In late 1944, the Second World War in the Pacific was going badly for Japan. The U.S. Pacific fleet had moved to the Mariana Islands in support of General MacArthur’s army, which had landed on the east coast of Leyte in October. The U.S. 7th Fleet was near the Surigao Strait off Leyte. The Japanese strategy was to entrap the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet by its naval forces from the north in the Sibuyan Sea, and with assault from the south from Surigao Strait. On the afternoon of 24 October, 7th Fleet torpedo-boats moved through Leyte Gulf and Surigao Strait into the Mindanao Sea south of Leyte, and by dusk were in position on their patrol-lines. Covering the northern part of the strait, were posted the destroyer squadrons, cruisers, and battleships to form the horizontal bar to a "T" of vast fire power which the enemy would be forced to approach vertically as he moved forward. With overwhelming force, the impenetrable gauntlet defeated the Japanese at Surigao Strait and played a significant in winning the Battle of Leyte Gulf and in so helping to secure the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against Japanese attack from the sea.

This detailed study of the naval Spanish Civil War describes how the Spanish Navy, torn in two and comprising a Republican and Nationalist part, fought a civil war at sea involving both Hitler's and Mussolini's navies. In July 1936, a pro-fascist coup orchestrated by General Franco tore Spain apart and plunged the country into a bitter civil war. Like Spain itself, the Spanish Navy was torn in two: crews and most ships remained loyal to the Republican government but many of the Navy's officers joined Franco's rebels, and warships under repair or 'mothballed' in southern ports soon fell to the rebel advance. These formed the basis of Franco's 'Nationalist fleet,' and with both Italian and German help, the rebels were able to contest the Republic's control of Spanish waters. Overall the Republican Navy held its own, despite mounting losses, until the collapse of the Republican Army led to the fleet seeking internment in French North Africa. Packed with contemporary photographs and full colour illustrations, this study examines the composition and organization of the two rival fleets, the capabilities of their ships and submarines, and the performance of their crews. It also covers the warships of the Basque Auxiliary Navy - an offshoot of the Republican Fleet - and other navies who played a part in the conflict, most notably the Italian Regia Marina.

This book examines British naval diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, showing how the mid-Victorian Royal Navy suffered serious challenges during the period. Many recent works have attempted to depict the mid-Victorian Royal Navy as all-powerful, innovative, and even self-assured. In contrast, this work argues that it suffered serious challenges in the form of expanding imperial commitments, national security concerns, precarious diplomatic relations with European Powers and the United States, and technological advancements associated with the armoured warship at the height of the so-called 'Pax Britannica'. Utilising a wealth of international archival sources, this volume explores the introduction of the monitor form of ironclad during the American Civil War, which deliberately forfeited long-range power-projection for local, coastal command of the sea. It looks at the ways in which the Royal Navy responded to this new technology and uses a wealth of international primary and secondary sources to ascertain how decision-making at Whitehall affected that at Westminster. The result is a better-balanced understanding of Palmerstonian diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, the early evolution of the modern capital ship (including the catastrophic loss of the experimental sail-and-turret ironclad H.M.S. Captain), naval power-projection, and the nature of 'empire', 'technology', and 'seapower'. This book will be of great interest to all students of the Royal Navy, and of maritime and strategic studies in general.

This book provides a history of the South China Sea conflict and lays out the stakes for each of the bordering states and China's interaction with them - namely, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia; it also examines the U.S. government's role in the region. China's Naval Operations in the South China Sea is highly topical; it examines the evolving perception of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) of the South China Sea (SCS), and Beijing's accompanying maritime strategy to claim the islands and waters, particularly in the context of the strategies of the neighbouring stake-holding nations. In addition to long-standing territorial disputes over the islands and waters of the SCS, China and the other littoral states - Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Indonesia - have growing and often mutually exclusive interests in the offshore energy reserves and fishing grounds. Many other countries outside of the region worry about the protection of sea lines of communication for military and commercial traffic, oil tankers in particular. These differences have been expressed in the increasing frequency and intensity of maritime incidents, involving both naval and civilian vessels, sometimes working in coordination against naval or civilian targets. Each chapter on the littoral states closely examines that state's territorial claims to the islands and waters of the SCS, its primary economic and military interests in these areas, its views on the sovereignty disputes over the entire SCS, its strategy to achieve its objectives, and its views on the U.S. involvement in any and all of these issues.

