After the recapture of Constantinople, Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos was determined to bring glory back to the Byzantine Empire. To achieve this, he established an Imperial Fleet and raised new regiments of elite marine troops. This work provides a comprehensive, illustrated guide to the unit history and appearance of these men, who were at the cutting edge of the last great flourish of Byzantine naval power. They won victory after victory in campaigns throughout the 1260s-70s, and though successive periods of decline and partial resurrection followed, these marine units survived until the very last flickers of Byzantine resistance were extinguished. Drawing upon early literary sources, the rich evidence of period illuminated manuscripts, frescoes and other iconography, Raffaele D'Amato details the lasting legacy of the swansong of Byzantine naval power.

AWARDED THE ANDERSON MEDAL 2021 When Argentinian forces invaded the Falklands in April 1982, the British government responded by despatching a task force to the Atlantic to wrest back control of the islands. The resulting war saw modern weapon systems tested in combat for the first time, to tragic effect. In the aftermath, official documents were released, but many were heavily censored, and others withheld altogether, so that a full understanding of those events could not be gained. Drawing from recently declassified and previously unpublished reports from the official inquiry, Dr Paul Brown details the true story behind the dramatic events that led to the loss of six British ships - HMS Antelope, Ardent, Coventry and Sheffield, RFA Sir Galahad and SS Atlantic Conveyor - as well as the controversial sinking of the Argentinian cruiser ARA General Belgrano by HMS Conqueror.

For the best part of three centuries the 'corsairs' or pirates from the 'Barbary' coasts of North Africa dominated the Western and Central Mediterranean. They made forays far into the Atlantic, preying on the shipping and coastal settlements across Christian Europe, ranging from Greece to West Africa and the British Isles. In the absence of organized European navies they seldom faced serious opposition, and the scope of their raiding was remarkable. As well as piracy and slave-raiding they fought as privateers, sharing their spoils with the rulers of the port-cities that provided them with ships, men, and a ready market. This book examines their development and their style of fighting, chronicles their achievements and failures, and illustrates their appearance and that of their ships, explaining why they were so feared and effective.

On July 11, 1942, the USS North Carolina steamed into Pearl Harbor. She was a magnificent ship—the first in a new class of battleships, simultaneously monstrous and fast. She was two-and-a-half-football-fields long and so wide she could barely pass through the Panama Canal on her journey to Hawaii. At any given time, 2,339 sailors manned the ship—a total of more than 7,000 during the six years she served. As she glided into the ravaged harbor, past the wreckage of sunken American ships, the morale of the men in the surviving Pacific fleet soared. A little over two years earlier, more than 57,000 people had gathered in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the day she was launched. As she went through her “shakedown� period, she returned repeatedly to that same naval yard for adjustments and modifications. Many New Yorkers, including radio commentator Walter Winchell, often witnessed the ship entering and departing New York Harbor and began calling her the “Showboat.� Although she was an impressive structure, she was more than just a showboat. After coming to Pearl Harbor, she saw action in some 50 battles in almost every campaign in the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Tokyo Bay. In 1960, when the navy announced its intention to scrap the ship, North Carolina citizens, including countless schoolchildren, raised over $330,000 to bring the ship to Wilmington, North Carolina, and preserve her as a state war memorial. In this book, Ramsey tells the story of the battleship through the eyes of the men who served her. After doing research about the ship at the National Archives in 2000, Ramsey spent six days helping the staff of the memorial compile a living-history archive of personal interviews conducted with the surviving crewmembers when they attended the ship's annual reunion. She became fascinated with the stories these men told. For the next few years, she continued talking to the men to flesh out their stories. The result is this narrative about one of the most decorated American battleships in World War II, as seen through the eyes of the young sailors who matured into men while manning this floating fortress. As Ramsey says in her introduction, “Sailors know the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story. A fairy tale begins, ‘Once upon a time.’ A sea story starts simply, ‘Now, this is no bullshit.’ This book is a sea story.� In the early 1960s, Cindy Ramsey was one of thousands of children who raised money to save the battleship North Carolina and bring it to Wilmington, North Carolina. Though her family was poor, her father made sure she and her siblings had money to take to school to help save the ship from becoming scrap. Ramsey grew up in Pender County, north of where the battleship now rests. She graduated with a B.A. in English in 1999 and an M.F.A. in creative writing in 2006, both from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Ramsey began writing and editing the Pender Post in February 2002, then purchased the newspaper that fall. She sold the newspaper and moved to Columbus, North Carolina, in 2006. She is now retired from the state community college system.

