Download or read book British Submarines in Two World Wars written by Norman Friedman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-03-30 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An “indispensable” guide to the Royal Navy’s submarines through 1945, with numerous photos and original plans (The Naval Review). The Royal Navy didn’t invent the submarine—but in 1914, Britain had the largest submarine fleet in the world, and at the end of World War I it had some of the largest and most unusual of all submarines—whose origins and designs are all detailed in this book. During the First World War they virtually closed the Baltic to German iron ore traffic, and blocked supplies to the Turkish army at Gallipoli. They were a major element in the North Sea battles, and fought the U-boat menace. During World War II, US submarines were known for strangling Japan, but lesser known is the parallel battle by British submarines in the Mediterranean to strangle the German army in North Africa. Like their US counterparts, interwar British submarines were designed largely with the demands of a possible Pacific War, though that was not the war they fought. The author also shows how the demands of such a war, fought over vast distances, collided with interwar British Government attempts to limit costs. It says much about the ingenuity of British submarine designers that they met their requirements despite enormous pressure. The author shows how evolving strategic and tactical requirements and evolving technology produced successive types of design. British submariners contributed much to the development of anti-submarine tactics and technology, beginning with largely unknown efforts before World War I. Between the wars, they exploited the new technology of sonar (Asdic), and as a result pioneered submarine silencing, with important advantages to the US Navy as it observed the British. They also pioneered the vital postwar use of submarines as anti-submarine weapons, sinking a U-boat while both were submerged. Heavily illustrated with photos and original plans and incorporating much original analysis, this book is ideal for naval historians and enthusiasts. “Sure to become the standard reference for British submarine development for years to come” —Warship
Download or read book British Submarines in the Cold War Era written by Norman Friedman and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 1201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first comprehensive technical history on the subject, with photos: “A must-read for all professionals, designers and scholars of modern submarines.” —Australian Naval Institute The Royal Navy’s greatest contribution to the Allied success in World War II was undoubtedly the defeat of the U-boat menace in the North Atlantic, a victory on which all other European campaigns depended. The underwater threat was the most serious naval challenge of the war, so it was not surprising that captured German submarine technology became the focus of attention for the British submarine service after 1945. It was quick to test and adopt the schnorkel, streamlining, homing torpedoes, and, less successfully, hydrogen-peroxide propulsion. Furthermore, in the course of the long Atlantic battle, the Royal Navy had become the world’s most effective anti-submarine force and was able to utilize this expertise to improve the efficiency of its own submarines. However, in 1945 German submarine technology had also fallen into the hands of the Soviet Union—and as the Cold War developed it became clear that a growing Russian submarine fleet would pose a new threat. Britain had to go to the US for its first nuclear propulsion technology, but the Royal Navy introduced the silencing technique that made British and US nuclear submarines viable anti-submarine assets, and it pioneered in the use of passive—silent—sonars in that role. Nuclear power also changed the role of some British submarines, which replaced bombers as the core element of British Cold War and post-Cold War nuclear deterrence. As in other books in this series, this one shows how a combination of evolving strategic and tactical requirements and new technology produced successive types of submarines. It is based largely on unpublished and previously classified official documentation, and to the extent allowed by security restrictions, also tells the operational story—HMS Conqueror is still the only nuclear submarine to have sunk a warship in combat, but there are many lesser-known aspects of British submarine operations in the postwar era.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of British Submarines 1901 1955 written by Paul Akermann and published by Periscope Publishing Ltd.. This book was released on 2002-11 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the development of submarines covered in this book spans the most tumultuous years of the 20th century. When the little Holland No. 1 was launched in 1901, few could guess that the submarine would become the most potent weapon of war ever developed.
Download or read book British Submarines of World War I written by Innes McCartney and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 2008-06-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the major powers engaged in an arms race in the early years of the 20th century, the Admiralty was tasked with developing that deadly stalker of the high seas - the submarine. In 1905, briefed with creating a vessel that could be employed on an enemy's coastline, the Admiralty took several technological leaps forward to match Germany's own revolutionary vessels. Written by an influential expert in the field and covering all classes of submarine developed and deployed during the war, this book includes great technical detail, gripping operational accounts and is accompanied by artwork. With fascinating details of daring submarine raids in the Baltic and the Dardanelles, this book reveals the exceedingly dangerous world of early submarine warfare which claimed an extraordinary number of lives on both sides and paved the way for a new kind of naval warfare in the 20th century and beyond.
Download or read book The History of the British U Class Submarine written by Derek Walters and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2004-11-30 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally designed in 1934 for anti-submarine training, by the end of the war 72 U-Class subs had been commissioned; 17 were lost to the enemy, and 3 in accidents. Manned by crews from seven nations' navies, they served worldwide, and never more successfully than in the Mediterranean. This book is the definitive study of this class of submarine and the men who serve on them.
