Rochester in Kent has long been a strategically important town, guarding the lowest crossing of the River Medway. The diocese of Rochester dates back to the early seventh century and the Normans built both an imposing castle and a cathedral in the town following the Conquest. In later years Charles Dickens lived in Rochester and based many of his novels on the area, and the town was also home to Short Brothers' aircraft manufacturing company, where it built its famous flying boats and seaplanes. Secret Rochester explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of Rochester through the centuries. Among these were a highly profitable scam operated by the monks of the cathedral, a very successful spy ring operating on behalf of the German kaiser, the secret hideout of James II and a secret new aircraft developed at the airport during the Second World War. With tales of remarkable characters and unusual events, and fully illustrated throughout, it will appeal to all those with an interest in this town in Kent.

A reassessment of the naval mutinies of 1797, arguing that the mutinies were more industrial dispute than expression of French revolution inspired political radicalism. The naval mutinies of 1797 were unprecedented in scale and impressive in their level of organisation. Under threat of French invasion, crews in the Royal Navy's home fleet, after making clear demands, refused to sail until their demands were met. Subsequent mutinies affected the crews of more than one hundred ships in at least five home anchorages, replicated in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Channel Fleet seamen pursued their grievances of pay and conditions by traditional petitions to their commanding officer, Admiral Richard Howe, but his flawed comprehension and communications were further exacerbated by the Admiralty. The Spithead mutiny became the seamen'slast resort. Ironically Howe acknowledged the justice of their position and was instrumental in resolving the Spithead mutiny, but this did not prevent occurrences at the Nore and elsewhere. The most extensive approach sinceConrad Gill's seminal and eponymous volume of 1913, The Naval Mutinies of 1797 focuses on new research, re-evaluating the causes, events, interpretations, discipline, relationships between officers and men, political inputs and affiliations and crucially, the role of the Irish and quota men. It poses new answers to old questions and suggests a new synthesis - self-determination - the seamen on their own terms. ANN VERONICA COATS is senior lecturer in the the School of Civil Engineering and Surveying at the University of Portsmouth and is Secretary of the Naval Dockyards Society. PHILIP MACDOUGALL is a writer and historian, author of seven books, with a doctorateon naval history from the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Examines Naval co-operation between Britain and Russia and the often underappreciated prowess of the Russian navy. Naval co-operation between Britain and Russia continued throughout the eighteenth century, with Britain providing huge assistance to the growth of Russia's navy, and Russia making an essential but often overlooked contribution to Britain's maritime power in the period. From 1698 when Tsar Peter the Great served briefly as a trainee shipwright at Deptford dockyard Russia recruited British, often Scottish, shipwrights, engineers, naval officers and naval surgeons who both helped build up the Russian navy and who were also key advisers to the Russian navy at sea. At the same time, naval stores from Russia, especially after Britain lost the American colonies, were vital for the maintenance of Britain's fleet. Moreover, as this book argues, Russian naval power was much more formidable than is often realised, with the Russian navy active alongside the British fleet in the North Sea and winning decisive battles against the Ottoman navy in the Mediterranean, including the battles of Cesme in 1770 and Navarino in 1827. Britain did well to have Russia as a naval ally rather than an enemy. This book provides a comprehensive overview of this important subject, at a time when Britain's relationship with Russia is of considerable concern.

Spain (1936-9), China (1937 onwards), Mongolia (1939), Finland (1939-40) and France (1939-40) were a testing ground for a new approach to air tactics with western democracies and totalitarian states analyzing the resulting lessons. Attention in Air Wars 1920-1939: The Development and Evolution of Fighter Tactics is given to the means by which intelligence on aerial tactics was collected and why it was not always fully absorbed, resulting in many nations having to relearn the same lessons at the outset of the Second World War. Finland, during the Winter War, while not involved in Spain or any other air war of the time, better applied the lessons being learned than that of the Soviet Union, which had been directly involved in air wars fought over China, Mongolia and Spain. In the case of Britain, not only were the lessons of Spain ignored, but so too that of its own experimental fighter unit, the AFDE (Air Fighting Development Establishment) that had been formed in 1934 and which was reinforcing the intelligence received from those real air war conflicts."

