The full visual history of the special forces combat diver from World War II to the present day. Combat divers are an elite within an elite. Every special forces combat diver is required to pass selection twice - first into the elite military unit and then a combat diving qualification. The combat dive units themselves are tiny and the operations highly classified. The role of a military diver is inevitably a lonely and a dangerous one, whether clearing mines or striking from the sea against enemy-held targets. Fully illustrated with rare and unusual images, Combat Divers reveals their little-known yet fascinating operations, from Dutch Special Forces combat divers covertly operating against Somali pirates to the actions of Soviet Spetsnaz divers in Swedish territorial waters during the Cold War. It also examines how the most famous units, such as the US Navy SEALs and the Royal Navy's SBS, are currently operating and adapting to threats in a multitude of theatres. Combat Divers gives an insight into specialist kit and vehicles presently used and equipment that is being developed and trialed throughout the world. Covering a variety of kit, from dry deck shelters to mini-submarines and swimmer delivery vehicles, former Royal Marines Commando Michael G. Welham draws on his own extensive diving experience to reveal exactly how this equipment is used by special forces dive teams. As their kit and equipment constantly evolve, so does the nature of their work and even the team element. Combat Divers also details the first female combat divers and includes their own first-hand accounts about their groundbreaking roles within their respective units to create a fascinating history of these elite special forces operatives.

This is the first book-length study of U.S. naval operations in the Mediterranean from 1945 to 1947, a period that is crucial for understanding the Cold War and its origins. Edward J. Sheehy shows how America assumed the traditionally British role of providing Western naval strength in the area, detailing how an American squadron grew from skeleton size in 1945 into a powerful armada by the end of 1947. His analysis of the cautious, but effective, use of naval power to counter the Soviet Union is intended for students of military and diplomatic history. Using extensive records of the U.S. Departments of Navy and State, Dr. Sheehy examines decisions to assign naval vessels to the Mediterranean, governmental communications, the rationale for the naval presence in the area, and the working relationships between diplomatic and naval officials. The history begins with a brief summary of Western naval activity in the Mediterranean including the final months of World War II. The region witnessed a continual increase in activity from a cruiser's visit to Greece in late 1945 to developments toward a Sixth Fleet at the end of 1947. The naval build-up is thoroughly chronicled with accounts of the battleship Missouri's journey to the area, numerous destroyer and carrier cruises, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal's September 1946 announcement affirming America's permanent presence in the Mediterranean, and President Harry S. Truman's August 1947 directive regarding visits to Greece.

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the clamoring in the press for a strong army largely overshadowed the need for considerable naval contributions to the war effort. Although it was small at the time, the U.S. Navy transported thousands of doughboys to France, all the while battling the predatory German U-Boats. Henry Ford tried to put his mass-production techniques to work to produce hundreds of submarine chasers to patrol American coastlines. The fledgling Naval Air Service was assigned the daunting task of dealing with enemy aircraft over France and in the Adriatic Sea. This is the personal account of men who served on the sea and in the air, as well as the captains of industry who made victory possible.

Industrial innovations contributed greatly to the Allied cause. George Eastman's Kodak Company developed ship and aircraft camouflage, and the General Electric Company perfected the hydrophone, a precursor to modern sonar. While many are aware of the exploits of Eddie Rickenbacker, the U.S. Army's ace, few know that the Navy also had an ace. After more than 80 years, these forgotten naval heroes receive the recognition that they well deserve in an account that attempts to give the war a human face through personal diaries, letters, and photographs.

India is poised to resurge as a maritime power, with cooperative engagement as its most prominent pan-regional characteristic. Enabled by a sound national strategy within the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, this would enable successive governments to further the overarching national objective of securing the economic, material, and societal wellbeing of the people of India. In this context, the book appraises the various facets related to India's ascendance as a maritime power, and lays down policy-relevant recommendations to assist the national policy-makers to chart the 'way ahead'. This book additionally seeks to address policymakers in other countries of the Indo-Pacific region, as also extra-regional State entities that are actively seeking to engage with India.

Destroyer Squadron 23 is the epic account of Commodore Arleigh Burke and the men and ships under his command in the South Pacific in World War II. Burke's leadership skills and innovative tactics, described in detail in the book, proved crucial to the U.S. defeat of the Japanese navy in the Pacific.

An account of the naval commander Roger of Lauria and his command of warfare at sea. Just before Vespers on 30 March 1282 at the Church of the Holy Spirit on the outskirts of Palermo, a drunken soldier of the occupying French forces of Charles of Anjou accosted a young Sicilian noblewoman. It sparked a bloody conflagration, the so-called War of the Sicilian Vespers, that would ultimately involve every part of the Mediterranean. The struggle for the coveted throne of Sicily eventually enmeshed all the great powers of medieval Europe - thepope, the Byzantine Emperor and the kings of France, England and Aragon. Because the core of the Kingdom of Sicily was a wealthy, strategic island dominating the centre of the Mediterranean, the battles were fought mostly at sea.And in war at sea, a single figure proved pre-eminent: Roger of Lauria - Aragon's "Admiral of Admirals". In the course of some twenty years of naval combat, he orchestrated decisive victories in six pitched battles and numerous limited actions, never once suffering a defeat: a feat never equalled - not even by the legendary Lord Horatio Nelson. Drawing from multiple Sicilian and Catalan sources as well as Angevin and Aragonese registers, this chronological narrative details the tactics and strategy Lauria employed to become the most successful galley fleet commander of the Middle Ages, while highlighting a crucial conflict at a pivotal point in European history, long overshadowed by the Hundred Years War. CHARLES D. STANTON is a retired US naval officer and airline pilot; he gained his PhD at the University of Cambridge.

