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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Maritime history
Showing the complex interaction of strategy, logistics,
administration, and economics, Syrett's pioneering text brings to
light some basic causes for the ultimate failure of the British war
effort during the American War of Independence. This war effort was
fatally compromised by the British need to support a great army and
a large naval force in the western hemisphere while at the same
time facing a coalition of maritime powers on the European
continent.
The respected naval historian emphasizes precise definitions of
terminology and ideas as the antidote to purposeless discussion and
the direct path to the fundamental data on which all are agreed. He
places naval warfare within the larger framework of human conflict,
proposing that the key to maritime dominance lies in the effective
use of sea lines.
Iron Fleet focuses on the vital role played by the Great Lakes
shipping industry during World War II. George J. Joachim examines
how the industry met the unprecedented demand for the shipment of
raw materials to meet production quotas during the war, when
failure to do so would have had disastrous consequences for the
nation's defense effort. Steel production was crucial to the
American war effort, and the bulk shippers of the lakes supplied
virtually all of the iron ore necessary to produce the steel. In
describing the evolution of the Great Lakes shipping industry
during World War II, Joachim also explores the use of Great Lakes
shipyards for the production of salt water civilian and military
vessels, the role of the Great Lakes passenger ships in providing
vacation opportunities for war workers, and the extensive measures
taken to to safeguard the Soo Locks and other potential targets
from sabotage.
This book thoroughly explores and analyses naval policy during the
period of austerity that followed the First World War. During this
post-war period, as the Royal Navy identified Japan its likely
opponent in a future naval war, the British Government was forced
to "tighten its belt" and cut back on naval expenditure in the
interests of "National Economy". G.H. Bennett draws connections
between the early 20th century and the present day, showing how the
same kind of connections exist between naval and foreign policy,
the provision of ships for the Royal Navy, business and regional
prosperity and employment. The Royal Navy in the Age of Austerity
1919-22 engages with a series of important historiographical
debates relating to the history of the Royal Navy, the failures of
British Defence policy in the inter-war period and the evolution of
British foreign policy after 1919, together with more mundane
debates about British economic, industrial, social and political
history in the aftermath of the First World War. It will be of
great interest to scholars and students of British naval history.
What happened on Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic? Who
was responsible for the success of that voyage? How do we know?
These questions were debated in the courts of Spain for decades
after 1492. Some of those who sailed with Columbus left very
different accounts, as recorded in those trial records. Their
competing voices have long been silenced by the deafening crescendo
of Columbus's own narrative-a narrative riddled with contradictions
and inconsistencies that beg to be explained. This documentary
history allows the reader to encounter the founding documents of
the Columbus story as well as the voices that dared to challenge
it-even in his own day. What these documents reveal forces us to
re-imagine Columbus and his voyage in surprising ways. Columbus and
His First Voyage brings together for the first time the two
contemporary versions of what happened on the first voyage - the
Columbian narrative and the Pinzon narrative - and embeds them in a
thorough introduction to Columbus, his first voyage, and the myths
that surround this pivotal event in the history of the modern
world.
Asian Maritime Strategies explores one of the world's most complex
and dangerous maritime arenas. Asia, stretching from the Aleutian
Islands to the Persian Gulf, contains the world's busiest trade
routes. It is also the scene of numerous maritime territorial
disputes, pirate attacks, and terrorist threats. In response, the
nations of the region are engaged in a nascent naval arms race. In
this new work, Bernard Cole, author of the acclaimed The Great Wall
At Sea, examines the maritime strategies and naval forces of the
region's nations, as well as evaluating the threats and
opportunities for cooperation at sea. The United States Navy is
intimately involved in these disputes and opportunities, which
threaten vital American economic, political, and security
interests.
The most useful geographical designation for maritime Asia is the
"Indo-Pacific" and Cole provides both a survey of the maritime
strategies of the primary nations of the Indo-Pacific region as
well as an evaluation of the domestic and international politics
that drive those strategies. The United States, Canada, Russia,
Japan, North Korea, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Brunei,
Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan,
Iran, the smaller Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf states are all
surveyed and analyzed. The United States, Japan, China, and India
draw the most attention, given their large modern navies and
distant strategic reach and the author concludes that the United
States remains the dominant maritime power in this huge region,
despite its lack of a traditionally strong merchant marine. U.S.
maritime power remains paramount, due primarily to its dominant
navy. The Chinese naval modernization program deservedly receives a
good deal of public attention, but Cole argues that on a day-to-day
basis the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, as its navy is
named, is the most powerful maritime force in Far Eastern waters,
while the modernizing Indian Navy potentially dominates the Indian
Ocean.