Shows how extensive the naval power of Islamic states was, charts the rise and fall of Islamic navies, and outlines the various wars and campaigns in which Islamic navies were involved. Studies of the "Age of Fighting Sail" have tended to focus on the British or American navies, or sometimes on those of France or Spain. However, there were also at this time very significant navies built by the Islamic powers: theNorth African Barbary states, whose ships, allegedly pirates, plagued Mediterranean shipping and raided even as far as Cornwall and the south coast of Ireland; the Ottoman Empire, which built some of the largest sailing warshipsever; the navies of Arabian and Indian rulers and of Persia, which were forces to be reckoned with in the Indian Ocean; and more. This book presents a comprehensive survey of Islamic seapower from about the beginning of the seventeenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century, charting the rise and fall of different Islamic navies. It focuses on strategy, examining the development and implementation of naval policy and exploring the technology that supported it. It considers the wars Islamic navies participated in, covers all the areas in which Islamic navies operated, and relates Islamic naval power to wider international power politics. The book highlights in particularthe importance of the large Ottoman navy, which influenced and gave a lead to other Islamic naval powers. PHILIP MACDOUGALL was formerly a Lecturer in the Department of Economic History at the University of Kent. He isthe author and editor of several books on maritime history, including The Naval Mutinies of 1797 (Boydell, 2011) and Naval Resistance to Britain's Growing Power in India, 1660-1800 (Boydell, 2014).

Reveals, from a non-Eurocentric perspective, how Indian states developed and implemented maritime strategies which posed a serious threat to British naval power in the region. Most books on the colonisation of India view the subject in Eurocentric imperial terms, focusing on the ways in which European powers competed with each other on land and at sea and defeated Indian states on land, and viewing Indian states as having little interest in naval matters. This book, in contrast, reveals that there was substantial naval activity on the part of some Indian states and that this activity represented a serious threat to Britain's naval power. Considering the subject from an Indian point of view, the book discusses the naval activities of the Mahratta Confederacy and later those of Mysore under its energetic rulers Haidar Ali and his successor Tipu Sultan. Itshows how these states chose deliberately to develop a naval strategy, seeing this as the most effective way of expelling the British from India; how their strategies learned from European maritime technology, successfully blending this with Indian technology; how their opposition to British naval power was at its most effective when they allied themselves with the other European naval powers in the region - France, Portugal and the Netherlands, whose maritime activities in the region are fully outlined and assessed; and how ultimately the Indian states' naval strategies failed. Philip MacDougall, a former lecturer in economic history at the University of Kent, is a founder member of the Navy Dockyards Society, editor of the Society's Transactions, and the author or editor of seven books in maritime history, including The Naval Mutinies of 1797 (The Boydell Press, 2011).

Up to and during the First World War, the Royal Navy was at the forefront of developments in aviation: concerned not just with the use of military aircraft to defend the fleet, but also securing the homeland against Zeppelin raiders and undertaking tactical air strikes into enemy territory. With the aeroplane a totally new and revolutionary weapon, the work of several experimental airfields and seaplane stations became crucial to the success of these operations. Taking the lead role were Felixstowe and the Isle of Grain, where work on the development of new aircraft and aerial weapons was handled, alongside ground-breaking advances in navigational systems, air-to-ground radio communication, and deck-board ship landings. These two air stations (as well as others with a more minor role) witnessed a huge scale of expenditure and the assembly of an elite group of experts and hotshot pilots who, in pushing the envelope to the extreme, sometimes sacrificed their own lives. The work of these experimental stations has been more or less forgotten, a result of the Royal Naval Air Service having been subsumed into the Royal Air Force, and the subsequent emphasis on the aeroplane as a weapon of land warfare. In this First World War anniversary period, it is a story that needs telling.

