Download or read book The War of the Gun Boats written by Bryan Cooper and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2009-07-19 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII naval history chronicles the development of small fighting boats as well as the evolution of their tactics and coastal warfare operations. Small, fast and highly maneuverable, gunboats and motor torpedo boats were a vital part of naval combat through the Second World War. Every major naval power built their own versions: The Germans had Schnellboote, the Royal Navy had MTBs and MGBs, and the Americans had PT boats. With their daring night raids and close-range battles, they displayed the buccaneering spirit of an earlier age. These small boats fought in coastal waters across the globe, from the narrow waters of the English Channel to the stormy North Sea; in the Mediterranean off the coasts of North Africa and Italy and among the islands of the Aegean; across the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Leyte Gulf; in Hong Kong and Singapore; and off Burma's Arakan coast. In The War of the Gun Boats, historian Bryan Cooper traces the development of these craft, beginning with their limited use in the First World War and the fast motorboats designed to break water speed records in the 1930s. Cooper then details their widespread implementation during the Second World War and the development of their own form of naval warfare.

Download or read book Mississippi River Gunboats of the American Civil War 1861 65 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-20 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the start of the American Civil War, neither side had warships on the Mississippi River and in the first few months both sides scrambled to gather a flotilla, converting existing riverboats for naval use. These ships were transformed into powerful naval weapons despite a lack of resources, trained manpower and suitable vessels. The creation of a river fleet was a miracle of ingenuity, improvisation and logistics, particularly for the South. This title describes their design, development and operation throughout the American Civil War.

Download or read book Gunboats of World War I written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-04-20 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Naval action in World War I conjures up images of enormous dreadnoughts slugging it out in vast oceans. Yet the truth is that more sailors were killed serving on gunboats and monitors operating far from the naval epicentre of the war than were ever killed at Jutland. Gunboat engagements during this war were bloody and hard fought, if small in scale. Austrian gunboats on the Danube fired the first shots of the war, whilst German, British and Belgian gunboats fought one of the strangest, most intriguing naval campaigns in history in far-flung Lake Tanganyika. From the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, from the Balkans to Mesopotamia, gunboats played an influential part in the story of World War I. This detailed technical guide to the gunboats of all the major navies of the war means that, for the first time, the story can be told.

Download or read book US Navy Gunboats 1885 1945 written by Brian Lane Herder and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-04-15 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the history of the US Navy's gunboats and their role in building a worldwide American naval presence abroad and in combat, from the Yangtze era through to World War II. For more than half a century, American gunboats were the ships often responsible for policing small crises and provided deterrence and fast-response capabilities around the world – showing the flag, landing armed parties, patrolling river and littoral areas, and protecting ex-pats. They were often the United States' most-visible and constant military presence in far-flung foreign lands, and were most closely associated with the Far East, particularly the Philippines and China. Most famous, of course, was the multinational Yangtze Patrol. Many US gunboats were built, purchased or reassembled overseas where they usually served out their entire careers, never coming within 7,000 miles of the national homeland which they served. Numerous gunboats were captured from the Spanish during the 1898 war, many being raised from shallow graves, refurbished, and commissioned into USN service. The classic haunt of US gunboats was the Asiatic Station of China and the Philippines. Gunboat service overseas was typically exotic and the sailors' lives were often exciting and unpredictable. The major operational theatres associated with the US gunboats were the pre-1898 cruises and patrols of the earliest steel gunboats, the Spanish-American War of 1898 (both the Philippines and the Caribbean), the guerilla wars of the early 20th century Philippines and Latin America, the Asiatic Fleet and Yangtze Patrol of the 1890s–1930s, and finally World War II, which largely entailed operations in China, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Alaska, and on convoy routes. It was Japan's sudden 1941–1942 'Centrifugal Offensive' that effectively spelled the beginning of the end not just of most American gunboats, but also the century-old world order in Asia that had provided US gunboats with their primary mission.

