The fast and formidably-armed battlescruisers of Great Britain and Germany that were developed before and during the First World War are, in this new book, compared and contrasted in a way, and at a level of detail that has never been attempted before. The authors begin by looking at the relationship and rivalry between Great Britain and Germany and at how foreign policy, strategic and tactical considerations, economic, industrial and technological developments, and naval policies led to the instigation of the battlecruiser programmes in both countries. Chapters are then devoted to the development of the type in each country, at their design and construction, protection, propulsion plants, weapons, fire control, and communication systems, focussing particularly on the innovative aspects of the designs and on their strengths and weaknesses. These ships eventually clashed in the North Sea at Dogger Bank, in January 1915, and while neither side suffered losses, the differences in their design and handling were apparent, differences that would be more starkly highlighted a year later at Jutland when three British ships were destroyed.These actions, and others they took part in, are described and assessed by the authors who then conclude by analysing their strengths and limitations. This is a major new work for naval enthusiasts everywhere.

The Admirals: Canada’s Senior Naval Leadership in the Twentieth Century fills an important void in the history of Canada’s navy. Those who carry the burden of high command have a critical niche in not only guiding the day-to-day concerns of running an armed service but in ensuring that it is ready to face the challenges of the future. Canada’s leading naval historians present analytical articles on the officers who led the navy from its foundation in 1910 to the unification in 1968. Six former Maritime Commanders provide personal reflections on command. The result is a valuable biographical compendium for anyone interested in the history of the Canadian Navy, the Canadian Forces, or military and naval leadership in general.

The Washington Treaty of 1922, designed to head off a potentially dangerous arms race between the major naval powers, agreed to legally binding limits on the numbers and sizes of the principal warship types. In doing so, it introduced a new constraint into naval architecture and sponsored many ingenious attempts to maximise the power of ships built within those restrictions. It effectively banned the construction of new battleships for a decade, but threw greater emphasis on large cruisers. This much is broadly understood by anyone with an interest in warships, but both the wider context of the treaty and the detail ramifications of its provisions are little understood. The approach of this book is novel in combining coverage of the political and strategic background of the treaty - and the subsequent London Treaty of 1930 - with analysis of exactly how the navies of Britain, the USA, Japan, France and Italy responded, in terms of the types of warships they built and the precise characteristics of those designs. This was not just a matter of capital ships and cruisers, but also influenced the development of super-destroyers and large submarines. Now for the first time warship enthusiasts and historians can understand fully the rationale behind much of inter-war naval procurement. The Washington Treaty was a watershed, and this book provides an important insight into its full significance.

Col. Ray "Frenchy" L'Heureux always dreamed of being a pilot. Growing up, he built airplane models and dreamed about soaring over the earth. When he was twelve, his mother treated him to a flying lesson at the local airfield. Taken on a short flight by an instructor and allowed to operate the controls for part of the flight, he was hooked forever. It wasn't until he was running low on college funds and saw a recruiter at his college that he joined the Marines and began the journey towards his dream from Parris Island to Bravo Company and, then, officer training school. One day at an airfield when President Reagan landed on this way to a fundraiser, Frenchy's life changed forever when encountered HMX1, the squadron that flies the President in Marine One. When he saw the white-topped Sea King and White Hawk helicopters, he was determined to become part of that elite group. Inside Marine One is Col. L'Heureux's inspiring story of a young man who dreamed of flying, trained, studied and worked hard to become the pilot who ended up serving four US Presidents - George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. It's also a personal guided tour inside the world's most famous helicopter by a man who knows that flying machine better than any other. Inside Marine One is a great American success story of a young boy who dreamed big, worked hard and finally flew the President of the United States as his number one passenger.

The Imperial Japanese Navy was a pioneer in naval aviation, having commissioned the world's first built-from-the-keel-up carrier, the 'Hosho'. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, it experimented with its carriers, perfecting their design and construction. As result, by the time Japan entered World War 2 and attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor in 1941, it possessed a fantastically effective naval aviation force. Carriers would roam the Pacific with near impunity, destroying their opponents at will. This book covers the design, development and operation of IJN aircraft carriers built prior to and during World War 2. Pearl Harbor, Midway and the first carrier vs carrier battle, the battle of the Coral Sea, are all discussed.