The dockyard at Portsmouth was founded by Henry VII, developing into a naval base that was essentially the nation’s most important military establishment. Here, in times of war, huge fleets were assembled and the harbour that lay alongside the dockyard witnessed the constant arrival and departure of ships engaged in convoy duties, blockading and attacking enemy ports or intercepting hostile seagoing fleets. In turn, it was a potential target for an enemy, for if the dockyard could be destroyed or captured, then the nation’s first line of defence, the Royal Navy, would cease to be effective. Sensitive to such a danger, successive governments built defence structures in and around Portsmouth as well as barracks to house the navy, army and marine personnel. As the firepower of guns increased and the nature of fortifications changed, so did the defences of Portsmouth, with these gradually pushed further and further back so that the forts and gun batteries would always ensure the safety of Portsea Island from either land or sea attack. In the twentieth century the defences were adapted further for the new threat of aerial bombardment or attack by submarine. This book will be of interest to all those who would like to know more about Portsmouth’s remarkable military history.

The modern town of Gillingham grew up on the banks of the River Medway around the Royal Naval Dockyard of Chatham, most of which actually lay within Gillingham. The sixteenth century saw the expansion of the one-time fishing and farming village of 'Jyllingham' into a town. The population of the town expanded as the dockyard, with its accompanying fortifications around the Medway, grew, and today Gillingham is the largest town in the Medway area. In this book Philip MacDougall investigates Gillingham's past, including many lesser-known and secret events, including a hidden English warship sunk by the Dutch when they invaded the Medway and that was still under the foundations of the dockyard; the prison hulks for convicts and prisoners of war moored in the River Medway, off Gillingham; an attempt to turn the town into a seaside resort to rival Margate; Jezreel's Tower and the unusual sect that built it; the country's worst death toll from a single bomb dropped in the First World War; and failure to prepare the town for the threatened mass bombing of the Second World War. Secret Gillingham explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of Gillingham through the centuries. With tales of remarkable people and unusual events, and fully illustrated, this book will appeal to all those with an interest in this town in Kent.

In these days of ubiquitous, non-stop media and information you would think that there were few secrets anywhere left to reveal, but when it comes to Chatham there remain a surprising number of facts and idiosyncrasies that, over the years, have remained obscure. Secret Chatham is a journey through the past of this former Royal Dockyard home, unearthing many fascinating and little-known details about the Medway town that will entertain, inform and horrify visitors as well as its current inhabitants in equal measure, many of whom probably thought they knew it all. The book gives a unique perspective on the many less-obvious aspects of Chatham's history and will go a long way to explaining why today's town is as it is, and how it may develop in the future.

Chatham, lying on the River Medway in Kent, grew up around its naval dockyard and army barracks and fortifications. Over the years the face of Chatham has changed, buildings lost, many once occupied by artisans and labourers, shops, chapels and residences removed due to extensive road projects, and cinemas and theatres now replaced or redeveloped. Impossible to ignore is the town’s history as a former military-industrial complex, with several demolished barracks and a Georgian naval dockyard that has also undergone much change and is now a museum and heritage centre. Lost Chatham presents a portrait of this corner of the North East Kent over the last century to recent decades that has radically changed or disappeared today, showing not only industries and buildings that have gone but also people and street scenes, many popular places of entertainment and much more. This fascinating photographic history of lost Chatham will appeal to all those who live in the area or know it well, as well as those who remember it from previous decades.

Dr Philip MacDougall, local historian, takes you on a journey through the City of Chichester revealing much of its lesser-known history. Here you will find the story behind the city's nineteenth-century banking crisis, the activities of a London mob of criminals who targeted the Goodwood races, a fascinating collection of letters written during the First World War and even how local politicians once bribed potential voters with lashings of beer. Blending the serious and the not so serious and drawing heavily on primary sources, including newspapers and original documents, Secret Chichester gives a fascinating look at this city's past with images from long ago and today.