Download or read book The War of the Motor Gun Boats written by A. J. Chapman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-10-02 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tony Chapman was born in Southampton in 1924. Aged 16 he watched with horror as the historic High Street of Southampton burnt to the ground in a firestorm caused by a heavy German bombing raid on the night of 30 November 1940. He vowed to join up and fight back. Tony joined the Navy.Within hours of being posted to his first Motor Gun Boat, Telegraphist Tony Chapman was involved in an epic Coastal Forces engagement when his flotilla took on a force of thirty E-boats. Although their unit of two MGBs sank three E-Boats, it was at a high cost. Half of Tony's shipmates were killed or injured.This was the start of an eventful and dramatic wartime service with these little warships. Tony's flotilla operated in the Mediterranean and Aegean where the Motor Gun Boats played a key role in this important but often neglected theatre.rnDaily life on these small ships is vividly described. The flotilla had a busy time showing the flag in the Levant and on combined operations in the Aegean with the Greek Sacred Regiment of Commandos. The culmination of their efforts was when Tony's boat, ML838, took the surrender of the Island of Kos in 1945.rnrnWritten from the perspective of one of the other ranks, War of the Motor Gun Boats fills an important gap in the literature of the Second World War.As featured in the North Devon Journal and Exmoor Magazine.

Download or read book History of the American Sailing Navy written by Howard Irving Chapelle and published by Bonanza Books. This book was released on 1988 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A technical study of U.S. military vessels that provides information on the evolution of naval construction, design, and policy prior to the twentieth century

Download or read book River Gunboats written by Roger Branfill-Cook and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2016-08-30 with total page 1268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, fully illustrated encyclopedia of river gunboats from the early 19th century to the present day. The first recorded engagement by a steam-powered warship took place on a river, when in 1824 the Honorable East India Company’s gunboat Diana went into action on the Irrawaddy in Burma. In the 150 years that followed, river gunboats played a significant part in over forty campaigns and individual actions around the world. This comprehensive reference book covers the development of riverboat warfare from the early 19th century to current riverine combat vessels in service today. River gunboats proved to be the decisive factor in a wide range of conflicts across the world—from the New Zealand Wars to the American Civil War, and from both World Wars to the conflicts in Indochina and Vietnam. This lavishly illustrated encyclopedia describes the river gunboats that saw action, plus those converted river steamers which took part in combat. This volume also includes maps of the river systems where they operated, together with narratives of the principal actions involving river gunboats.

Download or read book Nile River Gunboats 1882 1918 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-10-20 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For more than 30 years the Nile river gunboat was an indispensable tool of empire, policing the great river and acting as floating symbols of British imperial power. They participated in every significant colonial campaign in the region, from the British invasion of Egypt in 1882 to the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, when Britain finally won control of the Sudan. After that, the gunboats helped maintain British control over both Egypt and the Sudan, and played a key role in safeguarding British interests around the headwaters of the Nile – a region hotly contested by several European powers. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this comprehensive volume offers a detailed analysis of the Nile river gunboats' entire career, from policing British colonial interests along the great river to defending Egypt against the Ottoman Turks in World War I.

Download or read book American Amphibious Gunboats in World War II written by Robin L. Rielly and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-05-04 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the United States began its campaign against numerous Japanese-held islands in the Pacific, Japanese tactics required them to develop new weapons and strategies. One of the most crucial to the island assaults was a new group of amphibious gunboats that could deliver heavy fire close in to shore as American forces landed. These gunboats were also to prove important in the interdiction of inter-island barge traffic and, late in the war, the kamikaze threat. Several variations of these gunboats were developed, based on the troop carrying LCI(L). They included three conversions of the LCI(L), with various combinations of guns, rockets and mortars, and a fourth gunboat, the LCS(L), based on the same hull but designed as a weapons platform from the beginning. By the end of the war the amphibious gunboats had proven their worth.

Download or read book Motor Gunboat 658 written by Leonard C. Reynolds and published by Cassell. This book was released on 2002 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Powered by four 1500 hp supercharged Packard engines and bristling with guns, MGB (Motor Gun Boat) 658 could reach 30 knots across a calm sea. Flotillas of these craft fought their German and Italian opposite numbers right across the Mediterranean during World War II. British Coastal Forces were involved in all sorts of naval actions, from raids on the enemy coast to escorting convoys in preparation for the Allied landings in North Africa. (It was during one such operation that two U-boats collided and sank while attacking the author's convoy!) A vivid tale of young men at war, first published in 1955, now updated by the author in the light of new information from both British and German records, and illustrated with personal photographs.