The year 1588 marked a turning point in our national story. Victory over the Spanish Armada transformed us into a seafaring nation and it sparked a myth that one day would become a reality - that the nation's new destiny, the source of her future wealth and power lay out on the oceans. This book tells the story of how the navy expanded from a tiny force to become the most complex industrial enterprise on earth; how the need to organise it laid the foundations of our civil service and our economy; and how it transformed our culture, our sense of national identity and our democracy.

Brian Lavery's narrative explores the navy's rise over four centuries; a key factor in propelling Britain to its status as the most powerful nation on earth, and assesses the turning point of Jutland and the First World War. He creates a compelling read that is every bit as engaging as the TV series itself.

This book explores the political emergence of the Imperial Japanese Navy between 1868 and 1922. It fundamentally challenges the popular notion that the navy was a 'silent, ' apolitical service. Politics, particularly budgetary politics, became the primary domestic focus - if not the overriding preoccupation - of Japan's admirals in the prewar period. This study convincingly demonstrates that as the Japanese polity broadened after 1890, navy leaders expanded their political activities to secure appropriations commensurate with the creation of a world-class blue-water fleet. The navy's sophisticated political efforts included lobbying oligarchs, coercing cabinet ministers, forging alliances with political parties, occupying overseas territuries, conducting well-orchestrated naval pageants, and launching spirited propaganda campaigns. These efforts succeeded: by 1921 naval expenditures equaled nearly 32 percent of the country's total budget, making Japan the world's third-largest maritime power. The navy, as this book details, made waves at sea and on shore, and in doing so significantly altered the state, society, politics, and empire in prewar Japan

The Royal Marines were originally formed under the auspices of the Royal Navy to guard its sailing ships from harm. They are proud of their history and origins but the Navy heritage is fading. John Parker's new book charts how the units have moved away from their nautical beginnings to develop, over time, into the most versatile force in the British military, containing one of their most elite brigades. The Royal Marines Commandos have over the past few years developed into the premier fighting organisation on land, sea and air. They are trained to the highest degree in a diverse range of skills and officer quality is generally recognised as of the highest order. This history deals with events associated with the Royal Marines and subsequently in their commando role, starring in major conflicts in which the UK became embroiled, including Italy, Malaysia, the Borneo confrontation with Indonesia, and more recently Afghanistan.

One of the finest war memoirs ever written. During World War II, Canada trained tens of thousands of airmen under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Those selected for Bomber Command operations went on to rain devastation upon the Third Reich in the great air battles over Europe, but their losses were high. German fighters and anti-aircraft guns took a terrifying toll. The chances of surviving a tour of duty as a bomber crew were almost nil. Murray Peden’s story of his training in Canada and England, and his crew’s operations on Stirlings and Flying Fortresses with 214 Squadron, has been hailed as a classic of war literature. It is a fine blend of the excitement, humour, and tragedy of that eventful era.

This second of two volumes on American landing craft of World War II focuses on the larger LCT, LSM, LCS(L)(3), and LST vessels that transported tanks and heavy equipment to the shores of North Africa and Normandy and throughout the Pacific. The need for massive numbers of landing craft capable of disgorging huge numbers of troops and equipment was predicted by the US Army in 1940. Later, the British army estimated that over 2,000 of such vessels would be required for the assault on Europe. The US launched a building campaign to produce these seagoing craft, turning primarily to shipyards and manufacturers located along the American rivers. Ultimately many of these continued to serve the nation's need through Vietnam. Some were even heavily laden with rocket launchers and used for close-in support for troops going ashore.