Most telling will be whether United States power and focus remain
on the region, while adjusting to continued Chinese maritime power
in a way acceptable to both nations. No other current or recent
work provides such a complete description of the Indo-Pacific
region's navies and maritime strategies, while analyzing the
current and future impact of those forces.
Youth, Heroism and War Propaganda explores how the young maritime
hero became a major new figure of war propaganda in the second half
of the long 18th century. At that time, Britain was searching for a
new national identity, and the young maritime hero and his exploits
conjured images of vigour, energy, enthusiasm and courage. Adopted
as centrepiece in a campaign of concerted war propaganda leading up
to the Battle of Trafalgar, the young hero came to represent much
that was quintessentially British at this major turning point in
the nation's history. By drawing on a wide range of sources, this
study shows how the young hero gave maritime youth a symbolic power
which it had never before had in Britain. It offers a valuable
contribution to the field of British military and naval history, as
well as the study of British identity, youth, heroism and
propaganda.
On 19 August 1812, lookouts of the British frigate HMS Guerriere
spotted the American frigate, USS Constitution. Captain James
Dacres, Guerriere's commander, was eager for a fight and confident
of victory. He had the weight of Britain's naval reputation and
confidence behind him. Yet when the guns fell silent Guerriere was
a shattered hulk and Dacres had struck to Constitution. By the
year's end, three British frigates and two sloops had been defeated
in single ship actions against American opponents, throwing the
British naval sphere into a crisis. These losses could not have
been more shocking to the Royal Navy and the British world. In a
strange reversal, the outnumbered British Army along the Canadian
border had triumphed but the tiny United States Navy had humiliated
the world's largest and most prestigious navy. Further dramatic sea
battles between the two powers followed into early 1815, and the
British tried to reconcile the perceived stain to the Royal Navy's
honour. Many within and outside of the Royal Navy called for
vindication. The single ship actions of the War of 1812 have
frequently been dismissed by historians of the war, or of naval
history in general. The fights of late 1813 and 1814 are often
omitted from works of history altogether, as many (correctly) argue
that they had no strategic impact on the wider course of the war.
Yet to contemporaries, naval and civilian alike, these single ship
actions could not have been more important. This volume explores
the single ship naval actions during the War of 1812: how they were
fought, their strategic context, and their impact on the officers
and men who fought them, and the wider British psyche. Trafalgar
happened only seven years earlier, and the fighting ethos of the
Royal Navy was still hardened by Nelsonic naval culture. Whereas
contemporary civilians and modern historians understood the losses
as the inevitable result of fighting the vastly superior American
'super' frigates, the officers of the navy struggled to accept that
they could not cope with the new American warships. The losses
precipitated changes to Admiralty policy and drove an urge for
vengeance by the officers of the Royal Navy. This volume explores
the drama and impact of the British single ship losses and
victories to examine Britain's naval experience in the moments that
captivated the British and American world in the last
Anglo-American War.
Henry Morgan, a twenty-year-old Welshman, arrived in the New World
in 1655, hell-bent on making his fortune. Over the next three
decades, his exploits in the Caribbean in the service of the
English became legend. His daring attacks on the mighty Spanish
Empire on land and sea changed the fates of kings and queens. His
victories helped shape the destiny of the New World. Morgan
gathered disaffected English and European sailors and soldiers,
hard-bitten adventurers, runaway slaves, cutthroats and sociopaths
and turned them into the fiercest and most feared army in the
Western Hemisphere. Sailing out from the English stronghold of Port
Royal, Jamaica, 'the wickedest city in the New World', Morgan and
his men terrorised Spanish merchant ships and devastated the cities
where great riches in silver, gold, and gems lay waiting to be sent
to the King of Spain. His last raid, a daring assault on the fabled
city of Panama, helped break Spain's solitary hold on the New World
for ever. Awash with bloody battles, political intrigues, and a
cast of characters more compelling, bizarre and memorable than any
found in a Hollywood swashbuckler, EMPIRE OF BLUE WATER brilliantly
re-creates the passions and the violence of the age of exploration
and empire. What's more, it chillingly depicts the apocalyptic
natural disaster that finally ended the pirates' dominion.
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