Download or read book Ships of Oak Guns of Iron written by Ronald Utt and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-12-03 with total page 699 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The War of 1812 is typically noted for a handful of events: the burning of the White House, the rise of the Star Spangled Banner, and the battle of New Orleans. But in fact the greatest consequence of that distant conflict was the birth of the U.S. Navy. During the War of 1812, America’s tiny fleet took on the mightiest naval power on earth, besting the British in a string of victories that stunned both nations. In his new book, Ships of Oak and Guns of Iron: The War of 1812 and the Birth of the American Navy, author Dr. Ronald Utt not only sheds new light on the naval battles of the War of 1812 and how they gave birth to our nation’s great navy, but tells the story of the War of 1812 through the portraits of famous American war heroes. From the cunning Stephen Decatur to the fierce David Porter, Ships of Oak and Guns of Iron relates how thousands of American men and boys gave better than they got against the British Navy. The great age of fighting sail is as rich in heroic drama as any epoch. Dr. Utt’s Ships of Oak and Guns of Iron retrieves the American chapter of that epoch from unjustified obscurity, and offers readers an intriguing chronicle of the War of 1812 as well as a unique perspective on the birth of the U.S. Navy.

Download or read book The Waikato River Gunboats written by Grant Middlemiss and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book British Motor Gun Boat 1939 45 written by Angus Konstam and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-20 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Motor Gun Boats were the “Spitfires of the Seas” of the Royal Navy. Bristling with small-calibre guns and machine guns, they served in a variety of roles during the War. In the early war period they battled against German E-boats in the English Channel, then went on the offensive, searching the enemy shore for targets of opportunity. At other times, they ran support for Motor Torpedo Boats and were used to deliver commandos on various raids. Naval Warfare expert, Angus Konstam, tells the story of these small, but destructive boats, beginning with their design and development and carrying through to their operational use in both the European and Mediterranean theatres of World War II.

Download or read book Gunboat on the Yangtze written by Glenn F. Howell and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-10-03 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain Glenn F. Howell kept a detailed account of his activities in China for 62 years. His journals now make up 202 leather-bound volumes--one of the largest sources in existence, perhaps the largest, of servicemen's observations of service in China during that country's struggle to oust one power and come to grips with a new one between World War I and II. This work presents Howell's diary from June 6, 1920, to September 23, 1921, during which time he commanded the naval gunboat USS Palos on the Yangtze River. First comes a biography of Howell, an overview of Chinese history from 1800 to 1920, and a history of the United States military involvement in China during those years. Howell's time as commander of the USS Palos is divided into three sections. Preceding each, the editor comments on the nature of the upcoming diary entries. Howell covers a range of topics, including the Chinese people, various important locales (e.g., the Three Gorges), making official visits, (his first as a captain), officer-enlisted man relations, opium, the steam navy, people who influenced him (S. Cornell Plant and Captain Joseph Miclo, skipper of the Meitan), missionaries and other foreigners in China (including U.S. military retirees), and "trackers" (China's human beasts of burden.)

Download or read book Vietnam War River Patrol written by Richard H. Kirshen and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2017-02-10 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a 20-year-old gunboat captain and certified U.S. Navy diver in the Mekong Delta, the author was responsible for both the vessel and the lives of its crew. Ambushes and firefights became the norm, along with numerous dives--almost 300 in 18 months. Forty years after the war, he returned as a tourist. This journal records his contrasting impressions of the Delta--alternately disturbing and enlightening--as seen first from a river patrol boat, then from a luxury cruise ship.

Download or read book American Amphibious Gunboats in World War II written by Robin L. Rielly and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the United States began its campaign against numerous Japanese-held islands in the Pacific, Japanese tactics required them to develop new weapons and strategies. One of the most crucial to the island assaults was a new group of amphibious gunboats that could deliver heavy fire close in to shore as American forces landed. These gunboats were also to prove important in the interdiction of inter-island barge traffic and, late in the war, the kamikaze threat. Several variations of these gunboats were developed, based on the troop carrying LCI(L). They included three conversions of the LCI(L), with various combinations of guns, rockets and mortars, and a fourth gunboat, the LCS(L), based on the same hull but designed as a weapons platform from the beginning. By the end of the war the amphibious gunboats had proven their worth.

Download or read book Big Gun Battles written by Robert C. Stern and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 535 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This naval history of WWII explores the advancing technology and tactics of battleships through a fascinating survey of ship-to-ship duels. While many naval battles of the Second World War were decided by the torpedo or the aerial bomb, there was a surprising number of traditional ship-to-ship engagements involving the big guns of battleships and cruisers. Big Gun Battles recounts some of the most significant and technically fascinating of these gunfire duels in a narrative that combines lively storytelling with an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing victory or defeat. Covering all theatres of the naval war from 1939 until the Japanese surrender, the selected incidents demonstrate the changing face of surface warfare under the influence of rapidly improving fire-control systems, radar, and other technologies. By 1945, battleships achieved the pinnacle of gunnery excellence.