When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the United States and NATO were losing the Cold War. The USSR had superiority in conventional weapons and manpower in Europe, and had embarked on a construction programme to gain naval pre-eminence. But Reagan had a plan. Reagan pushed Congress to build the navy back to its 1945 strength. He gathered a circle of experienced naval planners, including the author, to devise an aggressive strategy. New radars, sensors and emissions technology would make ghosts of US submarines and surface fleets. They would operate aircraft carriers in Arctic waters which no navy had attempted. The Soviets, surrounded by their forward naval strategy, bankrupted their economy trying to keep pace. It wasn't long before the Berlin Wall fell and the USSR was disbanded.

Naval warfare is vividly brought to life, from first contact through how battles were won and lost to damage repair. Our understanding of warfare at sea in the eighteenth century has always been divorced from the practical realities of fighting at sea under sail; our knowledge of tactics is largely based upon the ideas of contemporary theorists[rather than practitioners] who knew little of the realities of sailing warfare, and our knowledge of command is similarly flawed. In this book the author presents new evidence from contemporary sources that overturns many old assumptions and introduces a host of new ideas. In a series of thematic chapters, following the rough chronology of a sea fight from initial contact to damage repair, the author offers a dramatic interpretation of fighting at sea inthe eighteenth century, and explains in greater depth than ever before how and why sea battles (including Trafalgar) were won and lost in the great Age of Sail. He explains in detail how two ships or fleets identified each other to be enemies; how and why they manoeuvred for battle; how a commander communicated his ideas, and how and why his subordinates acted in the way that they did. SAM WILLIS has lectured at Bristol University and at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is also the author of Fighting Ships, 1750-1850(Quercus).

Following the end of the First World War the Mediterranean Fleet found itself heavily involved in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Sea of Marmora, the Black Sea and to a lesser extent, the Adriatic. Naval commanders were faced with complex problems in a situation of neither war nor peace. The collapse of the Ottoman, Russian and Habsburg empires created a vacuum of power in which different factions struggled for control or influence. In the Black Sea this involved the Royal Navy in intervention in 1919 and 1920 on the side of those Russians fighting the Bolsheviks. By 1920 the Allies were also faced with the challenge of the Turkish nationalists, culminating in the Chanak crisis of 1922. The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne enabled the Mediterranean Fleet finally to return to a peacetime routine, although there was renewed threat of war over Mosul in 1925-1926. These events are the subject of the majority of the documents contained in this volume. Those that comprise the final section of the book show the Mediterranean Fleet back to preparation for a major war, applying the lessons of World War One and studying how to make use of new weapons, aircraft carriers and aircraft.

This book offers an assessment of the naval policies of emerging naval powers, and the implications for maritime security relations and the global maritime order. Since the end of the Cold War, China, Japan, India and Russia have begun to challenge the status quo with the acquisition of advanced naval capabilities. The emergence of rising naval powers is a cause for concern, as the potential for great power instability is exacerbated by the multiple maritime territorial disputes among new and established naval powers. This work explores the underlying sources of maritime ambition through an analysis of various historical cases of naval expansionism. It analyses both the sources and dynamics of international naval competition, and looks at the ways in which maritime stability and the widespread benefits of international commerce and maritime resource extraction can be sustained through the twenty-first century. This book will be of much interest to students of naval power, Asian security and politics, strategic studies, security studies and IR in general.

The reigns of Edward VI and Mary I remain largely by-passed in naval history, yet it was a vital time for the administration of the navy and it saw the apprenticeship of many who would lead the service in Elizabeth's later years. This volume helps to fill the gap and includes all the extant Treasurer's and Victualler's accounts for the two reigns together with entries taken verbatim from the State Papers which augment the calendar summaries previously published, and correct a good many errors. In addition documents are printed here for the first time from a variety of archives in Britain and abroad.

