Download or read book The Ocean Class of the Second World War written by Malcolm Cooper and published by . This book was released on 2022-01-15 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book tells the story of the Ocean class of standard cargo ships, their design, building and careers, and the author places them firmly in the context of the battle of the Atlantic which was raging at the time of the first launchings. While their achievements alone would merit an important place in histories of the war at sea, the impact of the oceans stretched far beyond the direct contribution of the ships themselves.The yards where they were built also served as models for a series of new American shipyards and the Oceans' blueprints were used as the basis for the American Liberty ship. This comprehensive new history, based on extensive archival research and lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs, restores the Oceans to their rightful place in history. The ships' design antecedents are explained, and their ordering, financing and construction analyzed in full. Wartime operations are covered in depth, by theater and with full details of war losses and other casualties. The book concludes with an assessment of their subsequent peacetime careers and a comparison to other war-built designs. This is a model history of a highly significant class of ship.

Download or read book The Ocean Class of the Second World War written by Malcolm Cooper and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-30 with total page 588 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new book tells the story of the Ocean class of standard cargo ships, their design, building, and careers, and the author places them firmly in the context of the battle of the Atlantic which was raging at the time of the first launchings. They entered the vanguard of the Allied shipping effort at a time when the German U-boat threat was at its most dangerous, and British shipping resources were stretched to the limit. They were deployed in the North Atlantic, on the long supply routes around Africa to the Middle East, in the Russian convoys, in operations in support of the invasions of North Africa and Italy and the land campaigns which followed, in the D-Day landings, and later amphibious operations on the south coast of France. Finally, some of the class joined an invasion force making its way towards Malaya when Japan surrendered in August 1945. The Oceans paid a heavy price for these accomplishments, one third of the class being lost to torpedoes, bombs, or mines in places as far apart as the Florida coast, the Norwegian Sea, the Bay of Algiers, and the Gulf of Oman. While these achievements alone would merit an important place in histories of the war at sea, the impact of the Oceans stretched far beyond the direct contribution of the ships themselves. The yards where they were built also served as models for a series of new American shipyards, designed to mass produce cargo vessels with such speed and in such volume as to completely reverse the mathematics of attrition, which had run so badly against the Allies into 1942. Even more important, the Oceans’ blueprints were used as the basis for the American Liberty ship, the 2,700-strong fleet which finally tilted the balance of the war at sea decisively in the Allies’ favor and went on to underpin the post-war renewal of the world merchant fleet. This comprehensive new history, based on extensive archival research and lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs, restores the Oceans to their rightful place in history. The ships’ design antecedents are explained, and their ordering, financing, and construction analyzed in full. Wartime operations are covered in depth, by theater, and with full details of war losses and other casualties. The book concludes with an assessment of their subsequent peacetime careers and a comparison to other war-built designs. This is a model history of a highly significant class of ship.

Download or read book War Beneath the Sea written by Peter Padfield and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2008-05-02 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for War Beneath the Sea "I am truly filled with awe and admiration...fascinating and a great contribution to the entire lore of submarines.... I wish I had written the book." ?Capt. Edward L. Beach, USN (Ret.) author of Run Silent, Run Deep "Peter Padfield is the best British naval historian of his generation now working. [His] book...will now become the standard work on the subject." ?Daily Telegraph (London) "Peter Padfield has produced by far the best and most complete critical history of the submarine operations of all the combatants in the Second World War, at the same time providing vivid narrative accounts of particular actions and events." ?Lloyd?s List (London) "An excellent account of submarine warfare in 1939?45... [it] recreates the tribulations and horrors of that especially brutal form of warfare within a sturdily analytical and often critical framework." ?The Economist "[A] marvelously complete and detailed study of World War II submarine warfare...an interesting, serious, and timely book." ?Houston Chronicle "A brilliant submarine warfare study." ?Military Review

Download or read book The Two Ocean War written by Samuel Eliot Morison and published by Boston : Little, Brown. This book was released on 1963 with total page 782 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book has been written in the hope of bringing the exploits of the United States Navy in World War II to the attention of new readers. I have not attempted a uniform condensation of the fifteen previous volumes I have written, but rather to select the most important battles and campaigns.

Download or read book The War for the Seas written by Evan Mawdsley and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bold and authoritative maritime history of World War II which takes a fully international perspective and challenges our existing understanding Command of the oceans was crucial to winning World War II. By the start of 1942 Nazi Germany had conquered mainland Europe, and Imperial Japan had overrun Southeast Asia and much of the Pacific. How could Britain and distant America prevail in what had become a "war of continents"? In this definitive account, Evan Mawdsley traces events at sea from the first U-boat operations in 1939 to the surrender of Japan. He argues that the Allied counterattack involved not just decisive sea battles, but a long struggle to control shipping arteries and move armies across the sea. Covering all the major actions in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as those in the narrow seas, this book interweaves for the first time the endeavors of the maritime forces of the British Empire, the United States, Germany, and Japan, as well as those of France, Italy, and Russia.

