Learning War examines the U.S. Navy's doctrinal development from 1898-1945 and explains why the Navy in that era was so successful as an organization at fostering innovation. A revolutionary study of one of history's greatest success stories, this book draws profoundly important conclusions that give new insight, not only into how the Navy succeeded in becoming the best naval force in the world, but also into how modern organizations can exploit today's rapid technological and social changes in their pursuit of success.Trent Hone argues that the Navy created a sophisticated learning system in the early years of the twentieth century that led to repeated innovations in the development of surface warfare tactics and doctrine. The conditions that allowed these innovations to emerge are analyzed through a consideration of the Navy as a complex adaptive system. Learning War is the first major work to apply this complex learning approach to military history. This approach permits a richer understanding of the mechanisms that enable human organizations to evolve, innovate, and learn, and it offers new insights into the history of the United States Navy.

Throughout the seventeenth century Dutch, French, and English freebooters launched numerous assaults on Spanish targets all over Central America. Many people have heard of Henry Morgan and Francois L'Olonnais, who led a series of successful raids, but few know that the famous buccaneers often operated in regions inhabited and controlled by Native Americans rather than Spaniards. Arne Bialuschewski explores the cross-cultural relations that emerged when greedy marauders encountered local populations in various parts of the Spanish empire. Natives, as it turned out, played a crucial role in the outcome of many of those raids. Depending on their own needs and assessment of the situation, indigenous people sometimes chose to support the colonial authorities and sometimes aided the intruders instead. Freebooters used native guides, relied on expertise and supplies obtained from local communities, and captured and enslaved many natives they encountered on their way. This book tells the fascinating story of how indigenous groups or individuals participated in the often-romanticized history of buccaneering. Building on extensive archival research, Bialuschewski untangles the wide variety of forms that cross-cultural relations took. By placing these encounters at the center of Raiders and Natives, the author changes our understanding of the early modern Atlantic World and the role that native populations played in the international conflicts of the seventeenth century.

Written by US Navy expert Mark Stille, this book offers a unique insight into the Standard-type classes of US battleships. It provides a detailed investigation into the histories of each of the warships in the Standard-type battleship classes, the first three of which, the Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Mexico, formed the US Navy's main force in the inter-war period. The Standard-types reflected a new design philosophy: by designing each class to meet common standards of maneuvrability and handling, vessels of different classes could operate as a single tactical unit without being limited by the performance of the slowest and least maneuvrable ship. At the time of their construction, these ships incorporated the latest design features such as triple gun turrets. Although they were rendered increasingly obsolete by evolving naval doctrines and the ascendance of the fast battleship, they served with distinction throughout World War II. This study combines analysis of design features and an absorbing narrative of operational histories to offer a comprehensive picture of the Standard-type battleships, from the brutal destruction of the USS Arizona to the triumphant occupation of Japan.

What were pirates really like? How much, if any, of the piratical stereotype - of a dashingly handsome man with an eye-patch, peg-leg and a parrot on his shoulder - is based on the documented fact. In this revealing and highly original study David Cordingly sets out to discover the truth behind the piracy myth, exploring its enduring and extraordinary appeal, and answering such questions as: why did men become pirates? Were there any women pirates? How much money did they make from plundering and looting? And were pirates really dashing highwaymen of the Seven Seas or just vicious cut-throats and robbers? From Long John Silver to Henry Morgan, Robert Louis Stevenson to J.M. Barrie, LIFE AMONG THE PIRATES examines all the heavyweights of history and literature and presents the essential survey of this fascinating phenomenon.

"Sea Peoples of the Bronze Age and Mediterranean" features the latest historical and archaeological research into the mysterious and powerful confederations of raiders who troubled the Eastern Mediterranean in the last half of the Bronze Age. Research into the origins of the so-called Shardana, Shekelesh, Danuna, Lukka, Peleset and other peoples is a detective 'work in progress'. However, it is known that they both provided the Egyptian pharaohs with mercenaries, and were listed among Egypt's enemies and invaders. They contributed to the collapse of several civilizations through their dreaded piracy and raids, and their waves of attacks were followed by major migrations that changed the face of this region, from modern Libya and Cyprus to the Aegean, mainland Greece, Lebanon and Anatolian Turkey. Drawing on carved inscriptions and papyrus documents - mainly from Egypt - dating from the 15th-11th centuries BC, as well as carved reliefs of Medinet Habu, this title reconstructs the formidable appearance and even the tactics of the famous 'Sea Peoples'.