At the end of the 1870-1 Franco-Prussian war, the French Navy began to reconstruct its fleet, replacing old generation warships with steam-powered and iron-hulled men-of-war. However, the process was slow and erratic since priority was initially given to the Army. Additionally, the establishment of the Third Republic led to a long period of political and economic instability which affected naval and shipbuilding policy. French naval yards and private shipyards were committed to build a fleet of ironclads, cruisers and minor vessels and led France to become the second European naval power, at least quantitatively. The rise of the Jeune cole' (Young School) strategic naval concept in the early 1880s then changed shipbuilding priorities, and emphasis was given to coastal torpedo boats and cruisers while the construction of battleships was slowed. As a consequence, the French Navy implemented the dreadnought concept later than other European naval powers, namely Great Britain and Germany. The 1904 Entente Cordiale contributed to yet further radical changes to foreign, naval and shipbuilding policies, so that at the outbreak of World War One the French fleet was populated with limited dreadnoughts, many obsolete armoured cruisers, an impressive array of torpedo boats and a fleet of submarines whose efficiency was however questionable. The book provides a complete overview of the French Navy from the establishment of the Third Republic to the end of World War One. French foreign and naval policy, shipyards and industrial organisation, technological innovations, operations and shipbuilding programmes are all described in the first part of the volume, while the second and larger part is focused on the different categories of warships, including their qualitative and quantitative evolution during the period of 1871-1918 and their employment during the Great War. A chapter is also dedicated to naval aviation. Superbly illustrated with rare and carefully selected photographs, this major new reference book paints a clear and detailed overview of the French navy during this era and will stand as a vital companion to French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859-1914 published by Seaforth.

For more than a century, the U.S. Navy's battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines and amphibious warfare vessels have depended on a small group of specialized auxiliary ships to provide fuel, food, ammunition, parts and other material support and services. Without these workhorse vessels, the U.S. Fleet could not have won in World War II and it could not today deploy and remain on station in the Mediterranean, Arabian Gulf, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. This book provides the rosters, histories, specifications and illustrations of 130 different auxiliary ship types used throughout U.S. history: the little-known ones, the latest expeditionary fast transports and future towing, salvage and rescue ships.

Originally published in 1943, this book presents the content of the Lees Knowles Lectures for that year, which were delivered by Roger Keyes at Trinity College, Cambridge. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in naval history and military strategy.

On 1 April 1982 Major Mike Norman, commander of Naval Party 8901, was looking forward to a peaceful year-long tour of duty on the Falkland Islands. But events turned out differently, for the next day the Argentinians invaded and he and his small Royal Marines garrison found themselves fighting for their lives. They took up defensive positions in and around Government House and on the approaches to Stanley to protect the Governor, Rex Hunt, and delay the enemy's advance. They were prepared to die executing these orders. After a desperate battle against vastly superior numbers, Hunt ordered them to lay down their arms. As the surrender took place, an Argentinian told a Marine: 'The Islands are ours now'. The response was simple: 'We will be back'. They were, and this is their story. The Royal Marines of Naval Party 8901 volunteered to join the Task Force and, some seventy-five days after the invasion, the men who were forced to watch the raising of the Argentine flag over the Islands were able, in return, to proudly run up the Falklands flag once more at Government House. Mike Norman and Michael Jones's dramatic account draws upon Norman's vivid recollections, the log book and action reports of the defence of Government House and Stanley, the testimony of Marines under Mike Norman's command and recently released government archives.

