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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Naval forces & warfare
A comprehensive overview of the activities of the British navy in the Mediterranean from the earliest times until the present. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the activities of the British navy in the Mediterranean Sea from the earliest times until the twentieth century. It traces developments from Anglo-Saxon times, through the Crusades,and to the seventeenth century, when the Barbary corsairs became a major problem. It outlines Britain's involvement in the wars of the long eighteenth century, when Britain obtained bases at Gibraltar, Minorca and Malta and repeatedly defeated the French and Spanish navies. It examines the navy's activities during the First and Second World Wars, when the Mediterranean was again of crucial strategic significance and a major theatre of war, and goes on toconsider Britain's withdrawal from the Mediterranean in the later twentieth century. Throughout, the book relates naval activity to patterns of trade, including the rise and decline of the Levant Company, and to wider international politics. JOHN D. GRAINGER is the author of numerous books for a variety of publishers, including seven previously published books for Boydell and Brewer, including The British Navy in the Baltic, Dictionaryof British Naval Battles and The First Pacific War: Britain and Russia, 1854-56.
Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea examines the rights and
duties of states across a broad spectrum of maritime security
threats. It provides comprehensive coverage of the different
dimensions of maritime security in order to assess how responses to
maritime security concerns are and should be shaping the law of the
sea. The discussion sets out the rules regulating passage of
military vessels and military activities at sea, law enforcement
activities across the different maritime zones, information sharing
and intelligence gathering, as well as armed conflict and naval
warfare. In doing so, this book not only addresses traditional
security concerns for naval power but also examines responses to
contemporary maritime security threats, such as terrorism, weapons
of mass destruction, piracy, drug-trafficking, environmental damage
and illegal fishing.
An influential and controversial figure in military, political, international, and social affairs, Earl Mountbatten has been referred to as the most remarkable naval officer of the 20th century. This book provides a guide to the literature on Mountbatten. It includes: biographies, descriptions of sources and research centers, general histories, monographs, bibliographies and reference works, official histories, reports and government documents, dissertations, articles, oral histories, conference proceedings, and fiction, film, art, and poetry. Part I, the historiographical essay, provides critical analysis and evaluation of the works and integrates them into the overall literature. It covers all of the 450 titles included in Part II, which is an annotated bibliography.
The hunters and the hunted on the high seas of war
The naval side of the First World War in the Adriatic provides a classic case study in narrow sea warfare. This is the story of the Austro-Hungarian KuK Navy's contribution to the Central Powers' considerable effort in the region. This finely balanced, well-handled navy successfully helped to defend Austria's Adriatic base of power--the Pola-Trieste-Fiume triangle--in the north, to protect the vital sea lane to Cattaro and the south, and to support the army from the sea--all against major odds. Its forces also contributed significantly to the U-boat war. During initial stages of the conflict, the French were the enemy at sea. Later, Italy switched allegiances, joining the Entente against her former allies. Because the KuK Kriegsmarine was no match for the Italians and the French combined, the battle fleet was thereafter kept in being at Pola, holding the Allies in check. Nonetheless, the Adriatic became an Austrian lake. Using aircraft, U-boats, torpedoes, and mines, the KuK worked toward reducing the odds against it. However, the impasse would continue until the armistice, ruling out a Mahanian showdown in the Adriatic. Koburger provides important geostrategic points of comparison and valuable lessons for other conflicts, even today.
In 1779 the fledgling U.S. naval fleet suffered a catastrophic defeat against the British in the waters of the Penobscot Bay, losing forty ships in a battle that was expected to be a sure victory for the Americans. Commodore Dudley Saltonstall was blamed for the debacle and ultimately court-martialed for his ineptitude. In this groundbreaking book George E. Buker defends Saltonstall providing compelling evidence that he was not to blame for the loss and that in fact the court-martial was rigged against him. Buker s conclusions foster a reassessment of Saltonstall s naval strategies and shed new light on the political maneuvers of the time."