In the period leading up to the First World War Britain's naval supremacy was challenged by an arms race with Germany, fuelled not only by military and geo-strategic rivalries, but an onrush of technological developments. As this book demonstrates, steam turbines, bigger guns, mechanical computing devices and ever increasing tonnage meant that the Royal Navy was forced to confront many long-cherished beliefs and sensitive social and political issues. By looking at key continuities over the period of 1880-1919 the study explores how the service and its officers attempted to deal with fundamental changes in professional requirements, and how cultural and social values underwent a transformation in the run up to the First World War. In particular the book looks at how the executive officer corps was presented with a revolution in naval affairs. As the Navy was transformed into an industrialized workplace, officers were challenged by an alteration in the 'culture of command' as arrangements carried over from the days of sail began to breakdown under the practical requirements of a steam and steel fleet. The book charts the ebb and flow of the debate and the various ideas put forward to deal with the structural challenges faced by the Royal Navy. The writings of reformers and commentators such as Fisher, Beresford, Corbett, Laughton and Mahan provide the background to the specific problems faced, and are analysed both in relation to the nature of the reforms implemented, and more crucially, the performance of the 'Senior Service' during the First World War.

The 'Yamato' and her sister ship the 'Musashi' represented the ultimate development in the battleship. Together, the two ships were the heaviest and most powerfully armed battleships ever constructed. Named after the Yamato Province, 'Yamato' was designed to counter the numerically superior fleet of the US Navy. Built amongst a shroud of secrecy and deception and commissioned shortly after the outbreak of the war in the Pacific she was present at a number of engagements including the Battle of Midway and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Despite having been designed to engage and sink enemy surface vessels, the 'Yamato' would only fire her unrivalled 18.1-inch guns at an enemy surface target on one occasion, in October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In the final months of the war, as Kamikaze aircraft targeted American landing fleets off Okinawa, the 'Yamato' herself embarked on a one way mission of sacrifice, in a last desperate roll of the dice in an attempt to wreak havoc on the landing forces around Okinawa, the last stepping stone prior to an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands. Despite being products of war from the moment of their construction the 'Yamato' and 'Musashi' occupied a unique which continues to this day.

Indonesia is the largest archipelago state in the world comprising 17,480 islands, with a maritime territory measuring close to 6 million square kilometres. It is located between the two key shipping routes of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. Indonesia's cooperation in maritime security initiatives is vitally important because half of the world's trading goods and oil pass through Indonesian waters, including the Straits of Malacca, the Strait of Sunda and the Strait of Lombok. This book analyses Indonesia's participation in international maritime security cooperation. Using Indonesia as a case study, the book adopts mixed methods to assess emerging power cooperation and non-cooperation drawing from various International Relations theories and the bureaucratic politics approach. It addresses not only the topic of Indonesia's cooperation but also engages in debates across the International Relations, political science and policy studies disciplines regarding state cooperation. Based on extensive primary Indonesian language sources and original interviews, the author offers a conceptual discussion on the reasons underlying emerging middle power participation or non-participation in cooperation agreements. The analysis offers a fresh perspective on the growing problems of maritime terrorism and sea robbery and how an emerging power deals with these threats at unilateral, bilateral, regional and multilateral levels. The book fills a significant gap in literature on Indonesian foreign policy making in the post-1998 era. It provides the first in-depth study of Indonesia's decision making process in the area of maritime security and will thus be of interest to researchers in the field of comparative politics, international relations, security policy, maritime cooperation, port and shipping businesses and Southeast Asian politics and society.