Download or read book Sea Wolves written by Tim Clayton and published by Abacus. This book was released on 2012 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * A fascinating book about an otherwise neglected aspect of the First World War
Download or read book Submarines at War 1939 45 written by Richard Compton-Hall and published by Periscope Publishing Ltd.. This book was released on 2004-04 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides Compton Hall's pictorial history of submarine warfare in World War II.
Download or read book Harwich Submarines in the Great War written by Mark Harris and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-15 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Harwich Submarine Flotilla played a key role in establishing the dominance of the Royal Navy in the North Sea at the beginning of the First World War and saw continuous action. Their pioneering commanders and crews had to battle not just the enemy, but also the hazards of mines, human frailties, mechanical failure, and the weather.
Download or read book Anti Submarine Warfare in World War I written by John Abbatiello and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-05-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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, and escorted merchant convoys to safety. Despite the fact that aircraft acting alone destroyed only one U-boat during the war, the overall contribution of naval aviation to foiling U-boat attacks was significant. Only five merchant vessels succumbed to submarine attack when convoyed by a combined air and surface escort during World War I. This book examines aircraft and weapons technology, aircrew training, and the aircraft production issues that shaped this campaign. Then, a close examination of anti-submarine operations—bombing, patrols, and escort—yields a significantly different judgment from existing interpretations of these operations. This study is the first to take an objective look at the writing and publication of the naval and air official histories as they told the story of naval aviation during the Great War. The author also examines the German view of aircraft effectiveness, through German actions, prisoner interrogations, official histories, and memoirs, to provide a comparative judgment. The conclusion closes with a brief narrative of post-war air anti-submarine developments and a summary of findings. Overall, the author concludes that despite the challenges of organization, training, and production the employment of aircraft against U-boats was largely successful during the Great War. This book will be of interest to historians of naval and air power history, as well as students of World War I and military history in general.
Download or read book The Silent Deep written by James Jinks and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2015-10-29 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The Ministry of Defence does not comment upon submarine operations' is the standard response of officialdom to enquiries about the most secretive and mysterious of Britain's armed forces, the Royal Navy Submarine Service. Written with unprecedented co-operation from the Service itself and privileged access to documents and personnel, The Silent Deep is the first authoritative history of the Submarine Service from the end of the Second World War to the present. It gives the most complete account yet published of the development of Britain's submarine fleet, its capabilities, its weapons, its infrastructure, its operations and above all - from the testimony of many submariners and the first-hand witness of the authors - what life is like on board for the denizens of the silent deep. Dramatic episodes are revealed for the first time: how HMS Warspite gathered intelligence against the Soviet Navy's latest ballistic-missile-carrying submarine in the late 1960s; how HMS Sovereign made what is probably the longest-ever trail of a Soviet (or Russian) submarine in 1978; how HMS Trafalgar followed an exceptionally quiet Soviet 'Victor III', probably commanded by a Captain known as 'the Prince of Darkness', in 1986. It also includes the first full account of submarine activities during the Falklands War. But it was not all victories: confrontations with Soviet submarines led to collisions, and the extent of losses to UK and NATO submarine technology from Cold War spy scandals are also made more plain here than ever before. In 1990 the Cold War ended - but not for the Submarine Service. Since June 1969, it has been the last line of national defence, with the awesome responsibility of carrying Britain's nuclear deterrent. The story from Polaris to Trident - and now 'Successor' - is a central theme of the book. In the year that it is published, Russian submarines have once again been detected off the UK's shores. As Britain comes to decide whether to renew its submarine-carried nuclear deterrent, The Silent Deep provides an essential historical perspective.
Download or read book British Submarines at War 1939 1945 written by Alastair Mars and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Submarines at War 1914 1918 written by Richard Compton-Hall and published by Periscope Publishing Ltd.. This book was released on 2004-04 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work is a landmark history of submarine warfare during World War I. An-ex submariner, the author captures the essence of what is what like to operate in these new and lethal craft. This periscope eye view introduces the reader to the great submarine commanders, the tactics they employed and the often-futile attempts made to sink them.
