Big Gun Battles

Big Gun Battles
Author: Robert C. Stern
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 535
Release: 2015-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473849357

This naval history of WWII explores the advancing technology and tactics of battleships through a fascinating survey of ship-to-ship duels. While many naval battles of the Second World War were decided by the torpedo or the aerial bomb, there was a surprising number of traditional ship-to-ship engagements involving the big guns of battleships and cruisers. Big Gun Battles recounts some of the most significant and technically fascinating of these gunfire duels in a narrative that combines lively storytelling with an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing victory or defeat. Covering all theatres of the naval war from 1939 until the Japanese surrender, the selected incidents demonstrate the changing face of surface warfare under the influence of rapidly improving fire-control systems, radar, and other technologies. By 1945, battleships achieved the pinnacle of gunnery excellence.

Big Gun Battles

Big Gun Battles
Author: Robert C Stern
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2015-01-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848321538

The outcome of much of the maritime warfare in the Second World War was decided by the torpedo or the aerial bomb, making relatively recent warship types, the submarine and aircraft carrier, the new arbiters naval conflict. Yet despite this, there was a surprising number of traditional ship-to-ship engagements involving the big guns of battleships and cruisers. This book recounts some of the most important, technically interesting, or obscure of these gunfire duels in a narrative that combines pacy storytelling with an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing victory or defeat.??Covering all theatres of the naval war from 1939 until the Japanese surrender, the incidents are selected to demonstrate the changing face of surface warfare under the influence of rapidly improving fire-control systems, radar and other sensors. By 1945 this allowed big ships to open fire at great ranges with a high probability of hitting with the first salvo. This success was the pinnacle of gunnery excellence, but also heralded the end of naval gunnery as a major factor in sea warfare _ facing such deadly accuracy, navies looked to longer-ranged, and smarter, ship-killing weapons like surface-skimming missiles and homing torpedoes.

Gunfight

Gunfight
Author: Ryan Busse
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2021-10-19
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1541768728

A former firearms executive pulls back the curtain on America's multibillion-dollar gun industry, exposing how it fostered extremism and racism, radicalizing the nation and bringing cultural division to a boiling point. As an avid hunter, outdoorsman, and conservationist–all things that the firearms industry was built on–Ryan Busse chased a childhood dream and built a successful career selling millions of firearms for one of America’s most popular gun companies. But blinded by the promise of massive profits, the gun industry abandoned its self-imposed decency in favor of hardline conservatism and McCarthyesque internal policing, sowing irreparable division in our politics and society. That drove Busse to do something few other gun executives have done: he's ending his 30-year career in the industry to show us how and why we got here. Gunfight is an insider’s call-out of a wild, secretive, and critically important industry. It shows us how America's gun industry shifted from prioritizing safety and ethics to one that is addicted to fear, conspiracy, intolerance, and secrecy. It recounts Busse's personal transformation and shows how authoritarianism spreads in the guise of freedom, how voicing one's conscience becomes an act of treason in a culture that demands sameness and loyalty. Gunfight offers a valuable perspective as the nation struggles to choose between armed violence or healing.

The Big Guns

The Big Guns
Author: Edwin Olmstead
Publisher: Bloomfield, Ont. : Museum Restoration Service
Total Pages: 360
Release: 1997
Genre: Artillery
ISBN: 9780888550125

The Last Big-gun Naval Battle

The Last Big-gun Naval Battle
Author: Howard Sauer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN:

The Battle of Leyte Gulf -- four major actions -- was the greatest sea battle in history. The Surigao Strait action is considered the Navy's greatest single triumph, a model of timing, coordination and execution. This is a unique, behind-the- guns view; a gripping eye-witness account riding the battle line at Surigao in the last Crossing of the 'T'.

Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America

Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America
Author: Adam Winkler
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2011-09-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393082296

A provocative history that reveals how guns—not abortion, race, or religion—are at the heart of America's cultural divide. Gunfight is a timely work examining America’s four-centuries-long political battle over gun control and the right to bear arms. In this definitive and provocative history, Adam Winkler reveals how guns—not abortion, race, or religion—are at the heart of America’s cultural divide. Using the landmark 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller—which invalidated a law banning handguns in the nation’s capital—as a springboard, Winkler brilliantly weaves together the dramatic stories of gun-rights advocates and gun-control lobbyists, providing often unexpected insights into the venomous debate that now cleaves our nation.

Big Gun Monitors

Big Gun Monitors
Author: Ian Buxton
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2008-03-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783469110

“Extremely well researched . . . a total account of the design, building, service, refits, and fates of the big gun monitors built for WW1 and WW2.” —Malcolm Wright, author of British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWII In the history of naval warfare probably no type of ship has provided more firepower per ton than the monitor—indeed they were little more than a huge gun mounting fitted on a simple, self-propelled raft. Designed and built rapidly to fulfil an urgent need for heavy shore-bombardment during World War I, they were top secret in conception, and largely forgotten when the short-lived requirement was over. Nevertheless, they were important ships, which played a significant role in many Great War campaigns and drove many of the advances in long-range gunnery later applied to the battle fleet. Indeed, their value was rediscovered during the Second World War when a final class was built. Monitors were largely ignored by naval historians until Ian Buxton produced the first edition of this book in 1978. Although published privately, this became an established classic and copies of the first edition are now almost unobtainable, so this new edition will be welcomed by many. It has been completely revised, extended and redesigned to a generous large format which allows material deleted from the original edition for lack of space to be restored. “This book looks in detail at the technical and economic aspects of the 42 monitors built, and is, without a doubt, the definitive work on the subject.” —Ships Monthly “Ian Buxton’s work has set the standard in celebrating these big gun ships . . . It makes an invaluable contribution to the study of naval and land operations.” —Warships International