides an insight into the relationship between the Royal Navy's institutional culture and modern warfare with specific reference to the Falklands Conflict and the Gulf War.

This volume examines the rise and fall of sea powers in the Asia-Pacific region. The chapters analyse what seapower means, and has meant, and its role, both historic and contemporary, in the rise and fall of great powers.