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 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 The Submarine Service 1900 1918 written by Nicholas Lambert and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-25 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The year 2001 marks the centenary of the Royal Navy's submarine service. In the aftermath of the 2016 celebrations of the Battle of Jutland centenary, it is worth considering how the First World War at sea changed. This volume opens with an examination of the background to the Board of Admiralty's decision in 1900 to buy submarines, bringing to light documents that go a long way toward dispelling the myth that Britain's pre-1914 naval leaders were opposed to the development of the submarine as a major weapon. Indeed, the documents show that senior naval officers and influential civilians in Whitehall believed that the advent of the submarine would revolutionize naval warfare in a way that would bolster the Royal Navy's position as the world's predominant naval power. This edited selection of documents illustrates not only the Admiralty's thinking on the employment of the submarine between 1900 and 1918, it also charts the technical development of British submarines, and explains issues such as why the pioneer submariners came to regard themselves as an élite group within the Royal Navy - and were allowed to become the 'silent service'.

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 The Royal Navy Submarine Service written by Antony Preston and published by Conway Maritime Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1901 Holland One, the Royal Navy's first submarine was launched. This is a day-by-day account of the history and achievements of the Royal Navy's submarines throughout their first 100 years of service. It chronologically analyzes separate classes of submarine.

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 Hunter Killers written by Iain Ballantyne and published by Orion. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HUNTER KILLER: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes. HUNTER KILLERS will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to the shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas. There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in UK waters and finally, as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin's oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service. This is the dramatic untold story of Britain's most-secret service.

Download or read book The Submarine written by Duncan Redford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-07-30 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Underhand and damned un-English' was the view of submarines in Edwardian Britain. Yet by the 1960s the new nuclear powered submarines were seen by the Royal Navy as being the 'hallmark of a first class navy'. In this book Duncan Redford, a retired Royal Navy submarine officer, explores how - and why - attitudes to the submarine changed in Britain between 1900 and 1977. Using a wide array of previously unpublished sources, Redford sheds light on what the British thought about submarines, both their own and those that were used against them. Rather than providing an operational history of Britain's submarines, this book looks at naval and civilian conceptions of what submarine warfare was imagined to be like in the context of unrestricted submarine warfare, the world wars and the development of nuclear weaponry. With chapters on the coronation and jubilee reviews at Spithead, the submarine in novels and films, as well as coverage of the Royal Navy's and civilian views of submarines and submarine warfare this book gives a comprehensive view of the British regard - or lack of it - for the submarine. Through the examination of the British relationship with submarines since 1900 it is possible to see changing patterns in acceptance and tensions between different sub-cultures, both civil and maritime. Since 1900 the meaning constructed around submarines has changed as the submarine has progressed along a road from perdition as the weapon of the weaker power (and morally weaker power too) to a form of redemption as a major capital unit. This book will be essential for naval historians, students and those interested in aspects of submarine development and use.

Download or read book X 1 written by Roger Branfill-Cook and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-01-21 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of the Royal Navy’s experimental submarine cruiser, built in secret after WWI, and torpedoed by political propaganda. The 'X' stood for experimental, but it might equally have meant extraordinary, exotic or extravagant, as this giant submarine attracted superlatives. Built in the early 1920s, it was the world's largest, most heavily armed, and deepest diving submersible of the day. A controversial project conceived behind the backs of politicians, X.1 would remain an unwanted stepchild. As British diplomats attempted to outlaw the use of submarines as commerce raiders, the Admiralty was building the world's most powerful corsair submarine, designed to destroy entire convoys of merchant ships. This book explores the historical background of submarine cruisers, the personalities involved in X.1's design and service, the spy drama surrounding her launch, the treason trial of a Royal Navy submarine commander, the ship's checkered career, and her political demise. Despite technical successes, the X.1 became the target of a misinformation campaign aimed at persuading foreign naval powers that the cruiser submarine did not work. While the myth of her failure persists even today, it was ignored by other navies, who went on building submarine cruisers of their own. The book analyses the submarine cruisers built by the US, French, and Japanese navies, as well as the projected German copy of X.1, the Type XI U-Boat.

Download or read book The Royal Navy and Anti submarine Warfare 1917 49 written by Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2006 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential new account of how anti-submarine warfare is conducted, with a focus on both historic and present-day operations. This new book shows how until 1944 U-boats operated as submersible torpedo craft which relied heavily on the surface for movement and charging their batteries. This pattern was repeated in WWII until Allied anti-submarine countermeasures had forced the Germans to modify their existing U-boats with the schnorkel. Countermeasures along also pushed the development of high-speed U-boats capable of continuously submerged operations. This study shows how these improved submarines became benchmark of the post-war Russian submarine challenge. Royal Navy doctrine was developed by professional anti-submarine officers, and based on the well-tried combination of defensive and offensive anti-submarine measures that had stood the press of time since 1917, notwithstanding considerable technological change. This consistent and holistic view of anti-submarine warfare has not been understood by most of the subsequent historians of these anti-submarine campaigns, and this book provides an essential and new insight into how Cold War, and indeed modern, anti-submarine warfare is conducted.

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 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 A Source Book of Submarines and Submersibles written by Anthony John Watts and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 1976 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book His Majesty s Submarines written by and published by Merriam Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Silent Service written by John Parker and published by Headline. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the great untold stories of the British services is that of the Royal Navy Submarine Service which entered the fray in World War I with 100 underwater craft. Through World War II, where submariners' prospects of returning safely from a mission were only 50:50, the Falklands conflict and the sinking of the Belgrano, to present-day elite machines, the Silent Service has played an enormous part in British defence. John Parker's in-depth investigation is very much personality led with diaries from the early part of the century to substantial first-person testimony from survivors of wartime heroics (when many VCs were won).

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 British Submarines 1939 45 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: The submarine was the invisible but formidable weapon of the Royal Navy during World War II. This book examines the three major classes – 'S', 'T' and 'U' – detailing their design, development and modification. The major submarine engagements of the war are recounted, including the Norwegian campaign, the battle of Malta in March 1942, Operation Pedestal, and many other engagements in all theatres between the British subs, German U-Boats and Japanese subs. Using many previously unpublished sources and his own extensive underwater explorations, Innes McCartney gives a highly detailed account of the British submarine.