America's Few delves into the history of US Marine Corps aviation in World War II, following the feats of the Corps' top-scoring aces in the skies over Guadalcanal. Marine Corps aviation began in 1915, functioning as a self-contained expeditionary force. During the interwar period, the support of USMC amphibious operations became a key element of Marine aviation doctrine, and the small force gradually grew. But in December 1941 came the rude awakening. Within hours of Pearl Harbor, heroic Marine aviators were battling the Japanese over Wake Island. In the South Pacific, the aviators of the US Marine Corps came out of the shadows to establish themselves as an air force second to none. In the summer of 1942, when Allied airpower was cobbled together into a single unified entity - nicknamed 'the Cactus Air Force' - Marine Aviation dominated, and a Marine, Major General Roy Geiger, was its commander. Of the twelve Allied fighter squadrons that were part of the Cactus Air Force, eight were USMC squadrons. It was over Guadalcanal that Joe Foss emerged as a symbol of Marine aviation. As commander of VMF-121, he organized a group of fighter pilots that downed 72 enemy aircraft; Foss himself reached a score of 26. Pappy Boyington, meanwhile, had become a Marine aviator in 1935. Best known as the commander of VMF-214, he came into his own in late 1943 and eventually matched Foss's aerial victory score. Through the parallel stories of these two top-scoring fighter aces, as well as many other Marine aces, such as Ken Walsh (21 victories), Don Aldrich (20), John L. Smith (19), Wilbur Thomas (18.5), and Marion Carl (18.5), many of whom received the Medal of Honor, acclaimed aviation historian Bill Yenne examines the development of US Marine Corps aviation in the South Pacific.

The battleship "Nagato" was the first dreadnought equipped with a main artillery with a caliber exceeding 400 mm. It was armed with eight 406 mm (16 in) guns. The keel of "Nagato" was laid in 1917 in the naval shipyard in Kure. The ship was launched in 1919 and incorporated into service on November 15, 1920. The sister unit was "Mutsu". Before the war, "Nagato" underwent many modifications and repairs increasing combat value of the ship. With the outbreak of World War II, "Nagato" became the flagship of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. The attack on Pearl Harbor was ordered from battleship's deck.

A fascinating reassessment of a turning point in the First World War, revealing its role in shaping the German psyche On May 7, 1915, the Lusitania, a large British luxury liner, was sunk by a German submarine off the Irish coast. Nearly 1,200 people, including 128 American citizens, lost their lives. The sinking of a civilian passenger vessel without warning was a scandal of international scale and helped precipitate the United States' decision to enter the conflict. It also led to the immediate vilification of Germany. Though the ship's sinking has preoccupied historians and the general public for over a century, until now the German side of the story has been largely untold. Drawing on varied German sources, historian Willi Jasper provides a comprehensive reappraisal of the sinking and its aftermath that focuses on the German reaction and psyche. The attack on the Lusitania, he argues, was not simply an escalation of violence but signaled a new ideological, moral, and religious dimension in the struggle between German Kultur and Western civilization.

The Navy of the Nuclear Age, 1947-2007, the fifth volume in the monumental U.S. Navy Warship series, presents an all-inclusive compendium of the ships that served in the U.S. Navy from the Cold War up through the present day. Featuring radical new developments in warships such as nuclear-powered submarines and carriers equipped with ballistic missiles, the post-World War II period was one of unprecedented technological growth for the U.S. Navy.

The Navy of the Nuclear Age contains specifications and illustrations for all the ships and submarines that have helped the U.S. to achieve its present-day status as the country with the world 's largest and most powerful navy.

A further article about Paul Silverstone and the Navy Warships series can be found at: http: //www.thejc.com/home.aspxParentId=m11s18s180&SecId=180&AId=58892&ATypeId=1

Naval Warfare 1919-45 is a comprehensive history of the war at sea from the end of the Great War to the end of World War Two. Showing the bewildering nature and complexity of the war facing those charged with fighting it around the world, this book ranges far and wide: sweeping across all naval theatres and those powers performing major, as well as minor, roles within them. Armed with the latest material from an extensive set of sources, Malcolm H. Murfett has written an absorbing as well as a comprehensive reference work. He demonstrates that superior equipment and the best intelligence, ominous power and systematic planning, vast finance and suitable training are often simply not enough in themselves to guarantee the successful outcome of a particular encounter at sea. Sometimes the narrow difference between victory and defeat hinges on those infinite variables: the individual's performance under acute pressure and sheer luck. Naval Warfare 1919-45 is an analytical and interpretive study which is an accessible and fascinating read both for students and for interested members of the general public.

Since the crucial maritime battles that were fought during the Second World War in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the post-war period, which saw a naval standoff between a vast US navy and a growing Soviet navy, the focus of international maritime power has changed.