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy attacked the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i. The perception remains that they succeeded in severely crippling the navy; however, nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks to meticulous research, Daughters of Infamy puts this myth rest and shows that the vast majority of warships in the harbor suffered no damage at all. Former US Navy photographer David Kilmer provides documentation on each ship that survived the Pearl Harbor massacre. He records what happened the day of the attack, then traces the ships' movements after December 7 and, in some cases, their destiny after the war. Contrary to popular belief, many met the enemy and helped to win the war in the Pacific. Undoubtedly the first work to compile factual and informative data on nearly all the ships in Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, Kilmer's in-depth record fills a scholarly void. His fascinating narrative on each ship adds another layer of expertise and provides a new perspective on a familiar event.
This book provides the first comprehensive critical analysis of the regulation of naval weapons during armed conflict. It examines the experience this century with the use of naval mines, submarines and anti-ship missiles, the three main naval weapons. The sources of international law relevant to an assessment of the law, that is the extant conventions, state practice, military manuals, war crimes prosecutions, and the opinions of publicists, are each extensively examined so that a clear picture of the law emerges. The book examines the impact of agreements drawn up in peacetime on wartime conduct and focuses on the growth of law through customary practice. While stating the law as it is today, it also provides suggestions for the practical development of the law.
Admiral Jean François Darlan's Western legacy is that of an opportunist, a fascist collaborator, or, at worst, a traitor during France's struggle for survival in the early years of World War II. This study, however, based upon new research from French, English, and German archival sources, paints a different picture. With a career beginning during the height of France's imperial power and lasting until the nation's rapid wartime decline, Darlan was a pragmatic statesman, a guardian of naval preparedness, a stout opponent of fascism, an earnest patron of the Anglo-French Alliance, and an advocate of combined naval power in the Mediterranean. He defended French naval and colonial interests against all foreign powers before and during the war, and his success in this area eventually resulted in his assassination. Darlan's career was characterized by his loyal service to his government and nation. One of the first to recognize the German threat, he openly favored naval rearmament in the early 1930s. He was also instrumental in the success of the 1937 Nyon Conference on Mediterranean security, which was the only prewar military effort against fascist aggression. During the occupation, Darlan pursued diplomacy to ease the burdens of the French people. Yet, these very negotiations with the Germans, along with his bitter reaction to Britain's surprise attack against the French fleet at Mers el-Kéebir, would result in his reputation as an opportunist and a collaborator with the fascists. This examination of the man whose murder would ease the way for Charles de Gaulle will captivate anyone interested in the political intrigues of World War II.
This book relates the life - and death - of the rebel German seaman who became one of the most successful U-Boat commanders of World War II. The story of Werner Henke - and a narrative outlining the history of his boat, U-515, and its crew - forms the basis for a biography of a man who defies the stereotypes of German character, who never fit in as a career officer in the German Navy, but who chose a suicidal death in acceptance of the code of the military service whose rules he continually bent and broke. Though the story Mulligan relates is engrossing and action-packed, it is also a carefully documented study that breaks new ground in uncovering the sociological background of Henke and his crew; in short, it is a study in German history as well as a biography of a U-Boat commander. Examining the backgrounds and attitudes of the crew - including their views on Hitler and the treatment of the Jews - Mulligan sheds new light on the men who constituted an elite in Hitler's Wehrmacht. The story of U-515 is also closely correlated to the overall conduct of the U-Boat war, including assessments of Karl Donitz's strategy, the influence of technological innovations, and the contributions of Allied signal intelligence. Henke's confrontation with the Gestapo and a detailed account of the sinking of the passenger liner Ceramic further add to the story, revealing the complex reality behind an image too long dominated by propaganda stereotypes.
In an age of uncertainties influenced by information technologies and the networking of societies, the maritime domain remains the main global lane of communication, vital for trade and security. The European Union has become a maritime actor, carrying out counter-piracy and maritime capacity-building operations and actively dealing with maritime safety, fisheries protection, port security, maritime surveillance and counter-immigration at sea. The Union's policies, mechanisms and activities related to the maritime domain are now backed by a Maritime Security Strategy, adopted by the Council in June 2014. This cutting edge book accounts for the trends in maritime strategy and seapower politics as well as the recent developments in the field, both at the conceptual and practical level. It discusses the significance of the maritime domain for European security in general and for the EU in particular. Readers are provided with the necessary tools to critically assess the EU's potential as a global maritime actor and evaluate why Europe's prosperity and security rests on its capacity to shape events at sea.