While fighting on land continues to hold center stage, recently much more attention has been focused on the Civil War at sea. And for good reason. Naval operations decided the outcome of the war as the North exploited its significant naval and maritime advantage to turn the war on land in its favor. In A Short History of the Civil War at Sea, Spencer C. Tucker, eminent naval and military historian and endowed chair at the Virginia Military Institute, provides a concise and lively overview of the "blue water" Civil War, or fighting on the seas and attacks directed from the sea. This volume covers the drama of significant naval battles, like the first clash of ironclads at Hampton Roads, the Union capture of New Orleans, fierce action in the Charleston Harbor, and the Battle of Mobile Bay. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea also discusses important themes, like the technological revolution in naval warfare; the impact of naval operations on U.S. and Confederate foreign relations; the Confederate use of torpedoes, submarines, and commerce raiders; and the Union's successful strategy of blockade. The struggle at sea might not have been as bloody as the fighting on land, but it was every bit as interesting and included a colorful cast of characters, like David G. Farragut, the North's highest ranking and most accomplished naval officer, and Confederate naval officer, commerce raider, and "Rebel Seadog" Raphael Semmes. And the advances of naval technology during the Civil War are fascinating-from the use of new Dahlgren guns to the design and redesign of the ironclads to the extensive use of mines and the development of submarines. Prof. Tucker covers it all in this new book, and his knowledge and skills as a storyteller shine. A Short History of the Civil War at Sea will entertain and inform students, scholars, and Civil War enthusiasts.

Naval and Military Operations of Great Britain is the single most important contemporary account of the Royal Navy in the 18th century. Its six volumes present a new approach to naval strategy. Defeat in the American Revolutionary War called into question the assumptions of superiority upon which so much earlier commentary on naval affairs had been based. By addressing the specific causes of the disaster, the author, Robert Beatson (1742-1818), hoped to render both the navy and the nation wiser for the future. Lauded by key figures in the development of naval strategy, including John Laughton, Alfred T. Mahan, and Julian Corbett, this work remains fundamental to modern scholarship on the nature of British naval power and is an especially rich source of information on the British army's campaign in North America. This edition contains a substantial new introduction by leading naval scholar, Andrew Lambert (King's College London).

The Navy's latest 30-year shipbuilding plan has a force of 33 amphibious warfare ships as its objective. The primary purpose of those ships in wartime is to carry Marine Corps units overseas and to support and sustain them as they deploy ashore. In peacetime, amphibious ships perform various missions, such as engaging in routine patrols overseas, reassuring allies, responding to crises, and providing humanitarian relief. This book provides an overview of the size, missions, and use of the Navy's amphibious warfare ships and related expeditionary forces under the Navy's "2012 shipbuilding plan".

Yet it is Webb's distinguished second career as a lead instructor for the shadowy "sniper cell" and Course Manager of the Navy SEAL Sniper Program that trained some of America's finest and deadliest warriors - including Marcus Luttrell and Chris Kyle - that makes his story so compelling. Explosive, revealing, and intelligent, "The Red Circle" provides a uniquely personal glimpse into one of the most challenging and secretive military training courses in the world.

Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the six Abdiel-class fast minelayers, the fastest and most versatile ships to serve in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. They operated not only as offensive minelayers - dashing into enemy waters under cover of darkness - but in many other roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta. In lieu of mines, they transported items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. Distinguished by their three funnels, the Abdiels were attractive, well-designed ships, and they were also unique - no other navy had such ships, and so they were sought-after commands and blessed with fine captains. To give the fullest picture of this important class of ships, the book details the origins and history of mines, minelayers, and minelaying; covers the origins and design of the class; describes the construction of each of the six ships, and the modified design of the last two; tells in detail of the operational careers of the ships in the second World War, when they played vital roles in the battle of Crete and the siege of Malta, plied the hazardous route to Tobruk, and laid mines off the Italian coast.The post-war careers of the surviving ships is also documented. Written to appeal to naval enthusiasts, students of World War II and modelmakers, the author tells the story of these ships through first-hand accounts, official sources, and specially- commissioned drawings and photographs.