By piecing together diaries, letters, scrapbooks, and rare privately printed memoirs, the author has created a story which tells how America's ragtag navy--composed mainly of converted yachts, steamers and tugboats--was able to fight and win against the more powerful Spanish gunboats. The naval battles fought in places like Santiago, Cardenas, Cienfuegos, Manzanillo, Port Nipe, Guantanamo, San Juan, Guanica, and Ponce come alive in this book. The stories of the brave little ships that fought these battles--with names like the Gloucester and the Yosemite--at times against overwhelming odds, demonstrates the excellent training of the men who manned their guns under leadership of daring officers. This book fills in many of the missing pieces in the history of the Spanish-American War.

Kaplan describes aircraft carriers, from the first ramshackle seaplane carriers to nuclear-powered vessels, and the planes that have flown from them - Swordfish biplanes, Hellcats, Hornets, Hawkeyes and Sea Harriers.

A uniquely detailed visual representation of the legendary Japanese warships. Equipped with the largest guns and heaviest armour and with the greatest displacement of any ship ever built, the Yamato proved to be a formidable opponent to the US Pacific Fleet in the Second World War. The book contains a full description of the design and construction of the battleship including wartime modifications, and a career history followed by a substantial pictorial section with rare onboard views of Yamato and her sister ship Musashi, a comprehensive portfolio of more than 1,020 perspective line artworks, 350 colour 3D views, and 30 photographs. The wreck of Musashi has been recently discovered to great excitement in Japan, renewing interest in these iconic warships. Janusz Skulski's anatomies of three renowned ships of the 20th century Japanese navy are among the most comprehensive of the Anatomy series with hundreds of meticulously researched drawings of the ships. Since their first publication he has continued to research the ships and has now produce a more definitive anatomy than was possible then. He has teamed up with 3D artist Stefan Draminksi who produces superb realistic renditions of the ships that bring a whole new level of detail to the portraits of the ships. This new editions is a genuine 'Super Anatomy' containing the most detailed renditions of these ships ever seen.

Finally, a thorough work on the swords worn by German naval officers and non-commissioned officers from 1806-1945. The authors, both experienced collectors, have extensively researched in archives and numerous public and private collections. Thus they can, among other things, correct statements about the legendary A'FA,rstenberg SwordsA, add new information on the various types, and also provide a list of the wearers of honorary swords from the days of the Imperial Navy, the Reichs- and Kriegsmarine. This impressive book includes more than 250 images showing the weapons and their wearers.

This revisionist book compares and contrasts US and British naval practice and war planning in the Far East during the pre-war period. Drawing on new archival evidence, the author reveals information about the state of war planning in both navies, which radically challenges the conclusions of Marder, Roskill and others.The terms 'Singapore Strategy' and 'Main Fleet to Singapore' have carried with them implications that British Far-Eastern strategy was devoted exclusively to the relief of Singapore, and that the Admiralty was unconcerned about the area north of the Malay Barrier. This book suggests otherwise. The author argues that Admiralty planning had returned to a pre-war framework that called for the rescue and relief of Singapore and Hong Kong together; the Admiralty was not only concerned with the defence of the Malay Barrier but also had a strong interest in the area to its immediate north, and had already agreed to operate the fleet on arrival from Manila.

Economic Warfare and the Sea examines the relationship between trade, maritime warfare, and strategic thought between the early modern period and the late-twentieth century. Featuring contributions from renown historians and rising scholars, this volume forwards an international perspective upon the intersection of maritime history, strategy, and diplomacy. Core themes include the role of 'economic warfare' in maritime strategic thought, prevalence of economic competition below the threshold of open conflict, and the role non-state actors have played in the prosecution of economic warfare. Using unique material from 18 different archives across six countries, this volume explores critical moments in the development of economic warfare, naval technology, and international law, including the Anglo-Dutch Wars, the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the First World War, and the Second World War. Distinct chapters also analyse the role of economic warfare in theories of maritime strategy, and what the future holds for the changing role of navies in the floating global economy of the twenty-first century.