Major maritime powers have deployed warships, aircraft carriers and heavy land forces around the globe, for purposes of diplomacy, such as in maintaining far-flung alliances; for deterrent purposes, such as in the Taiwan Straits; for warfighting, such as in its crucial support roles in recent conflicts in Afghanistan and both Gulf Wars; and for complex emergencies, such as tsunami and earthquake rescue in Indonesia and Pakistan. Increasingly, maritime power is employed in counter-terrorism, such as in joint patrols, counter-terrorism exercises and in intercepting ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

The Politics of Maritime Power is an exploration of the contemporary facets of maritime power, particularly as an instrument of the state, in the post-World War Two era. This reference volume is divided into four parts, with chapters exploring various aspects of modern maritime power written by maritime experts; a series of maps which show major maritime zones, with their chokepoints, major sea-lanes of communications and territorial disputes; a dictionary which contains over 240 entries on various aspects of maritime power; and a detailed bibliography.

The struggle for naval supremacy and the naval arms race inspired by HMS Dreadnought may have captured the headlines, but the opening stages of the naval war were dominated by the threat from German cruisers stationed outside European waters, until they were hunted down and sunk by the Royal Navy, notably at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914. Germany switched its focus to the U-boat, seeing it as a weapon capable of winning the war by starving Britain into surrender. Unrestricted submarine warfare led to the sinking of millions of tons of shipping, but it would also force the USA to enter the war on the Allied side in 1917. In the Mediterranean, the French fleet took the lead, while Austria-Hungary supported German actions. The Allied attempt in 1915 to use maritime power to break the strategic deadlock with an amphibious operation in the Dardanelles ultimately failed, although Allied sea power helped sustain the successful campaigns against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. What would prove to be the decisive naval engagement of the war took place in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland. Whilst the clash itself was inconclusive, the German High Seas Fleet would be all but confined to port for the rest of the war, handing the initiative to the Royal Navy. The resultant command of the seas allowed the Allies to carry fresh American armies and much-needed supplies to Europe in 1917. However, victory for the Allies was ultimately delivered by the naval economic blockade. By preventing the import of war materials and food, the fighting power and morale of the German armed forces was weakened. It was the mutiny of the High Seas Fleet in October 1918 that prompted the German Revolution and the subsequent abdication of the Kaiser. With the aid of over 300 photographs, complemented by full-colour maps, Naval Warfare provides a detailed guide to the background and conduct of World War I naval operations, describing the struggle to win control of the high seas around the globe.

The Sailing Navy, 1775-1854, the first volume in the definitive five-volume U.S. Navy Warship series, comprehensively details all aspects of the ships that sailed in the nascent stages of the U.S. Navy. From its beginnings as battlers of Barbary Coast pirates, to challenging the awesome might of the Royal Navy in the War of 1812, to the historic blockade that proved instrumental in winning the Mexican-American War, the sailing ships foreshadowed the daring and resolve of the later U.S. Navy. With its all-inclusive lists of data, The Sailing Navy is the most in-depth resource available on the ships that shaped the early history of the U.S. Navy. Each volume in the U.S. Navy Warship series represents the most meticulous scholarship for its particular era, providing an authoritative account of every ship in the history of the U. S. Navy from its first incarnation as the Continental Navy to its present position as one of the world's most formidable naval superpowers. Featuring convenient, easy-to-read tabular lists, every book in the series includes an abundance of illustrations, some never before published, along with figures for actions fought, damages sustained, casualties suffered, prizes taken, and ships sunk, ultimately making the series an indispensable reference tool for maritime buffs and military historians alike. A further article about Paul Silverstone and the Navy Warships series can be found at: http://www.thejc.com/home.aspxParentId=m11s18s180&SecId=180&AId=58892&ATypeId=1