In November 2011, Geoff Dyer fulfilled a childhood dream of spending time on an aircraft carrier. Dyer's stay on the USS George Bush, on active service in the Arabian Gulf, proved even more intense, memorable, and frequently hilarious, than he could ever have hoped. In Dyer's hands, the warship becomes a microcosm for a stocktaking of modern Western life: religion, drugs, chauvinism, farting, gyms, steaks, prayer, parental death, relationships and how to have a beach party with 5000 people on a giant floating hunk of steel. Piercingly perceptive and gloriously funny, this is a unique book about work, war and entering other worlds.

When commissioned on December 14, 1927, USS Lexington and her sister ship, USS Saratoga, were the world's largest aircraft carriers. The Lexington-class carriers, as the ships were known, were the results of an effort akin to making lemonade from lemons. Both vessels were begun in 1920-21 as Lexington-class battle cruisers. Lexington, originally designated CC-1 (indicating battle cruiser), would have been a formidable warship armed with eight 16-inch guns in four turrets. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 banned the constructions of such ships but permitted the conversion of such hulls into aircraft carriers. Accordingly, the "Lady Lex," as she became known to her crew, was finished as a massive 888-foot-long aircraft carrier and retained the originally planned revolutionary turboelectric drive. From the outset, Lexington, initially carrying fabric-covered biplanes, was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. In the years leading up to WWII, both the ship and her aircraft were modernized. This profusely illustrated book, an expanded and updated version of the author's earlier work, puts the reader on the deck of Lexington through her construction, evolution, and ultimate May 8, 1942, sinking at the Battle of Coral Sea and finishes with the discovery of her wreck on March 4, 2018. Over 200 photos, numerous line drawings, and color renderings illustrate this new entry in the Legends of Warfare series.

At the outbreak of World War II the German Kriegsmarine still had a relatively small U-boat arm. To reach Britain's convoy routes in the North Atlantic, these boats had to pass around the top of the British Isles - a long and dangerous voyage to their "hunting grounds". Germany's larger surface warships were much better suited to this kind of long-range operation. So, during late 1939 the armoured cruiser Deutschland, and later the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were used as commerce raiders, to strike at Allied convoys in the North Atlantic. These sorties met with mixed results, but for Germany's naval high command they showed that this kind of operation had potential. Then, the fall of France, Denmark and Norway in early 1940 dramatically altered the strategic situation. The Atlantic was now far easier to reach, and to escape from. During 1940, further moderately successful sorties were made by the cruisers Admiral Scheer and Admiral Hipper. By the end of the year, with British mercantile losses mounting to surface raiders and U-Boats, plans were developed for a much larger raid, first using both cruisers, and then the two battlecruisers. The climax of this was Operation Berlin, the Kriegsmarine's largest and most wide-ranging North Atlantic sortie so far. Scharnhorst and Gneisenau remained at sea for two months, destroying 22 Allied merchant ships, and severely disrupting Britain's lifeline convoys. So, when the operation ended, the German commander, Admiral Lutjens was ordered to repeat his success - this time with the brand new battleship Bismarck. The rest, as they say, is history. These earlier Atlantic raids demonstrated that German surface ships could be highly effective commerce raiders. For those willing to see though, they also demonstrated just how risky this strategy could be. Covering a fascinating and detailed analysis of the Kriegsmarine's Atlantic raids between 1939 and 1941, this book will appeal to readers interested in World War II and in particular in Germany's naval operations.