The Thames Estuary is the gateway into London that had to be defended against seaborne invasion. Through proximity to the Continent, these waters were a likely passageway for those intent upon seaborne raids or invasion, necessitating the need for a powerful naval force to be on hand when threatened. The first fortifications date back to Roman times. To support the British navy in these waters, four of the nation’s royal dockyards – Chatham, Deptford, Sheerness and Woolwich – were clustered along the Thames Estuary or close by on the Medway from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for the commissioning, refitting and repair of warships. As well as being of importance for the defence of the country, the Thames Estuary fulfilled another role: that of underpinning naval activities designed to support British tactical and strategic operations in more distant parts of the world. Close to the mouth of the Thames, and near the point of confluence with the Medway, was the Nore, a key naval anchorage where newly commissioned warship assembled, taking on crews and receiving final instructions before joining the active seagoing fleet. In the twentieth century, additional defences against attack by submarine or from the air were established, and gunpowder factories sited along the estuary. This book will be of interest to all those who would like to know more about the remarkable military history of the Thames Estuary over the last 2,000 years.

Chatham is a town that has been undergoing change for the last five hundred years. It all began with the arrival of the naval dockyard in the sixteenth century. From this, a town was created which began to grow with the rapidity of a Chatham built warship. The site of the former dockyard is still under development and in the town major changes are not only underway but others are in the pipeline and will include the Brook, the waterfront and the area of the railway station. What better time can there be for a book on Chatham that not only looks at the past but also the present? While many of the photographs show the town as it is today - many of those scenes will also be changing in the near future. This book attempts to capture this evolving town, and will be of interest to anyone who knows and loves this area.

The history of the Medway Towns is synonymous with the large-scale military industrial complex that was centred on the dockyard, military barracks and various fortifications. This has, over many years, provided employment for the people of Chatham and Gillingham as well as Rainham, Rochester and Strood, along with the service industries that were part of the military-industrial complex. But the Medway Towns also had an abundance of cement and brickworks, barge makers, breweries, engineering workshops and clothing manufacturers. Among the household names were Short Brothers of Rochester, manufacturers of seaplanes and RAF bombers, while Strood was home to Aveling & Porter, whose iconic traction engines still grace steam fairs across the country. Despite this heavy industrialisation, the present-day Medway Towns, where houses and parks now stand, were also an area rich in farmland, with the former village of Luton as important for hop picking as anywhere in the county of Kent. In a fascinating series of contemporary photographs and illustrations, combined with a well-researched commentary, this book explores the life of these five Kent towns, the nature of local employment and the impact it had upon those employed to reflect the daily life of the Medway Towns at work.

At a time when the Royal Navy was the biggest and best in the world, Georgian London was the hub of this immense industrial-military complex, underpinning and securing a global trading empire that was entirely dependent on the navy for its existence. Philip MacDougall explores the bureaucratic web that operated within the wider city area before giving attention to London's association with the practical aspects of supplying and manning the operational fleet and shipbuilding, repair and maintenance. His supremely detailed geographical exploration of these areas includes a discussion of captivating key personalities, buildings and work. The book examines significant locations as well as the importance of Londoners in the manning of ships and how the city memorialised the navy and its personnel during times of victory. An in-depth gazetteer and walking guide complete this fascinating study of Britain, her capital and her Royal Navy.

When Britain declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939, it did not come as a surprise. Hitler's remilitarisation and repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles sounded a warning bell for what was to follow. Philip MacDougall here examines what steps the British Government took to prepare the country for the war they knew was coming. Focusing on the front-line counties of Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, he looks at how they learnt lessons from the effect of war on civilian populations during previous conflicts; the public perception of war on the home front as evidenced by Mass Observation; plans for the emergency services, food supplies, the ARP, dispersal of industry and government, and control of enemy aliens; and how effective these preparations were after the outbreak of war. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in British history during the late thirties and early forties, and for local historians in these three counties.

This fascinating selection of photographs illustrates the extraordinary transformation that has taken place in Chatham during the twentieth century. The book offers an insight into the daily lives and living conditions of local people and gives the reader glimpses and details of familiar places during a century of unprecedented change. Many aspects of Chatham's recent history are covered, famous occasions and individuals are remembered and the impact of national and international events is witnessed. The book provides a striking account of the changes that have also altered Chatham's appearance and records the process of transformation. Drawing on detailed local knowledge of the community, and illustrated with a wealth of black-and-white photographs, this book recalls what Chatham has lost in terms of buildings, traditions and ways of life. It also acknowledges and celebrates the character and energy of local people as they move through the first years of the twenty-first century.