Download or read book How the War Was Won written by Phillips Payson O'Brien and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-12 with total page 655 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An important new history of air and sea power in World War II and its decisive role in Allied victory.

Download or read book The Liberty Ships of World War II written by Greg H. Williams and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book details the Liberty ships and the Emergency Shipbuilding Program during World War II. For the first time, comprehensive information is provided about the builders, the namesakes, and the operators under one cover. Included is a list of all 2,710 Liberty ships delivered by U.S. shipyards, giving each ship's namesake and detailed descriptions of the companies that built the ships and the steamship companies that operated them during the war. This book also details the formation of two shipyards in South Portland, Maine, the Todd-Bath Iron Shipbuilding Co. and the South Portland Shipbuilding Corp. South Portland's shady operations were investigated by the U.S. Congress and resulted in the merger of both companies into the New England Shipbuilding Corporation in April 1943. Also featured is the Jeremiah O'Brien. Built by New England Ship in 1943 and one of only two operational Liberty ships left in the world, its service history and crew information are given along with its postwar restoration and return to Normandy in 1994.

Download or read book The Two ocean War a Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War written by Samuel Eliot Morison and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 611 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Victory at Sea written by Paul Kennedy and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2022-04-26 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping, lavishly illustrated one-volume history of the rise of American naval power during World War II “A brilliant and gripping book by a master historian working at the top of his powers.”—Fredrik Logevall, Harvard University “Paul Kennedy has written a classic in this sweeping narrative account of the desperate struggle to command the seas and America’s rise as a superpower during the Second World War.”—John H. Maurer, U.S. Naval War College In this engaging narrative, brought to life by marine artist Ian Marshall’s beautiful full‑color paintings, historian Paul Kennedy grapples with the rise and fall of the Great Powers during World War II. Tracking the movements of the six major navies of the Second World War—the allied navies of Britain, France, and the United States and the Axis navies of Germany, Italy, and Japan—Kennedy tells a story of naval battles, maritime campaigns, convoys, amphibious landings, and strikes from the sea. From the elimination of the Italian, German, and Japanese fleets and almost all of the French fleet, to the end of the era of the big‑gunned surface vessel, the advent of the atomic bomb, and the rise of an American economic and military power larger than anything the world had ever seen, Kennedy shows how the strategic landscape for naval affairs was completely altered between 1936 and 1946.

Download or read book Very Special Ships written by Arthur Nicholson and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the six Abdiel-class fast minelayers, the fastest and most versatile ships to serve in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. They operated not only as offensive minelayers – dashing into enemy waters under cover of darkness – but in many other roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta. In lieu of mines, they transported items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. Distinguished by their three funnels, the Abdiels were attractive, well-designed ships, and they were also unique – no other navy had such ships, and so they were sought-after commands and blessed with fine captains. To give the fullest picture of this important class of ships, the book details the origins and history of mines, minelayers, and minelaying; covers the origins and design of the class; describes the construction of each of the six ships, and the modified design of the last two; tells in detail of the operational careers of the ships in the second World War, when they played vital roles in the battle of Crete and the siege of Malta, plied the hazardous route to Tobruk, and laid mines off the Italian coast. The post-war careers of the surviving ships is also documented. Written to appeal to naval enthusiasts, students of World War II and modelmakers, the author tells the story of these ships through first-hand accounts, official sources, and specially- commissioned drawings and photographs.

Download or read book Vanished written by Wil S. Hylton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a mesmerizing storyteller, the gripping search for a missing World War II crew, their bomber plane, and their legacy. In the fall of 1944, a massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific islands of Palau, leaving a trail of mysteries. According to mission reports from the Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow water—but when investigators went to find it, the wreckage wasn’t there. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, yet the airmen were never seen again. Some of their relatives whispered that they had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. But they never explained why. For sixty years, the U.S. government, the children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers searched the islands for clues. With every clue they found, the mystery only deepened. Now, in a spellbinding narrative, Wil S. Hylton weaves together the true story of the missing men, their final mission, the families they left behind, and the real reason their disappearance remained shrouded in secrecy for so long. This is a story of love, loss, sacrifice, and faith—of the undying hope among the families of the missing, and the relentless determination of scientists, explorers, archaeologists, and deep-sea divers to solve one of the enduring mysteries of World War II.

Download or read book The Two Ocean War written by S.E. Morison and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Second World War written by Rob Lloyd Jones and published by Usborne Books. This book was released on 2011 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: HISTORY. This is a brilliant new historical addition to the "See Inside" series, looking closely at the vehicles and major events that defined the Second World War as one of the most destructive wars in history. Lifting the flaps reveals the insides of some of the military vehicles used during campaigns including tanks, fighter planes and aircraft carriers, while others look in depth at life during the Blitz and the action on the beaches during the invasion of Normandy. Ages 6+.