The Harwich Force has made its name and will not be forgotten during the future annals of history'; so said Rear Admiral Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt on Armistice Day 1918. But that fame has not endured. Yet for the whole duration of the First World War, the Harwich Striking Force was the front line of the Royal Navy, a force of cruisers and destroyers defending the seas for the Allies. Under a charismatic and aggressive leader, Reginald Yorke Tyrwhitt, U-boats, German cruisers, destroyers and light craft all met their ends at the hands of the Force, as did enemy seaplanes and Zeppelin airships. The Harwich ships were at sea almost daily throughout the war, haunting the German coast and the Friesian Islands, pioneering aerial attack from the sea, developing naval carrier aviation and combined air/sea operations, and hunting for enemy submarines and minelayers in the North Sea. The Harwich Force also took part in major naval battles alongside the Grand Fleet's battlecruisers, and protected merchant ships operating in the dangerous waters around Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany and Britain. The author also assesses the role played by the other Royal Navy formations at Harwich: submarines, auxiliary minesweeping and patrol vessels, the Felixstowe seaplane base and the town itself. And when the war was finally won, the Force gained further fame when the German U-boat fleet was surrendered there. Lavishly illustrated, this book is an enthralling account of the men of the Harwich Force, of their grit and brave sacrifice and the key part that they played in the final Allied victory against Germany.

In the early stages of the Second World War, Donitz's U-boats generally adhered to Prize Rules, surfacing before attacking and making every effort to preserve the lives of their victims' crews. But, with the arming of merchantmen and greater risk of damage or worse, they increasingly attacked without warning. So successful was the U-boat campaign that Churchill saw it as the gravest threat the Nation faced. The low point was the March 1943 attack on convoys SC122 and HX229 when 44 U-boats sank 22 loaded ships. The pendulum miraculously swung with improved tactics and technology. In May 1943 out of a force of over 50 U-boats that challenged ONS5, eight were sunk and 18 were damaged, some seriously. Such losses were unsustainable and, with allied yards turning out ships at ever increasing rates, Donitz withdrew his wolf packs from the North Atlantic. Expert naval author and historian Bernard Edwards traces the course of the battle of the Atlantic through a series of thrilling engagement case studies.

After suffering devastating losses in the huge naval battles at Midway and the Soloman Islands, the Imperial Japanese navy attempted to counter-attack against the US forces threatening the Home Islands. Involving the US Fifth Fleet and the Japanese Mobile Fleet, the battle of the Philippine Sea took place during the United States' amphibious invasion of the Mariana Islands during the Pacific War. The two fleets clashed on 19-20 June 1944 and the Japanese carrier fighters were shot down in devastating numbers by US aircraft in what became known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot", before US counterattacks and submarine strikes forced the withdrawal of the Japanese fleet. Fully illustrated with stunning specially commissioned artwork, Mark Stille tells the enthralling story of the last, and largest, carrier battle of the Pacific War, the one that saw the end of the Imperial Japanese Navy as a formed fighting force.

On the four sides of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, serried tablets display the names of 660 honoured commanders of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Most are those of generals and marshals of the French Army - but 26 are the names of admirals, commanders of the fleets of Republican and Napoleonic France. In Napoleon's Admirals, Richard Humble presents not only their individual stories, but an entirely new appraisal of the Anglo-French naval war of 1793-1814: the longest sea war in modern history, exploding many myths along the way. The aristocratic officers of the French Navy did not emigrate en masse when the Revolution came, leaving the Navy leaderless and doomed to repeated defeats at sea. Of the 26 'Admirals of the Arc,' 23 had learned their trade in the French royal and merchant navies of the Ancien Regime. Republican France could call on a wide range of seasoned combat veterans from the American Revolutionary War (1778-83), whose stories are a revelation in themselves. These former King's officers stayed, and loyally tried to serve their country as the Revolution pursued its wasteful and unpredictable course. Three of them paid for their loyalty under the guillotine. Contrary to popular British belief, the naval war did not end with Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in October 1805. Thanks to an energetic warship-building program, the French Navy recovered quickly from Trafalgar, and Napoleon's conquests created an ever-widening network of new French naval bases for the British Admiralty to cover. Collingwood, Nelson's deputy at Trafalgar, was still commanding in the Mediterranean four years later. The Admiralty had not dared to recall him and he died at sea, utterly exhausted, in March 1810. Four months later the French inflicted the greatest humiliation suffered by the Royal Navy in the entire naval war: the annihilation of an entire British frigate squadron in the battle of Grand-Port, Mauritius, in August 1810. In this account of the men who imposed such a strain on the world's greatest navy for 21 years, Richard Humble has provided a remarkable addition to the well-worn pages of conventional naval history.