The imperial Austrian navy which fought and won the signal victory of Lissa on 20 July 1866, during the so-called Seven Weeks' War of 1866, has in recent years been subjected to more detailed scrutiny than has hitherto been its lot, and it is with an eye to following this trend that we present the following translation of part of the memoirs of one of its officers. Maximilian Rottauscher, the author of this account, was born in Vienna in 1844, the son of Karl Rottauscher (born 1812), an Austrian army officer who served in the Hungarian campaigns of 1848/49 and rose to the rank of major general before retiring. Max was destined for the fledgling navy, since after the lost 1859 war with France and Piedmont it was undergoing some expansion because of fears about designs in the Adriatic Sea by the new kingdom of Italy. In 1861, therefore, he was assigned to the frigate Novara as a cadet. After a brief instruction, he was transferred between a number of vessels and endured a period of enforced shore leave before being assigned to the schooner Saida, in which he made a voyage to Greece in 1863. Further service on training ships followed, before in 1864, as a midshipman, Rottauscher was sent to the North Sea as a replacement for a casualty on the frigate Radetzky. The Radetzky was one of a force of Austrian warships present during the Second Schleswig War, during which Austria and Prussia were allied against Denmark, and Max took part in the closing campaigns of this conflict, which he describes. But the greatest adventure of Max's life was two years later, when as a brand-new sub lieutenant and stationed on the frigate Adria, he was at the battle of Lissa. His description of this action, where the Austrians under Wilhelm von Tegetthoff trounced the Italians under Carlo di Persano, is extremely valuable not only because of its immediacy but also because relatively few personal accounts of Lissa have been published. Max's account is a very interesting picture of the Austrian navy in the early and mid-1860s, its comic and harrowing scenes and its depictions of foreign lands and the adventures he had there. As usual, the translator Stuart Sutherland has added explanatory notes to assist the reader. This is a fascinating and worthy contribution to 19th Century naval literature.

Amid the twists and turns of her survival to this day, the story of the light cruiser HMS Caroline spans a century and more. This book focuses on her early career, the role she played as just one of many components making up the Grand Fleet in time of war. We look at her routine participation in contraband control and, most dramatically, her appearance at the Battle of Jutland, when providence smiled upon her and guaranteed a safe emergence from that intense cauldron of explosion and fire. How does the life of a warship usually finish if it is not sunk in action? It can be the sad destiny of great warships to find themselves one day `surplus to requirements'. They might have performed gloriously in battle in defence of the realm. They might have made headlines by saving life where natural disaster strikes. Yet still the breaker's yard beckons. Most men-of-war become out of date, too costly to run, as their usefulness wanes. However, some ships find a last minute reprieve by being sold to foreign countries. And yet a very special few survive in home waters for future generations. Among these is HMS Caroline.

This is the first scholarly study of the Royal Navy during the reigns of Charles II and James II. Historians have long viewed the Restoration Navy through the eyes of Samuel Pepys, the greatest diarist and naval administrator of the age. Perceptive and intelligent as Pepys was, he presented only a one-sided view of the Navy, that of a bureaucrat attempting to reorganize it. J. D. Davies assesses this traditional picture of the Restoration Navy in the light of recent scholarship, using the evidence not only of Pepys but of his contemporaries. He examines the reactions of naval personnel to the demands imposed by Pepys, and analyses the structure of the service. He also explores the lives and attitudes of the men (the `tarpaulins') and their officers - the quests for promotion, enrichment, and glory; the very different problems posed by peace and war; the nature of life at sea; and the role of the Navy in national life. Gentlemen and Tarpaulins provides a fascinating glimpse into the history of the Royal Navy.

From muddy creek to naval-industrial powerhouse; from constructing wooden walls to building Dreadnoughts; from maintaining King John's galleys to servicing the enormous new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers: this is the story of Portsmouth Dockyard. Respected maritime historian Paul Brown's unique 800-year history of what was once the largest industrial organisation in the world is a combination of extensive original research and stunning images. The most comprehensive history of the dockyard to date, it is sure to become the definitive work on this important heritage site and modern naval base.

First introduced in 1979, the Handbook for Marine NCOs is recognized as the essential reference guide of the NCO corps. Marine NCOs of all grades rely on its reliability as the standard reference guide for the military professional. While this thoroughly revised 5th edition reflects all of the many changes in the organization of the corps since the publication of the previous edition in 1995, it continues to primarily focused on helping Marine NCOs“make the most of their chevrons and to get ahead in the corps.” It is the only book that provides a practical and easy- to-use reference guide to all of the many official military regulations and instructions that an NCO needs to know. It offers sound advice and up-to-date information on military matters that assists the new NCO to easily acquire a firm understanding of all of the different specialties and fields in the USMC and serves as a quick refresher for even the most seasoned NCO. This revised and updated edition will remain the standard reference guide for Marine NCOs for years to come.