Though they were never the most glamorous of warships, found US Navy frigates were frequently found on the frontlines of the Cold War at sea. These warships were the descendants of World War II's destroyer escorts, designed primarily to escort convoys. They specialized in anti-submarine warfare, but were intended to be numerous, tough, versatile, and well-armed enough to show US naval power around the world, performing roles that varied from intercepting drug-smugglers to defending aircraft carriers. When the Cold War turned hot, frigates were often there. It was a US Navy frigate, Harold E. Holt, that conducted the US Navy's first hostile boarding action since 1826 during the SS Mayaguez incident. Frigates were at the forefront of operations in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker War, with the frigate USS Stark suffering a notorious Exocet attack by Iraqi warplanes, and proving the Oliver Hazard Perry-class's legendary toughness. This book explains how the technology and design of frigates changed during the Cold War, how the classes were modified to keep up to date, and explores the many varied missions they performed during the Cold War and since.

From August 7, 1942 until February 24, 1944, the US Navy fought the most difficult campaign in its history. Between the landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and the final withdrawal of the Imperial Japanese Navy from its main South Pacific base at Rabaul, the US Navy suffered such high personnel losses that for years it refused to publicly release total casualty figures. The Solomons campaign saw the US Navy at its lowest point, forced to make use of those ships that had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other units of the pre-war navy that had been hastily transferred to the Pacific. 140 days after the American victory at Midway, USS Enterprise was the only pre-war carrier left in the South Pacific and the US Navy would have been overwhelmed in the face of Japanese naval power had there been a third major fleet action. At the same time, another under-resourced campaign had broken out on the island of New Guinea. The Japanese attempt to reinforce their position there had led to the Battle of the Coral Sea in May and through to the end of the year, American and Australian armed forces were only just able to prevent a Japanese conquest of New Guinea. The end of 1942 saw the Japanese stopped in both the Solomons and New Guinea, but it would take another 18 hard-fought months before Japan was forced to retreat from the South Pacific. Under the Southern Cross draws on extensive first-hand accounts and new analysis to examine the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns which laid the groundwork for Allied victory in the Pacific War.

The third volume of The U.S. Navy Warship Series covers the fifty-year period from 1883-1922. In 1883, Congress authorized the first ships of the "New Navy" and ordered removal of all obsolete ships. All US Navy ships since that time have stemmed from these first three cruisers. The numbering system in effect since 1920 was effectively begun in 1886. The ships built during the next few years fought in the Spanish-American War. The success and popularity of the naval victories of that war together with the acquisition of overseas territories were the impetus for a large naval shipbuilding program. The voyage around the world of the "Great White Fleet" was a prime example of the excitement felt by the American people about the Navy. This led naturally into the fleet of World War I and its vast expansion, terminating with its demobilization after the war and the succeeding naval disarmament treaty of 1992. This book will be arranged following the standard format with sections on Capital Ships, Cruisers, Destroyers, Submarines, Mines Vessels, Patrol Vessels, Tenders, Supply & Transport Ships, Naval Overseas Transportation Service (NOTS), and other government departments (Coast Guard, etc.). A further article about Paul Silverstone and the Navy Warships series can be found at: http://www.thejc.com/home.aspxParentId=m11s18s180&SecId=180&AId=58892&ATypeId=1

This book contains the Naval Staff History originally issued by the Admiralty in 1957 as a confidential book for use within the Royal Navy. It has since been declassified and is published here for the first time, along with an extended preface.

This volume describes the dangerous convoy operations in the Mediterranean which were necessary to relieve the garrison and people of Malta, covering the period from the beginning of 1941 until the end of 1942. These convoys had to be fought through against determined attack by German and Italian surface, submarine and, particularly, air forces. Although casualties were proportionately higher than in Atlantic convoys, Malta was successfully re-supplied and remained a considerable impediment to enemyOCOs attempts to supply their armies in North Africa. These operations reveal the dedication, courage and professionalism of the sailors (of both naval and merchant services) as well as the airmen who supported them. A new preface sets the scene for the Staff History.

The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean Convoys will be of great interest for students interested in the Mediterranean Convoys, Second World War and naval and military history."

In recent decades historians have studied several new aspects of early modern naval history and placed it in a wider context than traditional studies of naval warfare. This volume brings together 23 studies on naval technology, policy-making and administration, tactics, strategy, operations and warfare on trade. They provide new insights and new ideas for further studies.