Sheila Mills's story is a unique perspective of the Second World War. She is a clever, middle-class Norfolk girl with a yen for adventure and joins the WRNS in 1940 to escape the shackles of secretarial work in London, her unhappy childhood and her social-climbing mother. From a first posting in Scotland in 1940, she progresses through the ranks, first to Egypt and later to a vanquished Germany. Extraordinary and fascinating encounters and personalities are seen through the eyes of a young Wren officer: Admiral Ramsay, the Invasion of Sicily and Operation Mincemeat that triggered it, The Flap, the sinking of the Medway, the surrender of the Italian fleet and the Belsen Trials. These observations are peppered with humorous insights into the humdrum preoccupations of a typical Wren - boys, appearance and having fun, while worrying about home and family. This treasure trove of hundreds of letters, along with scrapbooks and memorabilia, some of which are reproduced here, was discovered in bin liners shortly after Sheila died. Her daughter, Vicky, has pieced together a fascinating and unusual record of the Second World War from a woman's perspective.

Sunk in a British ambush in 1708, the Spanish galleon San Jose was rumored to have one of the richest cargos ever lost at sea. Though treasure hunters have searched for the wreck's legendary bounty, no one knows exactly how much went down with the ship or exactly where it sank. Here, Carla Rahn Phillips confronts the legend of lost treasure with documentary records of the San Jose's final voyage and suggests that the loss of silver and gold en route to Spain paled in comparison to the loss of the six hundred men who went down with the ship. Drawing from rich archival records, Phillips presents a biography of the ship and its crew. With vivid detail and meticulous scholarship, the author tells the stories of the officers, sailors, apprentices, and pages who manned the ship and explains the historical context in which the San Jose became prey to the British squadron. But the story does not end with the sinking of the San Jose. While Phillips addresses the persistent question of how much treasure was on board when the ship went down, she focuses on the human dimensions of the tragedy as well. She recovers the accounts of British naval officers involved in the battle, and examines the impact of the ship's loss on the Spanish government, the survivors, and the families of the men who perished. Original, comprehensive, and compelling, The Treasure of the San Jose separates popular myth from history and sheds light on the human lives associated with a "treasure" ship.

First published in 1953, this volume by John Ehrman traces the role played by the English navy during the years 1689-97, during which time England became the dominant sea power of Europe. The study is divided into two parts. The first focuses on the background of naval administration, considering ships of the line and their construction, shipyards and dockyards, naval personnel, provisions, finances, and the Lord Admiral's department at the end of 1688. The second part provides the context of the war, beginning with the legacy of Samuel Pepys and the initial mobilization in 1688, and then tracing the successive years of war to the eventual demobilization in 1697. Replete with numerous illustrations and fourteen detailed appendices, this volume will appeal to anyone interested in the naval history of England at the end of the seventeenth century.

More than eight hundred sailors served aboard the Sterett during her hazardous and demanding duties in World War II. This is the story of those men and their beloved ship, recorded by a junior officer who served on the famous destroyer from her commissioning in 1939 to April 1943, when he was wounded at the Battle of Tulagi. Peppered with the kind of vivid, authentic details that could only be provided by a participant, the book is the saga of a gallant fighting ship that earned a Presidential Unit Citation for her part in the Third Battle of Savo Island, where she took on a battleship, cruiser, and destroyer and was the last to leave the fray. Calhoun's gripping and colorful account tells what it was like to be there during those furiously fought, close-range engagements. When published in hardcover in 1993, the book was widely praised as a good read loaded with rich and interesting details.