This book outlines the state of play in maritime security in the Gulf and provides a historical perspective to current issues while also surveying different mechanisms for Gulf maritime security, both at the collective and individual state levels. The book addresses a number of questions related to maritime security in the Gulf States, such as what are the main threats facing maritime security? Do the Arab Gulf States have the necessary naval capabilities to confront these maritime security threats? What are the efforts that the Arab Gulf States have made in order to maintain their maritime security? What are the regional frameworks through which the Arab Gulf States can address maritime security threats? And what are the obstacles hindering the Arab Gulf States' efforts to maintain maritime security? This book would be a valuable read for Gulf Cooperation Council States, the ministries of defense in the Arabian Gulf countries, security institutions, the Arabian Gulf countries' military academies, thinks tanks and universities in the six Gulf States, Western think thanks concerned with the Arabian Gulf region, and scholars specializing in Arabian Gulf countries.

By the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force. From the moment when the launching of HMS Dreadnought made every capital ship in the world obsolete overnight, we have been fascinated with these powerful surface combatants. Here Robert M. Farley looks at the history and folklore that makes these ships enduring symbols of national power - and sometimes national futility. From Arizona to Yamato, here are more than sixty lavishly illustrated accounts of battleships from the most well-known to the most unusual, including at least one ship from every nation that ever owned a modern battleship. Separate essays and sidebars look at events and lore that greatly affected battleships.

The central theme running through this book is the mutual dependence of navies and shipbuilding industries. Historically, naval ambitions and the ambitions of industrialists converge, and a symbiosis is born. The technical competence of industry emerges as a key player in determining the effectiveness of navies. That industrial capability, for its part, rests increasingly on the navy as chief customer because progressive specialization renders it more and more unsuited for any other use. These trends are universal, afflicting the relations of all major navies and their industrial suppliers since the dawn of the modern age. They continue to complicate the running of navies today. The book enlarges on this fundamental fact, explaining why the symbiosis emerged and how it is manifested in the contemporary world.

As the shallowest of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie is prone to sudden, steep waves and dense fogs. These deadly conditions were hazardous to steamers that crossed on busy nineteenth-century trade routes and ships that battled on its surface in the War of 1812. It was the poor visibility of a summer haze that claimed the steamer "Atlantic" and approximately two hundred of its immigrant passengers in 1852. The 1916 Black Friday Storm destroyed four ships, including the "unsinkable" whaleback "James B Colgate," during the twenty-hour tantrum. Tragedies continued well into the twentieth century with the loss of fishing tugs like the "Aletha B," "Richard R" and "Stanley Clipper." A veritable graveyard, Lake Erie's Quadrangle might be responsible for more shipwrecks per square mile than any other region in the world. Author David Frew dives deep to discover the mysteries of some of Lake Erie's most notorious wrecks.

Previous studies of the American Navy's role in World War I have emphasized the combat and logistical tasks such as anti-submarine warfare, convoy protection, and the transportation of military supplies and troops to Europe. While these activities were of crucial importance in winning the war, the effort that involved the largest number of men was training. The Navy increased in size from about 59,000 men in late 1916 to nearly 530,000 by the end of the war in November 1918. In a brief 19 months, the Navy trained over 400,000 men. This story covers the three main divisions of enlisted training: the training stations, the reserve training camps, and the advanced or specialty schools, as well as an account of the building of the bases and changes in the curriculum.

Besch goes to great lengths to convey a sense of what life was like in the camps, stations, ships, and bases. In addition to all the major training locations, topics include: fleet, submarine, officer, and aviation training. Colleges and universities also played an important role in naval training. Sources for the study include archives from around the country, while stories drawn from diaries, letters, and oral histories add a personal element to the account.

Steve Bond is back with the final volume in this popular series. Unlike his previous three tomes, with their focus on air/rotorcraft, this book is uniquely dedicated to the personnel of the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) themselves. Each chapter will concentrate on the memories of contributors who served in a range of roles, including those below the flight deck. Accounts will focus on the everyday life upon an aircraft carrier as well as the extraordinary challenges faced during operations. There is a fascinating chapter covering exchange services with the RAF and other navies including the French and US; and also insight into the Indian navy’s experience with the Sea Hawk and Sea Harrier. Within the previous volumes, we met some remarkable characters and there is a chapter devoted to people’s memories of them. The closing section entitled ‘Thoughts’ sees contributors reflect on their FAA career with many deeply moving responses and discourses on the future of the service. The book is heavily illustrated throughout in colour and black and white with personal photographs from the contributors, artwork and tongue-in-cheek cartoons for which the FAA is famous. Volume Four is the perfect conclusion to the ongoing post-war story of a truly astounding branch of the armed forces.

" Constructed in 1923, the American submarine S39 was practically an antique when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor. With defective torpedoes, a semi-trained crew, and a primitive ventilation system (hence the nickname), she nevertheless sank two enemy vessels and eluded pursuit to fight again in the Solomons. This is the little-known story of how an unprepared navy fought with what it had until the tide could be turned. Bobette Gugliotta was one of the S-39 wives. With the technical assistance of her husband, Guy, an officer who served on three of the S-class boats during the war, she presents an accurate and absorbing account of submarine operations and warfare. No less valuable is her candid and sympathetic portrayal of the men and women whose lives were caught up in the voyage of the S-39.