Download or read book The Royal Netherlands Navy of World War II written by Ryan K. Noppen and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-08-20 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the late 19th and early 20th century, a combination of coastal defence for the homeland and fleet defence for the East Indies became the established naval strategy for the Royal Dutch Navy and set the template for the world wars. Battleships were too expensive to build and maintain, so after World War I, there was significant investment in submarine development and construction. A handful of modern light cruisers and a new class of destroyers were also constructed during the interwar years to serve as a small Fleet-in-Being in the East Indies, as well as to support the actions of the navy's submarines. The light cruiser HNLMS De Ruyter and the Java-class light cruisers were the most powerful units of the new fleet whilst the backbone of the destroyer fleet was the Admiralen-class and the Tromp-class of destroyer leaders. Beginning in December 1941, the Dutch Navy played a very active role in the defence of the East Indies against the Japanese during World War II. The Battle of the Java Sea at the end of February 1942 crushed Dutch naval power in the East Indies, sinking the cruisers Java and De Ruyter and killing Admiral Karel Doorman. However, several Dutch surface warships and submarines continued the fight against the Axis powers alongside the Allies until the end of World War II, including a pair of British-built destroyers, Van Galen and Tjerk Hiddes. This beautifully illustrated book from a leading scholar on Dutch military history provides a comprehensive guide to the Royal Netherlands Navy of the World War II period, complete with detailed cutaways and battleplates of the fleet in action.

Download or read book Fighting Forces of World War II at Sea written by John C. Miles and published by Fighting Forces of World War I. This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the forces that fought at sea affect the outcome of World War II? This book explores the ships and submarines that slugged it out to rule the seas during World War II, from stealthy U-boats to mighty battleships. Along the way, readers will discover the key battles, tactics, and weapons that helped propel the Allies to victory.

Download or read book Italian Destroyers of World War II written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-23 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new illustrated history and analysis of Italy's World War II destroyers. The Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marine or RM) began the Second World War with one of the largest fleets in the world. Included in this was a total of 59 fleet destroyers, and others were added during the war. These were a diverse collection of ships dating back to the First World War, large destroyers built to counter ships of similar size being introduced in the French Navy (the RM's historical enemy), and medium-sized ships which constituted the bulk of the destroyer force. RM destroyers were built for high speed, not endurance since they were only expected to operate inside the Mediterranean. They were also well-armed, but lacked radar. During the war, RM destroyers fought well. With the exception of a small force based in Abyssinia which fought a series of battles in the Red Sea against the British, RM destroyers were active in the Mediterranean. The primary mission of the RM curing the war was to keep the supply lines to North Africa open. The Italians were largely successful in this effort, and destroyers were key in the effort. RM destroyers were present at every fleet action with the British Mediterranean Fleet.. The intensity of these actions were shown by the fact that the RM lost 51 destroyers during the war.

Download or read book At All Costs written by Sam Moses and published by Random House. This book was released on 2006-11-07 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this gripping, page-turning account, Sam Moses has told a story in the tradition of Sebastian Junger’s A Perfect Storm, Robert Kurson’s Shadow Divers, and Hampton Sides’s Ghost Soldiers. It’s a story about the heroism of two men in battle at sea during World War II, and one woman fleeing Nazi Norway with her child. It’s about how courage can change the course of history. AT ALL COSTS: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Marines Turned the Tide of World War II is the astonishing untold account, with original historical reporting, of how two men faced unfathomable danger to help save the island of Malta, Churchill’s crux of the war. In 1942, the tiny island of Malta was the most heavily bombed place on earth. Hitler needed Malta as a stepping-stone to get to the oil in Iraq and Iran (Persia at the time). Blockaded by sea, Malta was running on empty, in food, fuel and ammunition. Axis U-boats and dive-bombers made supply convoys to Malta more like suicide missions. In this last-hope convoy, 50 warships escorted 13 freighters carrying aviation fuel, and a single critical tanker, the SS Ohio, with 107,000 barrels of oil from Texas. Winston Churchill had traveled to Washington and asked FDR for the tanker–his prime ministership was at stake over this mission to Malta. Relentlessly dive-bombed and repeatedly torpedoed, the Ohio suffered huge hits and was abandoned. Two young American merchant mariners– pulled from the sea after their own ship went down in flames–boarded the ravaged tanker, repaired her guns and fought off German and Italian dive-bombers, as the sinking Ohio was towed at 4 knots toward Malta with a tiny crew of volunteers. Sam Moses’ AT ALL COSTS is a triumphant story of human bravery: fearless, selfless acts by men determined to save a ship and win a war; profound communal courage from an island under brutal siege; and leaders who understood the cause of freedom.