Derek Wright learnt about small boats from his father, who tragically died when Derek was just 14 years old. Sent away from his family to finish his education, he left school at 16 to join the global tea trade. Soon after he finished his training with Brooke Bond, famous for their 'Dividend' tea, Hitler invaded Poland and Britain was at war. By then known to his friends as 'Jake', he was one of the first Volunteer Reserves to be called up to fight for his country. Plucked from his naval training in HMS King Alfred, his warfighting initiation was on the beach at Dunkirk, helping evacuate stragglers after Operation DYNAMO. He then volunteered for Motor Torpedo Boats, where he served with valour and distinction. Whilst Hitler's U-Boats were torpedoing shipments of tea bound for Great Britain, Jake Wright reciprocated by torpedoing Axis coastal shipping off Europe. His first Command was MTB 331, trained for a daredevil mission to puncture German boom defences protecting their battleships. In his next Command, MTB 32, he was wounded in action whilst torpedoing a German convoy, but kept his small ship fighting against the odds to win the action and sink his enemy; for his bravery he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Further acts of gallantry in action, combined with tactical innovation, saw him earn two bars to his DSC as well as a Mention in Despatches; he became one of only 44 officers in the Second World War to receive a DSC with two Bars. After demobilisation he returned to the tea trade, rising to become one of Brooke Bond's senior directors supplying Britain's beloved beverage. He even helped refine how to make the perfect cup of tea. This is the life story of a determined, brave, innovative and decorated officer who has earned a place in the hearts of our nation. It is the story of Derek 'Jake' Wright, DSC**.

Originally published during the early part of the twentieth century, the Cambridge Manuals of Science and Literature were designed to provide concise introductions to a broad range of topics. They were written by experts for the general reader and combined a comprehensive approach to knowledge with an emphasis on accessibility. Printed in 1913, The Modern Warship by Edward L. Attwood offers a pre-First World War account of the design and construction of British warships, from a naval architect's perspective.

One of the most overlooked aspects of the American Civil War is the naval strategy played out by the U.S. Navy and the fledgling Confederate Navy, which may make this the first book to compare and contrast the strategic concepts of the Southern Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory against his Northern counterpart, Gideon Welles. Both men had to accomplish much and were given great latitude in achieving their goals.

Mallory's vision of seapower emphasized technological innovation and individual competence as he sought to match quality against the Union Navy's numerical superiority. Welles had to deal with more bureaucratic structure and to some degree a national strategy dictated by the White House. The naval blockade of the South was one of his first tasks -- for which he had but few ships available -- and although he followed the national strategy, he did not limit himself to it when opportunities arose.

Mallory's dedication to ironclads is well known, but he also defined the roles of commerce raiders, submarines, and naval mines. Welles's contributions to the Union effort were rooted in his organizational skills and his willingness to cooperate with the other military departments of his government. This led to successes through combined army and naval units in several campaigns on and around the Mississippi River.

Naval Strategies of the Civil War then is the story of the very different approaches each man took in defining and executing the naval struggles of the conflict. Until now, it has been mostly an untold story lost in the general histories of the war. In the end, the author concludes that success favored flexible organization rather than desperate, albeit creative, measures.

A leading naval and military historian presents the first book to cover the major submarine campaigns in all the WWII theaters. Vividly recreates the experience of submarine and anti-submarine warfare from the decision makers in the war offices to the men in the boats. Describes the disappointing performance of the giant Japanese submarines in the Pacific and the narrow margin by which Britain escaped defeat by German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic. Reveals new information about the capture of the Enigma cipher machine, harrowing accounts of defenseless warriors shot in the water and much more. Contains 16 pages of photographs, many published for the first time.

Challenging the views of Benito Mussolini's Italian biographer, Renzo De Felice, this book argues that the Duce's aggressive war against the predominant Mediterranean powers, Britain and France, was the only means whereby Italy might secure access to the world's oceans. Following Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Mussolini actively pursued the Italo-German alliance which he believed would enable him to conquer a Fascist empire stretching from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. By the eve of Italy's entry in the world war II, the Fascist administration had commissioned substantial new capital-ship programmes, and created a major surface and underwater fleet that seemed to post a serious challenge to the strategic position of Great Britain in the Mediterranean and Red Sea.