Download or read book Secrets of the Conqueror written by Stuart Prebble and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2012-10-12 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HMS Conqueror is Britain's most famous submarine. It is the only sub since World War Two to have sunk an enemy ship. Conqueror's sinking of the Argentine cruiser Belgrano made inevitable an all-out war over the future of the Falkland Islands, and sparked off one of the most controversial episodes of twentieth century politics. The controversy was fuelled by a war-diary kept by an officer on board HMS Conqueror, and as a young TV producer in the 1980s Stuart Prebble scooped the world by locating the diary's author and getting his story on the record. But in the course of uncovering his Falklands story, Stuart Prebble also learned a military secret which could have come straight out of a Cold War thriller. It involved the Top Secret activities of the Conqueror in the months before and after the Falklands War. Prebble has waited for thirty years to tell his story. It is a story of incredible courage and derring-do, of men who put their lives on the line and were never allowed to tell what they had done. This story, buried under layers of official secrecy for three decades, is one of Britain's great military success stories and can now finally be told.
Download or read book No Room for Mistakes written by Geirr H Haarr and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2015-09-02 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new book from this bestselling author covering the events at sea in the early years of World War II, in which he has compiled comprehensive research and insight into a highly readable and detailed account of British and Allied submarine warfare in north European waters at the beginning of the war. The early chapters describe prewar submarine development, including technical advances and limitations, weapons, tactical use and life onboard, and examine the men who crewed them and explore their understanding of the warfare that they would become involved in.The core of the book is an account of the events as they unfolded in 'home waters' from the outset of war to the end of 1940, by which time the majority of the Allied submarines were operating in the Mediterranean. It is a story of success, triumph, failure and tragedy, and it tells of the tremendous courage and endurance shown by a small group of men learning how to fight a new kind of war in claustrophobic, sub-sea vessels with limited information about the enemy, or what they would meet off the alien coasts to which they were heading. Extensive primary sources are used to document the many aspects of this war, some of which remain controversial to this day. Max Horton, Vice Admiral Submarines 1940, said: 'There is no room for mistakes in submarines. You are either alive or dead.' This book makes plain how right he was.
Download or read book British Submarines of World War I written by Innes McCartney and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-20 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the major powers engaged in an arms race in the early years of the 20th century, the Admiralty was tasked with developing that deadly stalker of the high seas the submarine. In 1905, briefed with creating a vessel that could be employed on an enemy's coastline, the Admiralty took several technological leaps forward to match Germany's own revolutionary vessels. Written by an influential expert in the field and covering all classes of submarine developed and deployed during the war, this book includes great technical detail, gripping operational accounts and is accompanied by artwork. With fascinating details of daring submarine raids in the Baltic and the Dardanelles, this book reveals the exceedingly dangerous world of early submarine warfare which claimed an extraordinary number of lives on both sides and paved the way for a new kind of naval warfare in the 20th century and beyond.
Download or read book X 1 written by Roger Branfill-Cook and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-21 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The X stood for experimental, but it might equally have meant extraordinary, exotic or extravagant, as this giant submarine attracted superlatives the worlds largest, most heavily armed, and deepest diving submersible of the day. X.1 was a controversial project conceived behind the backs of the politicians, and would remain an unwanted stepchild. As British diplomats at the Washington naval conference were trying to outlaw the use of submarines as commerce raiders, the Admiralty was designing and building the worlds most powerful corsair submarine, to destroy single-handed entire convoys of merchant ships. This book explores the historical background to submarine cruisers, the personalities involved in X.1s design and service, the spy drama surrounding her launch, the treason trial of a leading RN submarine commander, the ships chequered career, and her political demise. Despite real technical successes, she would finally fall foul of black propaganda, aimed at persuading foreign naval powers that the cruiser submarine did not work; even today uninformed opinion repeats the myth of her failure. However, it was completely ignored by other navies, who went on building submarine cruisers of their own, some larger than, but none so sophisticated as, X.1. The book analyses in detail the submarine cruisers built by the US Navy, the French and the Japanese, plus the projected German copy of X.1, the Type XI U-Boat, paying belated tribute to the real importance of the mysterious X.1.
Download or read book British Submarines at War written by Edwyn Gray and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2016-01-31 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1970 and out of print for nearly thirty years, this book has already earned its place as a classic of submarine history by an author with an international reputation for being second-to-none in evoking the claustrophobic horror of war beneath the waves. Accurate in detail, yet written with humanity and humour, it tells the story of Britains pioneer submarines during the 1914-1918 War during which their crews battled courageously in atrocious conditions against a skilled and ruthless enemy and an equally unforgiving sea.2001 marks the centenary of Britains Submarine Service introduced into the Royal Navy in the face of opposition from virtually every flag officer in the fleet. The dedicated enthusiasts who made up their crews were derided as members of The Trade but they fought the Edwardian Naval Establishment as fiercely as they were later to fight the enemy; And Victory was their reward on both occasions. Freshly illustrated, this second edition is a timely tribute to the gallant pioneers who created the legacy of dogged courage, determination, and standards of excellence which remain the proud hallmarks of the Royal Navys submarine service today.
