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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Naval forces & warfare
Naval mines are pernicious weapons of debated legality and fearsome
reputation. Since World War II over 18,400 of these ingenious
devices have been deployed during 24 naval mining events, seriously
damaging or sinking over 100 ships including 44 warships. Despite
this sustained drumbeat of use both in attack and in defence, there
were no modern books that examine this `Weapon That Waits'. Naval
Minewarfare: Politics to Practicalities is a comprehensive guide to
modern naval minewarfare. From explaining the basic tenets of both
naval mining and naval mine countermeasures, then examining the
modern history of naval mining, through to the legal, political and
statecraft factors that should underpin any decisions to employ
naval mines, this detailed analysis provides a contemporary view of
how this weapon is used as part of a military or insurgent
campaign. Focussing on both the psychological warhead in every mine
as well as naval mining's lethal effects, it contains a wealth of
invaluable information and explanation all carefully scripted to
enlighten military historians and inform international strategists.
The inclusion of an Annex of mitigations against mining
specifically designed for use by civilian ships, their owners and
also port authorities makes this an outstanding primary reference
for politicians through to practitioners of both military and
civilian elements of conflicts that involve naval mines.
During the year between July 1588, when the Spanish Armada set sail
from Spain and July 1589, when the survivors of the English
counterpart of this fleet, the little-known English Armada, reached
port in England, two of history's worst naval catastrophes took
place. A great deal of attention has been dedicated to the former
and precious little to the latter. This book presents a full-scale
account of an event which has been neglected for more than four
centuries. It reconstructs the military operations day by day for
the first time, taking apart the established notion that, with the
defeat of the Spanish Armada, England achieved maritime supremacy
and the decay of Spain began. This book clearly and in a rigorously
documented fashion shows how the defeat of the English Armada
counterbalanced that of the Spanish, frustrating England's
intention of seizing Philip II's American empire and changing the
tide of the war.
The accepted narrative of the interwar U.S. Navy is one of
transformation from a battle-centric force into a force that could
fight on the ""three planes"" of war: in the skies, on the water,
and under the waves. The political and cultural tumult that
accompanied this transformation is another story. Ryan D. Wadle's
Selling Sea Power explores this little-known but critically
important aspect of naval history. After World War I, the U.S. Navy
faced numerous challenges: a call for naval arms limitation, the
ascendancy of air power, and budgetary constraints exacerbated by
the Great Depression. Selling Sea Power tells the story of how the
navy met these challenges by engaging in protracted public
relations campaigns at a time when the means and methods of
reaching the American public were undergoing dramatic shifts. While
printed media continued to thrive, the rapidly growing film and
radio industries presented new means by which the navy could
connect with politicians and the public. Deftly capturing the
institutional nuances and the personalities in play, Wadle tracks
the U.S. Navy's at first awkward but ultimately successful
manipulation of mass media. At the same time, he analyzes what the
public could actually see of the service in the variety of media
available to them, including visual examples from progressively
more sophisticated - and effective - public relations campaigns.
Integrating military policy and strategy with the history of
American culture and politics, Selling Sea Power offers a unique
look at the complex links between the evolution of the art and
industry of persuasion and the growth of the modern U.S. Navy, as
well as the connections between the workings of communications and
public relations and the command of military and political power.
The successful evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from
Belgium and northern France through the port of Dunkirk and across
adjacent beaches is rightly regarded as one of the most significant
episodes in the nation's long history, although Winston Churchill
sagely cautioned in Parliament on 4th June that the country "must
be careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a
victory. Wars are not won by evacuations". Nevertheless, the
Dunkirk evacuation, Operation "Dynamo", was a victory and, like
many others before it, it was a victory of sea power. The Royal
Navy achieved what it set out to do, despite grievous losses, in
the teeth of determined opposition. It denied an aggressive and
ruthless continental power a potentially war-winning total victory
that could have changed the direction of civilization for
generations to come. The loss of the main British field army would
have enfeebled the nation militarily and psychologically, prompting
political upheaval, potentially resulting in a negotiated peace
with Nazi Germany on unfavourable terms dictated by Adolf Hitler.
The undeniable success of the evacuation was certainly a crucial
naval and military achievement but its positive effect on the
nation's morale was just as important, instilling confidence in the
eventual outcome of the war, whatever the immediate future might
hold, and creating optimism in the face of adversity that added
"the Dunkirk spirit" to the English language. This edition of
Dunkirk, Operation "Dynamo" 26th May - 4th June 1940, An Epic of
Gallantry, publishes the now declassified Battle Summary No 41, a
document once classified as 'Restricted' and produced in small
numbers only for official government purposes. This Summary, The
Evacuation from Dunkirk, lodged in the archive at Britannia Royal
Naval College, Dartmouth, is one of the very few surviving copies
in existence and records events in minute detail, being written
soon after the evacuation using the words of the naval officers
involved. This makes it a unique record and a primary source for
the history of Operation "Dynamo" from mid-May 1940 until its
conclusion on 4th June. The original document has been supplemented
in this title by a Foreword written by Admiral Sir James
Burnell-Nugent, formerly the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief,
Fleet, whose father commanded one of the destroyers sunk off
Dunkirk when rescuing troops. In addition, there is a modern
historical introduction and commentary, putting the evacuation into
context and this edition is enhanced by the inclusion of a large
number of previously unpublished photographs of the beaches, town,
and harbour of Dunkirk taken immediately after the conclusion of
the operation, together with others illustrating many of the ships
that took part. Britannia Naval Histories of World War II - an
important source in understanding the critical naval actions of the
period.
The Constitution was one of the US Navy's first six original
frigates, ordered as a counter to the Barbary corsairs in the
Mediterranean. Fast and heavily built, she was nominally rated as a
44 but mounted thirty 24-pdr and twenty-two 12-pdr cannon. Her most
famous encounter, after which she became nicknamed 'Old Ironsides'
due to British shot being seen bouncing off her hull, involved HMS
Guerriere, which she smashed; the same treatment was meted out to
HMS Java four months later. Now the oldest commissioned warship
afloat in thw world, she is berthed in Boston Harbor. The 'Anatomy
of the Ship' series aims to provide the finest documentation of
individual ships and ship types ever published. What makes the
series unique is a complete set of superbly executed line drawings,
both the conventional type of plan as well as explanatory views,
with fully descriptive keys. These are supported by technical
details and a record of the ship's service history.
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