On 21 June 1919 the ships of the German High Seas Fleet - interned at Scapa Flow since the Armistice - began to founder, taking their British custodians completely by surprise. In breach of agreed terms, the fleet dramatically scuttled itself, in a well-planned operation that consigned nearly half a million tons, and 54 of 72 ships, to the bottom of the sheltered anchorage in a gesture of Wagnerian proportions. This much is well-known, but even a century after the Grand Scuttle' many questions remain. Was von Reuter, the fleet's commander, acting under orders or was it his own initiative? Why was 21 June chosen? Did the British connive in, or even encourage the action? Could more have been done to save the ships? Was it legally justified? And what were the international ramifications? This new book analyses all these issues, beginning with the fleet mutiny in the last months of the War that precipitated a social revolution in Germany and the eventual collapse of the will to fight. The Armistice terms imposed the humiliation of virtual surrender on the High Seas Fleet, and the conditions under which it was interned are described in detail. Meanwhile the victorious Allies wrangled over the fate of the ships, an issue that threatened the whole peace process. Using much new material from German sources and a host of eye-witness testimonies, the circumstances of the scuttling itself are meticulously reconstructed, while the aftermath for all parties is clearly laid out. The story concludes with the biggest salvage operation in history' and a chapter on the significance of the scuttling to the post-war balance of naval power. Published to coincide with the centenary, this book is an important reassessment of the last great action of the First World War.

John Lambert was a renowned naval draughtsman, whose plans were highly valued for their accuracy and detail by modelmakers and enthusiasts. By the time of his death in 2016 he had produced over 850 sheets of drawings, many of which have never been published. These have now been acquired by Seaforth and this is the first of a planned series of albums on selected themes, reproducing complete sheets at a large page size, with an expert commentary and captioning. The initial volumes will concentrate on British naval weaponry used in the Second World War, thus completing the project John Lambert was working on when he died. His interest was always focused on smaller warships and his weapons drawings tend to be of open mountings - the kind that present a real challenge to modelmakers - rather than enclosed turret guns, but he also produced drawings of torpedo tubes, underwater weapons, fire-control directors and even some specific armament-related deck fittings. This volume covers all such weapons carried by British destroyers of this era, with additional appendices devoted to earlier guns still in service, and destroyer-calibre weapons only mounted in larger ships. The drawings are backed by introductory essays by Norman Friedman, an acknowledged authority on naval ordnance, while a selection of photographs add to the value of the book as visual reference. Over time, the series will be expanded to make this unique technical archive available in published form, a move certain to be welcomed by warship modellers, enthusiasts and the many fans of John Lambert's work.

With the exception of the royal marines, who adopted light infantry rank insignia from their earliest days, the Royal Navy was slow to introduce distinguishing rate badges for those serving on the 'lower deck'. Even when they were introduced, in 1853, the corresponding introduction of a uniform was still four years away. As for officers, the design and arrangement of buttons also played a part in distinguishing one rating from another. In a unique compilation, the insignia worn since the mid-19th century by Royal Naval ratings, Royal Marines, queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service, the Women's Royal Naval Service, the Merchant Navy, Auxiliaries, Volunteers, youth, and other maritime organizations, are brought together in a single volume.

At the outset of World War II, Scapa Flow was supposed to be the safe home base of the British Navy - nothing could penetrate the defences of this bastion. So how, in the dead of night, was Gunther Prien's U-47 able to slip through the line of protective warships to sink the mighty Royal Oak? This book provides the answer with an account of one of the most daring naval raids in history. Drawing on the latest underwater archaeological research, this study explains how Prien and his crew navigated the North Sea and Kirk Sound to land a devastating blow to the British. It reveals the level of disrepair that Scapa Flow had fallen into, and delves into the conspiracy theories surrounding the event, including an alleged cover-up by the then First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill.