The new breed of American fast aircraft carriers could make thirty-three knots, and each carried almost 100 strike aircraft. Brought together as Task Force 58, also known as the Fast Carrier Task Force, this awesome armada at times comprised more than 100 ships carrying more than 100,000 men afloat. By 1945, more than 1,000-combat aircraft, fighters, dive- and torpedo-bombers could be launched in under an hour. The fast carriers were a revolution in naval warfare - it was a time when naval power moved away from the big guns of the battleship to air power projected at sea. Battleships were eventually subordinated to supporting and protecting the fast carriers, of which, at its peak, Task Force 58 had a total of seventeen. This book covers the birth of naval aviation, the appearance of the first modern carriers in the 1920s, through to the famous surprise six-carrier _Kid? Butai_ Japanese raid against Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 and then the early US successes of 1942 at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The fast carriers allowed America, in late 1942 and early 1943, to finally move from bitter defence against the Japanese expansionist onslaught, to mounting her own offensive to retake the Pacific. Task Force 58 swept west and north from the Solomon Islands to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, neutralising Truk in Micronesia, and Palau in the Caroline islands, before the vital Mariana Islands operations, the Battle of Saipan, the first battle of the Philippine Sea and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The strikes by Task Force 58 took Allied forces across the Pacific, to the controversial Battle of Leyte Gulf and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Task Force 58 had opened the door to the Japanese home islands themselves - allowing US bombers to finally get close enough to launch the devastating nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Task Force 58 participated in virtually all the US Navy's major battles in the Pacific theatre during the last two years of the war. Having spent many years investigating naval shipwrecks across the Pacific, many the result of the devastating effectiveness of Task Force 58, diver and shipwreck author Rod Macdonald has created the most detailed account to date of the fast carrier strike force, the force that brought Japan to its knees and brought the Second World War to its crashing conclusion.

Battles, blockades, convoys, raids: how the indefatigable British Royal Navy ensured Napoleon's ultimate defeat Horatio Nelson's celebrated victory over the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 presented Britain with an unprecedented command of the seas. Yet the Royal Navy's role in the struggle against Napoleonic France was far from over. This groundbreaking book asserts that, contrary to the accepted notion that the Battle of Trafalgar essentially completed the Navy's task, the war at sea actually intensified over the next decade, ceasing only with Napoleon's final surrender. In this dramatic account of naval contributions between 1803 and 1815, James Davey offers original and exciting insights into the Napoleonic wars and Britain's maritime history. Encompassing Trafalgar, the Peninsular War, the War of 1812, the final campaign against Napoleon, and many lesser known but likewise crucial moments, the book sheds light on the experiences of individuals high and low, from admiral and captain to sailor and cabin boy. The cast of characters also includes others from across Britain-dockyard workers, politicians, civilians-who made fundamental contributions to the war effort, and in so doing, both saved the nation and shaped Britain's history.

Between 1942 and 1944 a very small, very secret, very successful clandestine unit of the Royal Navy, operated between Dartmouth in Devon, and the Brittany Coast in France. It was a crossing of about 100 miles, every yard of it dangerous. The unit was called the 15th Motor Gunboat Flotilla: crewed by 125 officers and men, it became the most highly decorated Royal Naval unit of the Second World War. The 15th MGBF was an extraordinary group of men thrown together in the most secret of adventures. Very few were regular Royal Naval officers: instead the unit was made up of mostly Royal Naval Volunteer Officers and 'duration only' sailors. Their home was a converted paddle steamer and luxury yacht, but their work could not have been more serious. Their mission was to ferry agents of SIS and SOE to pinpoint landing sites on the Brittany coast in Occupied France. Once they had landed their agents, together with stores for the Resistance, they picked up evaders, escaped POWs who had had the good fortune to be collected by escape lines run by M19, as well as returning SIS and SOE agents. It is a story that is inextricably entwined with that of the many agents they were responsible for - Pierre Hentic, Yves Le Tac, Virginia Hall, Albert Hue, Jeannie Rousseau, Suzanne Warengham, Francois Mitterrand and Mathilde Carre, as well as many others. Without the Flotilla, such intelligence gathering networks as Jade Fitzroy and Alliance would never have developed, and SOE's VAR Line and MI9's Shelburne Escape Line would never have been realised. Drawing on a huge amount of research on both sides of the Channel, including private archives of many of the families involved, A Dangerous Enterprise brings the story of this most clandestine of operations brilliantly to life.

Surigao Strait in the Philippine Islands was the scene of a major battleship duel during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Because the battle was fought at night and had few survivors on the Japanese side, the events of that naval engagement have been passed down in garbled accounts. Anthony P. Tully pulls together all of the existing documentary material, including newly discovered accounts and a careful analysis of U.S. Navy action reports, to create a new and more detailed description of the action. In several respects, Tully's narrative differs radically from the received versions and represents an important historical corrective. Also included in the book are a number of previously unpublished photographs and charts that bring a fresh perspective to the battle.

The story of the intelligence war in South Africa during the Second World War is one of suspense, drama and dogged persistence. In 1939, when the Union of South Africa entered the war on Britain's side, the German government secretly contacted the political opposition, and the leadership of the anti-war movement, the Ossewabrandwag. The Nazis' aim was to spread sedition, undermine the Allied war effort, and - given the strategic importance of the Cape of Good Hope sea route - gain naval intelligence. Soon U-boat packs were sent to operate in South African waters, to deadly effect. With the Ossewabrandwag's help, a network of German spies was established to gather and relay back to the Reich important political and military intelligence. Agents would send coded messages to Axis diplomats in neighbouring Mozambique. Meanwhile, police detectives and MI5 hunted in vain for illegal wireless transmitters. Hitler's South African Spies presents an unrivalled account of German intelligence networks in wartime South Africa. It also details the hunt in post-war Europe for witnesses to help the government bring charges of high treason against key Ossewabrandwag members.

The Sword of Albion concludes the most comprehensive and intimate life of Nelson ever written, one that teems with a glittering array of sailors and civilians, heroes and villains, husbands, wives and lovers. Here are Nelson's famous victories at the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen and Trafalgar as well as his lesser-known yet equally gripping campaigns. But behind the military prowess is a man riven with paradoxes and schisms: the fighting admiral and the glory-hunter, the national hero and the indigent commoner, the family man and the adulterer. This is an epic, triumphant and tragic life, and a masterpiece of the biographer's art.

A first hand account of the German U-boat battles of World War II, by one of the very few surviving commanders. This is a story of triumph, disaster and eventual survival against all odds. Herbert Werner was one of the few U-boat commanders whose skill, daring and incredible luck saw him safely through to the end of the war. His is an epic and chilling description of the fearful havoc wrought by one small U-boat on the Atlantic convoys. But easy success ebbed away in the face of ever-improving Allied detection and attack techniques. The hunters became the prey, to suffer appalling losses. Of 842 U-boats launched 779 were sunk, 'iron-coffins' to 28,000 men. Herbert Werner's graphic account of war waged from beneath the sea, of horror and cold, cruel death, is dedicated to the seamen of all nations who died in the Battle of the Atlantic.

On 7th September 1822, Dom Pedro, Prince Regent of Brazil, declared his country independent and began the war of liberation against Portugal. Based on research from original documents and journals, the book details how independence was secured against all odds by seizing command of the sea, under the leadership of Lord Cochrane, to ensure the integrity of the new Brazilian empire. Set against the background of Brazilian politics and British foreign policy interests, this is a detailed account of the operations of the Brazilian navy during the transition to independence.

This book examines the dynamics of coalition naval operations. Since the end of the Second World War, few nations possess the capacity for large scale, sustained and independent naval operations; and even those that do, such as the USA, often find it economically, militarily and politically expedient to act multilaterally. As such, coalition naval operations increasingly became the norm throughout the twentieth-century, and there is little sign of this abating in the twenty-first. Multinational operations provide a number of benefits, but they also present a number of challenges. Examining the dynamics of coalition operations involving the Royal Navy (RN), Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and the United States Navy (USN) during the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Iraq War, this book provides a broad overview of naval interoperability between the three navies. Using the naval gunfire support (NGS) capability as a lens through which to analyse operations, the study explores a diverse range of issues, including: command and control, communications, equipment standardisation, intelligence, logistics, planning, rules of engagement, tactics, techniques and procedures and training. Approaching the subject through both historical and contemporary perspectives not only provides a unique assessment of the variation in the effectiveness of interoperability over time, but also offers a platform for better understanding and enhancing the performance of future coalition naval operations. Based on extensive archival research in Australia, the UK and the US, as well as wide-ranging interviews, this book sheds new light on the dynamics of conducting coalition operations. This book will be of great interest to students of naval history, strategic studies, sea power, maritime security, military studies, and IR in general.

Cruisers became Britain's essential vessel for protecting battleships, carriers, and convoys versus Japanese, Italian, and Nazi German commerce raiders, submarines, aircraft, and destroyers.
The light cruiser was a natural development of the sailing frigate - a fast multi-purpose warship that could patrol the sea lanes, protect convoys and scout for enemy battle fleets. By the inter-war period the need for this type of ship was even more important, given the increasing need for protection from aircraft, and the need to screen the fleet from submarines or destroyers.
During the 1930's a new group of British light cruisers were commissioned, designed to replace an earlier generation of warships designed during the Great War. These new ships were sleek, fast, and relied on the 6-inch gun - a tried and tested weapon that combined hitting power with a high rate of fire. A second generation of light cruisers followed during the late 1930's, armed with twelve 6-inch guns apiece. One of these - HMS Belfast - is still afloat today.
Finally the threat posed by German aircraft led to the conversion of some older warships into anti-aircraft cruisers - a stopgap measure until a new class of these powerful and much-needed warships entered service. By this time wartime experience had shown that the British light cruiser was one of the most versatile types of ship in the Royal Navy, able to protect other warships, bombard enemy shores, guard life-saving convoys and intercept and destroy enemy warships. These were truly the workhorses of the wartime Royal Navy. While the battleships and carriers grabbed the headlines, these sleek, elegant warships quietly got on with the job of securing control of the seas.

Adapted from the naval history classic and New York Times bestseller, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors pieces together the action of the Battle off Samar, bringing to life a riveting story of heroism against daunting odds, duty, and sacrifice in a way never seen before. In October 1944, Allied forces began landing on the Philippine island of Leyte. Quickly assessing the threat of the Allied invasion, the Japanese navy sought to counterattack. But with the island protected by the full strength of Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet, a direct attack was nearly impossible. Undeterred, the Japanese Admiralty deployed their forces, engaging the Third Fleet and retreating in a manner that drew the fleet into a hot pursuit. However, Admiral Halsey had been deceived, and the Japanese plan had taken his fleet out of position to defend the American beachhead. With the northern route to Leyte open and unguarded, the Japanese Center Force--a fleet led by the battleship Yamato, the largest and most powerful battleship ever constructed--seemingly had a clear path to the landing beaches on Leyte. Only one thing stood between the Japanese forces and the vulnerable objective. Taffy 3, a small task unit from the Seventh Fleet was made up of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort aircraft carriers; thirteen ships with little firepower and even less armor. On the morning of October 25, 1944, Taffy 3 suddenly became the only obstacle between the Allied landings and the Japanese Center Force. Hopelessly outmanned and outgunned, Taffy 3 plunged into battle. The ensuing action, known as the Battle off Samar, became one of the greatest last stands in naval history.

The Royal Navy battleship HMS Rodney was one of the most famous warships of the Second World War and remains a legend in the pantheon of naval history. In May 1941 Rodney turned Bismarck, the pride of Hitler's navy, into twisted metal, then participated in hard-fought Malta convoys and later supported the D-Day landings. Rodney's vital role, via formidable naval gunfire support, in breaking the morale of German troops during the battle for Normandy, is outlined here. Through the eyewitness accounts of her sailors and marines we discover what it was like to live and fight in a battleship at war. We learn of the many famous fighting admirals who served in, or commanded, Rodney, including Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham and Admiral Sir John Tovey. The stories of previous British warships to carry the name Rodney, dating back to the 1750s, are covered too, including the vessel that took on the batteries at Sevastopol during the Crimean War. In addition to a fresh perspective on Bismarck's destruction, the author seeks to present new insights into the inter-war mutiny that saw Rodney dubbed 'the Red Ship' and a bomb hit in 1940 that nearly destroyed her.There is even an account of how a group of HMS Rodney's sailors took part in a trailblazing British commando raid. It all makes for a thrilling, epic account of naval warfare.

An outcast on the high seas. A woman who defies convention.Gabriel Hawkins was born to command the sea, until he left the Royal Navy in disgrace and was disowned by his family. Now captaining his own ship, earning his living through dubious means, he is the best choice to ransom an aristocratic beauty captured by Barbary pirates. Facing the prospect of a life as a harem slave, Lady Aurora Lawrence is beyond horrified. Her only hope of escape lies in a quiet, steely captain who ignites an attraction in her that burns hot within the close confines of his ship. But even if they endure the perils of the waves, can their love survive a return to England, where the distance between a disgraced captain and an earl's daughter is wider than the ocean? A stunning historical romance for fans of Bridgerton and Johanna Lindsey.

More than one hundred years after the battle of Jutland, the first and largest engagement of Dreadnoughts in the twentieth century, historians are still fighting this controversial and misunderstood battle. What was in fact a strategic victory stands out starkly against the background of bitter public disappointment in the Royal Navy and decades of divisive acrimony and very public infighting between the camps supporting the two most senior commanders, Jellicoe and Beatty. This book not only re-tells the story of the battle from both a British and German perspective based on the latest research, but it also helps clarify the context of Germany's inevitable naval clash. It then traces the bitter dispute that ensued in the years after the smoke of war had cleared; right up to his death in 1935, Admiral Jellicoe was embroiled in what became known as the Jutland Controversy. Nick Jellicoe is uniquely placed to tell the story of Jutland. His naval connections are strong: his father, the second Earl served as First Lord of the Admiralty while his grandfather, Sir John Jellicoe commanded the Grand Fleet for the first two years on the war, from 1914 to 1916, and was famously described by Churchill as being the only man who could have lost the war in an afternoon. This new paperback edition has been completely revised and offers the best and most balanced account of the battle available and can be read alongside the author's interactive website. 'This is a marvellously enthralling account . . that combines academic thoroughness with a unique element of personal observation. I found it totally absorbing and cannot recommend it highly enough.' _Warship World_

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.

Originally published in 1919, this book presents the content of an inaugural lecture delivered by the renowned British historian John Holland Rose (1855-1942), upon taking up the position of Professor of Naval History at Cambridge University. The text presents a concise discussion of naval history in its relationship with national history. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the writings of Rose and military history.

Originally published in 1934, this book presents the content of the inaugural lecture delivered at Cambridge University by Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond (1871-1946) upon taking up the position of Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History. The text provides a discussion regarding naval history and its relationship with the lives and institutions of citizens. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in naval or military history.

Originally published in 1930, this book presents an English translation of the 1639 journal of Dutch naval commander Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (1598-1653), who led the Dutch fleet in a decisive victory over the Spanish at the Battle of the Downs during that year. Translation of the journal was carried out by Charles Ralph Boxer (1904-2000), a renowned specialist in Dutch and Portugese naval history and the early colonial expansion of European nations. Created in response to 'an increasing interest shown by English historians in naval matters', the text provides both an insight into Dutch naval strategy and a revealing portrait of Tromp's character. A highly detailed introduction, illustrative figures and a bibliography are included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in European and Maritime history.

D-Day-June 6, 1944-is seared into popular consciousness: 160,000 Allied troops landed along 50 miles of French coastline to battle German forces on the beaches of Normandy, suffering devastating losses in an invasion that would eventually lead to the liberation of Western Europe. Though it has been studied, discussed, and debated extensively, histories of D-Day have typically overlooked the incredible naval operation necessary for the invasion to succeed: Operation Neptune. Involving over five thousand ships and nearly half a million personnel, Neptune was the largest seaborne assault in human history, without which the battles at Normandy never could have taken place. In Neptune, renowned historian Craig L. Symonds brilliantly traces the central thread of this Olympian event from the first tentative conversations by British and American officers in Washington in the winter of 1941 to the storming of the beaches in the summer of 1944. With characteristically vivid narration, he uncovers the various components of the operation, including the strategic unity, industrial productivity, sea control, and organizational execution on which the Allied armies in Normandy depended. Symonds follows key personalities, both British and American, from the well-known-Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George Marshall, and "Ike " Eisenhower-to the less-prominent-Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and his American counterpart Admiral Ernest J. King-to offer an intimate look at the men involved in this exceptional campaign. Operation Neptune was never a sure-thing, as Symonds shows, and Neptune explores the disputes of the Anglo-American allies, the demands of Russia, the dangers of German U-boats, and the hundreds of logistical bottlenecks that could have undone the operation at any time. From the suppressing of the U-boat menace in the Battle of the Atlantic to the gearing up of the industrial machine to produce the ships, tanks, landing craft, and other tools of war that would make an invasion possible, Symonds' riveting narrative uncovers the means by which Neptune was brought to fruition, and presents for the first time a comprehensive history of the greatest naval operation of the 20th century.

The Battle of the Coral Sea is unique in the annals of naval history. It is the first battle in which enemy fleets never came within sight of one another. Instead, aircraft launched from carrier decks were sent out to attack the enemy with bombs and torpedoes.
In May of 1942, the Japanese fleet moved on Port Moresby, the last Allied base between Australia and Japan. Forced to respond, the Americans sent two aircraft carriers to protect the base. In the ensuing battle, one American carrier was destroyed and the other severely damaged. However, the Japanese also lost a carrier and decided to withdraw. Although bloody, it proved to be an important strategic victory for the Allies as the Japanese were forced to attempt future attacks on Port Moresby over land. Using the latest research and numerous period photographs, retired USN Commander Mark O. Stille tells the story of this important and unique battle in the Pacific War.

Robert Southey (1774-1843), Romantic poet and friend of Coleridge, was Poet Laureate from 1813 to 1843. He also wrote historical works and was a noted scholar of Portuguese. (His three-volume history of Brazil is also reissued in this series.) As Southey himself states, many lives of Nelson had been written since the hero's death at Trafalgar in 1805, but what he is attempting in these two volumes, published in 1813, is a work 'clear and concise enough to become a manual for the young sailor ... till he has treasured up the example in his memory and in his heart'. In this 'eulogy', Volume 1 describes Nelson's boyhood and early experience of the sea, his service on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Arctic, his uneasy relationship with the Admiralty, and his role in the Napoleonic Wars up to the battle of the Nile.

Brings dramatically to life the nature of the combat between the hunter and hunted at sea, roles that could switch at the drop of a depth charge or the flick of a button to launch a torpedo.

Legacy of the Lash is a compelling social and cultural history of the Brazilian navy in the decades preceding and immediately following the 1888 abolition of slavery in Brazil. Focusing on non-elite, mostly black enlisted men and the oppressive labor regimes under which they struggled, the book is an examination of the four-day Revolta da Chibata (Revolt of the Lash) of November 1910, during which nearly half of Rio de Janeiro s enlisted men rebelled against the use of corporal punishment in the navy. These men seized four new, powerful warships, turned their guns on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil s capital city, and held its population hostage until the government abolished the use of the lash as a means of military discipline. Although the revolt succeeded, the men involved paid dearly for their actions. This event provides a clear lens through which to examine racial identity, violence, masculinity, citizenship, modernity, and the construction of the Brazilian nation."