Andidora tells the story of four men who successfully commanded battlefleets in the 20th century: Japan's Heihachiro Togo, England's John Jellicoe, and America's William Halsey and Raymond Spruance. This study provides personality profiles and detailed accounts of their major battles. Analyzing their command decisions based on what each commander knew or could have reasonably inferred at the time decisions were made, Andidora compares their accomplishments to those of Horatio Nelson, who delivered stunning naval victories for England during the Napoleonic Wars. However, he concludes that the Nelsonian standard is inappropriate in the modern naval environment due to the increased size and technological complexity of modern fleets and the political imperative to preserve costly and strategically significant naval assets. Trained in England and acquiring the skill and spirit of Nelson's heirs, Togo annihilated his Russian opponents at the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War and, therefore, produced the 20th century's only facsimile of Nelson's Trafalgar. Despite heavy losses against a numerically inferior German Navy at Jutland, Jellicoe's single-minded adherence to an unpopular strategy would prove instrumental in achieving final victory in the First World War. Although strikingly different in personality and leadership style, Halsey and Spruance would both do their part in the naval battles of the Second World War. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Spruance would deal Japanese naval aviation a blow from which it would never recover; while at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Halsey would essentially eliminate the Japanese navy as an effective fighting force.
John H. Schroeder chronicles the expansion of the American Navy's peacetime role in developing the nation's overseas commercial empire during the thirty years before the Civil War. He demonstrates how the rapid acceleration of American commercial activity around the world increased pressure on the Navy to meet new economic and political demands. He analyzes how the Navy's haphazard development in the antebellum years paralleled and interacted with commercial activity, and how the end result impacted dramatically on the economic development of the United States.
This 30th anniversary edition of a highly acclaimed classic covers the entire span of the American naval experience from the Revolution to the present. It avoids descending into a dry chronology of naval battles and instead focuses on the use of the navy as a diplomatic instrument in peacetime and wartime. When dealing with war, the authors sketch in the political background and explain the grand strategy before dealing with individual battles and leaders. Each essay about the navy in war concludes with an assessment of the importance of naval operations to the outcome of the war and the significance of the war to America's role in world affairs. This book also traces changes in administrative premises and style, the evolution of technology, and the strategic revolutions characteristic of American naval history. This fully revised, 30th anniversary edition includes new chapters by current experts in the field so as to continue its relevance in the 21st century. An entirely new and up-to-date bibliography containing secondary sources help make this title better than ever.
Since World War II, there have been no engagements between carrier air groups, but flattops have been prominent and essential in every war, skirmish, or terrorist act that could be struck from planes at sea. Carriers have political boundaries. They range at will with planes that can be refueled in the air to strike targets thousands of miles inland. From the improvised wooden platforms of the early 20th century to today's nuclear-powered supercarriers, Hearn explores how combat experience of key individuals drove the development, technology, and tactics of carriers in the world's navies. In the early 20th century, during the days of the dreadnaughts, innovators in Europe and North America began to fly contraptions made from wood, canvas, wire, and a small combustion engine. Naval officers soon wondered whether these rickety bi-planes could be launched from the deck of a surface vessel. Trials began from jury-rigged wooden platforms built upon the decks of colliers. The experiments stimulated enough interest for the navies of the world to begin building better aircraft and better aircraft carriers. The novelty of a ship that could carry its own airstrip anywhere on the world's oceans caught fire in the 1920s and helped induce a new arms race. While the rest of the world viewed carriers as defensive weapons, Japan focused on offensive capabilities and produced the finest carrier in the world by 1940. World War II would see the carrier emerge as the greatest surface ship afloat. Since then, no war has been fought without them. |
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