The Mediterranean Fleet entered the 1930s looking back to the lessons of Jutland and the First World War but also seeking to incorporate new technologies, notably air power. Unfortunately in the depression years of the early 1930s there was a lack of funds to remedy deficiencies. The problem became critical during the Abyssinian crisis of 1935. The crisis wound down by mid-1936 but the respite did not last long. In June 1936 the Spanish Civil War broke out and the Mediterranean Fleet was soon involved in evacuations of British and other endangered foreigners from Spanish ports as well as the protection of British flagged merchant ships in the war zone. In addition to the Spanish Civil War there was an increase of tension with Germany in 1938 that culminated with the Czechoslovak crisis in September. The situation of the Mediterranean Fleet and its possible actions had the Munich agreement not been reached are described. The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with the victory of the Nationalists and the Mediterranean Fleet was again involved in evacuations. By now the prospect of war with Germany and possibly Italy was quite clear and serious preparations for war continued. The plans for war in the Mediterranean are reproduced in detail.

George Keith Elphinstone, Lord Keith (1746-1823) was a Scottish naval officer who entered the navy as a penurious midshipman towards the end of the Seven Years War. He had a long career at sea, during which he missed taking part in any major battle, but held major commands throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (except 1807-1812). He is chiefly known for his skill in commanding very large fleets, often spread over a very wide area, and for the consequent prize money which made him the richest naval officer of his day. He also gained a reputation for being very keen on acquring it. These three volumes only represent a small fraction of the documents in Keith's very large personal collection of letter and order books and loose documents in the National Maritime Museum, which occupies 124 foot of shelf space. Apart from a small section representing Keith's role in the naval mutinies of 1797, this volume reproduces documents from Keith's commands in the Mediterranean between 1798 and 1802. The first notable incident was the escape of Admiral Bruix and his fleet, which Keith, perhaps unluckily, failed to catch and bring to battle. In 1799 Keith became Commander-in-Chief at a difficult time, not helped by a prickly and uncooperative Nelson at Palermo and Naples. Malta was captured in September 1800, after which Keith's concerns switched to the Eastern Mediterranean. Here he had to deal with that other difficult naval officer Sidney Smith, who, after distinguishing himself at the Siege of Acre, signed the controversial Convention of El Arish. Keith's particular triumph was his close cooperation with General Sir Ralph Abercromby in the difficult landing of the British army at Aboukir Bay in 1801, and the defeat of the French army in Egypt.

The start of Volume III, 1939-1945, finds Keyes in a frustrating position. Too young for fleet command in the First World War, he was now too old for command in the Second World War. Keyes's temperament did not allow him to suffer in silence. His criticisms of the Naval Staff, and implicitly of the government reached another climax with his celebrated speech in the debate in the House of Commons in May 1940, which helped to bring down the Chamberlain government. On 17 July 1940 Keyes was appointed Director of Combined Operations, and he set to work to build up an organization. Immediately this organization was at odds with both the Royal Navy and the Army, as they were competing for the same supplies, equipment and manpower. He was treated with considerable suspicion, personally, by the 3 Chiefs of Staff, who knew all to well his close connection to Churchill, and most of his proposals were ruled out by various planning committees. In March 1941 the Commandos carried out a raid on the Lofoten Islands, and for much of the summer Keyes was involved in planning a raid on the Grand Canary Island or the Azores (Operation Pilgrim). This culminated in August in Exercise Leapfrog, designed as the dress rehearsal for the operation. The mistakes committed during this exercise led directly to Keyes dismissal as DCO and was eventually relived of his post by Churchill. For the second time in the war Keyes was out of a job, when he thought he ought to have been running the war. He continued to write to all his naval friends and spoke out against the conduct of the war in Parliament. Despite his criticisms of the direction of the war Churchill offered Keyes a peerage, which he accepted. He died on 26th December 1945.

This volume, originally published in 1987, fills a gap in a neglected area. Looking at the entire war in the Mediterrean, the volume examines the war from the viewpoint of all the important participants, making full use of archives and manuscript collections in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and the United States. A fascinating mosaic of campaigns emerges in the Adriatic, Straits of Otranto and the Eastern Aegean. The German assistance to the tribes of Libya, the threat that Germany would get her hands on the Russian Black Sea Fleet and use it in the Mediterreanean, and the appearance and influence of the Americans in 1918 all took place against a background of rivalry between the Allies which frustrated the appointment of Jellicoe in 1918 as supreme command at sea in a role similar to that of Foch on land.

This volume, originally published in 1987, fills a gap in a neglected area. Looking at the entire war in the Mediterrean, the volume examines the war from the viewpoint of all the important participants, making full use of archives and manuscript collections in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and the United States. A fascinating mosaic of campaigns emerges in the Adriatic, Straits of Otranto and the Eastern Aegean. The German assistance to the tribes of Libya, the threat that Germany would get her hands on the Russian Black Sea Fleet and use it in the Mediterreanean, and the appearance and influence of the Americans in 1918 all took place against a background of rivalry between the Allies which frustrated the appointment of Jellicoe in 1918 as supreme command at sea in a role similar to that of Foch on land.

Called by some a "Mediterranean Jutland," the Battle of the Otranto Straits involved warships from Austria, Germany, Italy, Britain, and France. Although fought by light units with no dreadnoughts involved, Otranto was a battle in three dimensions engaging surface vessels, aircraft, and subsurface weapons (both submarines and mines). An attempt to halt the movement of submarines into the Adriatic using British drifters armed with nets and mines led to a raid by Austrian light cruisers. The Austrians inflicted heavy damage on the drifters, but Allied naval forces based at Brindisi cut off their withdrawal. The daylight hours saw a running battle, with the Austrians at considerable risk. Heavier Austrian units put out from Cattaro in support, and at the climactic moment the Allied light forces had to turn away, permitting the Austrians to escape. In the end, the Austrians had inflicted more damage than they suffered themselves. The Otranto action shows the difficulties of waging coalition warfare in which diplomatic and national jealousies override military efficiency."

What can you remember of your childhood? This was the question put to a number of 'seniors' asked to start from as far back as they could get, and go as far as the onset of adolescence. Their answers are in this unusual book. Topics naturally include their physical self; their parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, playmates, teachers, classmates, pets; their manners, training, rewards and punishments; food; play, toys; likes, dislikes; schools, kindergarten, elementary; outings, holidays, travel; notable experiences; dreams, nightmares, pleasures, fears. They were also invited to give an account of their physical surroundings, their home, and the context of everyday life, what they took for granted; and to draw attention to a past in which so much of what is now common was then absent: TV, cell-phones, ubiquitous motor cars, air travel. The question was directed to and accepted by people from a number of countries and with a range of experiences. Several are or were academics, and the introduction contains some comments on memory and points to commonalities among the remembered experiences, as well as differences. But the book is mainly for the general reader, who may want to ask: what can I remember of my childhood? - Let me try!