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 Rebuilding the Royal Navy written by D. K. Brown and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-30 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This design history of post-war British warship development, based on both declassified documentation and personal experience, is the fourth and final volume in the authors masterly account of development of Royal Navys ships from the 1850s to the Falklands War. In this volume the author covers the period in which he himself worked as a Naval Constructor, while this personal knowledge is augmented by George Moores in-depth archival research on recently declassified material. The RN fleet in 1945 was old and worn out, while new threats and technologies, and post-war austerity called for new solutions. How designers responded to these unprecedented challenges is the central theme of this book. It covers the ambitious plans for the conversion or replacement of the bigger ships; looks at all the new construction, from aircraft carriers, through destroyers and frigates, to submarines (including nuclear and strategic), to minesweepers and small craft. The authors pay particular attention to the innovations introduced, and analyses the impact of the Falklands War. At the start of the twenty-first century the Royal Navy is still a powerful and potent force with new and a number of innovative classes, both surface and sub-surface, coming on stream. This book offers a fascinating insight into how the post-war fleet developed and adapted to the changing role of the Navy.
Download or read book The British Carrier Strike Fleet After 1945 written by David Hobbs and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a follow-up to the highly regarded British Pacific Fleet, David Hobbs looks at the post-World War II fortunes of the most powerful fleet in the Royal Navy—its decline in the face of diminishing resources, its final fall at the hands of ignorant politicians, and its recent resurrection in the form of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Despite prophecies that nuclear weapons would make conventional forces obsolete, British carrier-borne aircraft were almost continuously employed. The Royal Navy faced new challenges in places like Korea, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf. During these trials the Royal Navy invented techniques and devices crucial to modern carrier operations, pioneering novel forms of warfare tactics for countering insurgency and terrorism. This book combines narratives of poorly understood operations with clear analysis of their strategic and political background. With beautiful illustrations and original research, British Carrier Strike Fleet tells an important but largely untold story of renewed significance as Britain once again embraces carrier operation.
Download or read book Sober Men and True written by Christopher McKee and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: McKee scours sailors' diaries, letters, memoirs, and oral interviews to uncover the lives and secret thoughts of British men of the lower deck. From working-class childhoods to the hardships of finding civilian employment after leaving the navy, the former sailors speak with candor about the naval life. Illustrations.
Download or read book British Aircraft Carriers 1939 45 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier program in the late 1930s. In 1938, the Royal Navy launched the HMS Ark Royal, its first-ever purpose-built aircraft carrier. This was quickly followed by others, including the highly-successful Illustrious class. Smaller and tougher than their American cousins, the British carriers were designed to fight in the tight confines of the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Over the next six years, these carriers battled the Axis powers in every theatre, attacking Italian naval bases, hunting the Bismark, and even joining the fight in the Pacific. This book tells the story of the small, but resilient, carriers and the crucial role they played in the British war effort.
Download or read book The Royal Navy s Air Service in the Great War written by David Hobbs and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-09-30 with total page 493 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a few short years after 1914 the Royal Navy practically invented naval air warfare, not only producing the first effective aircraft carriers, but also pioneering most of the techniques and tactics that made naval air power a reality. By 1918 the RN was so far ahead of other navies that a US Navy observer sent to study the British use of aircraft at sea concluded that any discussion of the subject must first consider their methods. Indeed, by the time the war ended the RN was training for a carrier-borne attack by torpedo-bombers on the German fleet in its bases over two decades before the first successful employment of this tactic, against the Italians at Taranto.Following two previously well-received histories of British naval aviation, David Hobbs here turns his attention to the operational and technical achievements of the Royal Naval Air Service, both at sea and ashore, from 1914 to 1918. Detailed explanations of operations, the technology that underpinned them and the people who carried them out bring into sharp focus a revolutionary period of development that changed naval warfare forever. Controversially, the RNAS was subsumed into the newly created Royal Air Force in 1918, so as the centenary of its extinction approaches, this book is a timely reminder of its true significance.
Download or read book Royal Navy Uniforms 1930 1945 written by Martin J Brayley and published by Crowood. This book was released on 2014-11-30 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Royal Navy Uniforms 1930-1945 uses over 400 illustrations - both period images and new colour photographs of original items - to show the clothing of both Officers and Ratings in World War II and during the years leading up to it, when Naval uniforms underwent significant modernization. The illustrations are supported by detailed text describing the development and use of Naval clothing of the time. Its contents include Officers' clothing and effects; Class 1 and III Ratings' clothing and effects; seamens' clothing and effects; battledress and tropical clothing; miscellaneous clothing, personal effects and substantive and non-substantive insignia. This is the first book to offer a detailed study of Royal Navy clothing in the 1930s and World War II and will be a vital resource for collectors, historians and enthusiasts. All of the major uniform types are superbly illustrated with 470 colour and black & white studio images and period photographs.
Download or read book Vanguard to Trident written by Eric Grove and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This major study clearly demonstrates how cabinet-level decisions have shaped the British fleet, its size, capabilities, and activities, and also provides an assessment of naval policy since the Falklands and the problems that face the Royal Navy.