Efforts upon the waves played a critical role in European and Anglo-American conflicts throughout the eighteenth century. Yet the oft-told narrative of the American Revolution tends to focus on battles on American soil or the debates and decisions of the Continental Congress. The Untold War at Sea is the first book to place American privateers and their experiences during the War for Independence front and center. Kylie A. Hulbert tells the story of privateers at home and abroad while chronicling their experiences, engagements, cruises, and court cases. This study forces a reconsideration of the role privateers played in the conflict and challenges their place in the accepted popular narrative of the Revolution. Despite their controversial tactics, Hulbert illustrates that privateers merit a place alongside minutemen, Continental soldiers, and the sailors of the fledgling American navy. This book offers a redefinition of who fought in the war and how their contributions were measured. The process of revolution and winning independence was global in nature, and privateers operated at its core.

Efforts upon the waves played a critical role in European and Anglo-American conflicts throughout the eighteenth century. Yet the oft-told narrative of the American Revolution tends to focus on battles on American soil or the debates and decisions of the Continental Congress. The Untold War at Sea is the first book to place American privateers and their experiences during the War for Independence front and center. Kylie A. Hulbert tells the story of privateers at home and abroad while chronicling their experiences, engagements, cruises, and court cases. This study forces a reconsideration of the role privateers played in the conflict and challenges their place in the accepted popular narrative of the Revolution. Despite their controversial tactics, Hulbert illustrates that privateers merit a place alongside minutemen, Continental soldiers, and the sailors of the fledgling American navy. This book offers a redefinition of who fought in the war and how their contributions were measured. The process of revolution and winning independence was global in nature, and privateers operated at its core.

A Sunday Times Book of the Year 'Three and a half millennia of British Maritime history, from the Middle Bronze Age to the early 20th century ... This book is written with passion and sympathy. It will live with me for a very long time' Francis Pryor, author of The Fens If Britain's maritime history were embodied in a single ship, she would have a prehistoric prow, a mast plucked from a Victorian steamship, the hull of a modest fishing vessel, the propeller of an ocean liner and an anchor made of stone. We might call her Asunder, and, fantastical though she is, we could in fact find her today, scattered in fragments across the country's creeks and coastlines. In his moving and original new history, Tom Nancollas goes in search of eleven relics that together tell the story of Britain at sea. From the swallowtail prow of a Bronze Age vessel to a stone ship moored at a Baroque quayside, each one illuminates a distinct phase of our adventures upon the waves; each brings us close to the people, places and vessels that made a maritime nation. Weaving together stories of great naval architects and unsung shipwrights, fishermen and merchants, shipwrecks and superstition, pilgrimage, trade and war, The Ship Asunder celebrates the richness of Britain's seafaring tradition in all its glory and tragedy, triumph and disaster, and asks how we might best memorialize it as it vanishes from our shores.

From AD 500-1000, the Indian Ocean emerged as a global commercial centre, and by around 750-800 a sophisticated trade network had been established involving the movement of goods from Japan and China in the east, to southern Africa and Spain in the west. However, the Indian Ocean's commercial system has been relatively understudied, with many of the key assumptions regarding its development based on narrative textual sources and selective archaeological evidence. This study sets out the case for the unique significance of quantified ceramic finds as an indicator of long-term changes in the scale and volume of maritime exchange in a period for which few other sources of systematic economic history survive. The publication presents archaeological data from thirteen sites distributed across the western Indian Ocean, including Siraf (Iran), Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) and Manda (Kenya). The ceramic assemblages are considered in terms of their general compositional characteristics and the distinctions between local, regional and long-distance exchange. The volume concludes with a discussion of how this data can be used to address the broader issues of long-term economic change and the relationship between state power in the Middle East and the commercial networks of the Indian Ocean operating via the Persian Gulf.