Download or read book Total Germany written by David Wragg and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2015-10-30 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of A Century of British Naval Aviation, 1909-2009 examines the losses and successes of the Royal Navy during World War Two. On the declaration of war in 1939, the British Admiralty signaled all warships and naval bases “Total Germany, Total Germany.” It was fortunate that of Germany’s three armed services, the Kriegsmarine under Grosseradmiral Erich Raeder was the least well prepared. True, Admiral Karl Donitz’s U-Boat force was to give the Allies many anxious times, but Hitler was never comfortable or competent in his handling of naval surface forces. “Total Germany” is a concise yet comprehensive account of the Royal Navy’s part in the war at sea and the measures taken to ensure victory. The different approaches taken by the warring countries are expertly examined. The author reviews the differing strategies and tactics of the various theatres such as the Far East, Mediterranean, Atlantic and Arctic. “Not only does it cover every major event during WWII the author brings up some other less well known actions. A thoroughly enjoyable read.”—Ton Class Association
Download or read book A History of the Royal Navy World War II written by Duncan Redford and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-27 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Navy's operations in World War II started on 3 September 1939 and continued until the surrender of Japan in August 1945 - there was no 'phoney war' at sea. The navy played a central role in the evacuation of the retreating British army at Dunkirk, and later orchestrated the sinking of Germany's mighty battleship and Hitler's pride, the Bismarck. Without the Royal Navy's attention to the defence of Britain's seaborne trade - especially in the struggle against German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic - there would not have been food for the country, fuel for the RAF's operations or supplies to keep the army fighting in Europe, North Africa and the Far East. Yet the outstanding naval contribution to Britain's survival and eventual victory came at a heavy cost in terms of ships and to the men who had to face not just the violence of the enemy, but also the violence of the sea. This book argues that World War II was, effectively, a maritime war; it was the Royal Navy's war.
Download or read book Air Power and the Royal Navy 1914 1945 written by Geoffrey Till and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book British Battleships 1919 1945 written by R A Burt and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2012-02-28 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superb reference book achieved the status of classic soon after its first publication in 1993; it was soon out of print and is now one of the most sought-after naval reference books. And with good reason. Offering an unprecedented range of descriptive and illustrative detail, the author describes the evolution of the battleship classes through all their modifications and refits. As well as dealing with design features, armour, machinery and power plants and weaponry, he also examines the performance of the ships in battle and analyses their successes and failures; and as well as covering all the RNs battleships and battlecruisers, he also looks in detail at the aircraft carrier conversions of the WWI battlecruisers Furious, Glorious and Courageous. British Battleships 1919-1939 is a masterpiece of research and the comprehensive text is accompanied by tabular detail and certainly the finest collection of photographs and line drawings ever offered in such a book. For this new edition the author has added some 75 new photographs, many of them having never appeared in print before, and the book has been completely redesigned to fully exploit the superb photo collection. A delight for the historian, enthusiast and ship modeller, it is a volume that is already regarded as an essential reference work for this most significant era in naval history and ship design.
Download or read book The Naval War of 1812 Or the History of the United States Navy During the Last War with Great Britain to Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle of New Orleans Volume 1 written by Theodore Roosevelt and published by Franklin Classics. This book was released on 2018-10-12 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Download or read book The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe 1939 1945 written by David Hobbs and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-30 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive history of the Royal Navy’s naval aviation component’s campaigns during World War II. For the first time, this book tells the story of how naval air operations evolved into a vital element of the Royal Navy’s ability to fight a three-dimensional war against both the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. An integral part of RN, the Fleet Air Arm was not a large organization, with only 406 pilots and 232 front-line aircraft available for operations in September 1939. Nevertheless, its impact far outweighed its numbers—it was an RN fighter that shot down the first enemy aircraft of the war, and an RN pilot was the first British fighter “ace” with 5 or more kills. The Fleet Air Arm’s rollcall of achievements in northern waters went on to include the Norwegian Campaign, the crippling of Bismarck, the gallant sortie against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau as they passed through the Channel, air attacks on enemy E-boats in the narrow seas, air cover for the Russian convoys, air attacks that disabled Tirpitz, and strikes and minelaying operations against German shipping in the Norwegian littoral that continued until May 1945. By the end of the war in Europe the FAA had grown to 3243 pilots and 1336 aircraft. This book sets all these varied actions within their proper naval context and both technical and tactical aspects are explained with “thumbnail” descriptions of aircraft, their weapons and avionics. Cross reference with the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour has been made for the first time to put names to those aircrew killed in action wherever possible as a mark of respect for their determination against enemy forces on, above and below the sea surface which more often than not outnumbered them. The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe completes David Hobbs’s much-praised six-volume series chronicling the operational history of British naval aviation from the earliest days to the present. Praise for The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe “In this masterly addition to his series on the Fleet Air Arm at war, David Hobbs addresses naval air operations in the Atlantic, the North Sea, the Arctic, and the English Channel.” —Professor Andrew Lambert, Warship 2023 “With lots of action it rattles along and is a very good read.” —The Armourer Magazine, May 2022
Download or read book British Aircraft Carriers written by David Hobbs and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarise related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full colour, one on a magnificent gatefold.??Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.
Download or read book Naval Warfare in the English Channel 1939 1945 written by Peter C. Smith and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-11-13 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII history examines how the Royal Navy defended the English Channel from the first Dover Patrols to the liberation of the Channel Islands. The English Channel has always provided Great Britain with a natural defensive barrier, but it was never more vital than in the early days of World War Two. This book relates how the Royal Navy maintained control of that vital seaway throughout the war. Military historian Peter Smith takes readers from the early days of the Dover Patrols, through the traumas of the Dunkirk evacuation and the battles of the Channel convoys; the war against the E-boats and U-boats; the tragic raids at Dieppe and St Nazaire; the escape of the German battle-fleet; coastal convoys; the Normandy landings and the final liberation of the Channel Islands. Many wartime photographs, charts and tables add to this superb account of this bitterly contested narrow sea.
Download or read book Cold War Britain written by M. Hopkins and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-12-13 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Britain and the Cold War, 1945-1964 offers new perspectives on ways in which Britain fought the Cold War, and illuminates key areas of the policy formulation process. It argues that in many ways Britain and the United States perceived and handled the threat posed by the Communist bloc in similar terms: nevertheless, Britain's continuing global commitments, post-war economic problems and somestic considerations obliged her on occasion to tackle the threat rather differently.
