The Rise And Fall of British Naval Mastery

The Rise And Fall of British Naval Mastery
Author: Paul Kennedy
Publisher: Penguin UK
Total Pages: 592
Release: 2017-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 0141983833

Paul Kennedy's classic naval history, now updated with a new introduction by the author This acclaimed book traces Britain's rise and fall as a sea power from the Tudors to the present day. Challenging the traditional view that the British are natural 'sons of the waves', he suggests instead that the country's fortunes as a significant maritime force have always been bound up with its economic growth. In doing so, he contributes significantly to the centuries-long debate between 'continental' and 'maritime' schools of strategy over Britain's policy in times of war. Setting British naval history within a framework of national, international, economic, political and strategic considerations, he offers a fresh approach to one of the central questions in British history. A new introduction extends his analysis into the twenty-first century and reflects on current American and Chinese ambitions for naval mastery. 'Excellent and stimulating' Correlli Barnett 'The first scholar to have set the sweep of British Naval history against the background of economic history' Michael Howard, Sunday Times 'By far the best study that has ever been done on the subject ... a sparkling and apt quotation on practically every page' Daniel A. Baugh, International History Review 'The best single-volume study of Britain and her naval past now available to us' Jon Sumida, Journal of Modern History

One Hundred Years of Sea Power

One Hundred Years of Sea Power
Author: George W. Baer
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 572
Release: 1996-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780804727945

A navy is a state's main instrument of maritime force. What it should do, what doctrine it holds, what ships it deploys, and how it fights are determined by practical political and military choices in relation to national needs. Choices are made according to the state's goals, perceived threat, maritime opportunity, technological capabilities, practical experience, and, not the least, the way the sea service defines itself and its way of war. This book is a history of the modern U.S. Navy. It explains how the Navy, in the century after 1890, was formed and reformed in the interaction of purpose, experience, and doctrine.

The Struggle for Sea Power: A Naval History of the American Revolution

The Struggle for Sea Power: A Naval History of the American Revolution
Author: Sam Willis
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2016-02-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0393248836

A fascinating naval perspective on one of the greatest of all historical conundrums: How did thirteen isolated colonies, which in 1775 began a war with Britain without a navy or an army, win their independence from the greatest naval and military power on earth? The American Revolution involved a naval war of immense scope and variety, including no fewer than twenty-two navies fighting on five oceans—to say nothing of rivers and lakes. In no other war were so many large-scale fleet battles fought, one of which was the most strategically significant naval battle in all of British, French, and American history. Simultaneous naval campaigns were fought in the English Channel, the North and Mid-Atlantic, the Mediterranean, off South Africa, in the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, the Pacific, the North Sea and, of course, off the eastern seaboard of America. Not until the Second World War would any nation actively fight in so many different theaters. In The Struggle for Sea Power, Sam Willis traces every key military event in the path to American independence from a naval perspective, and he also brings this important viewpoint to bear on economic, political, and social developments that were fundamental to the success of the Revolution. In doing so Willis offers valuable new insights into American, British, French, Spanish, Dutch, and Russian history. This unique account of the American Revolution gives us a new understanding of the influence of sea power upon history, of the American path to independence, and of the rise and fall of the British Empire.

Sea Power

Sea Power
Author: Admiral James Stavridis, USN
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2018-06-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0735220611

From one of the most admired admirals of his generation—and the only admiral to serve as Supreme Allied Commander at NATO—comes a remarkable voyage through all of the world’s most important bodies of water, providing the story of naval power as a driver of human history and a crucial element in our current geopolitical path. From the time of the Greeks and the Persians clashing in the Mediterranean, sea power has determined world power. To an extent that is often underappreciated, it still does. No one understands this better than Admiral Jim Stavridis. In Sea Power, Admiral Stavridis takes us with him on a tour of the world’s oceans from the admiral’s chair, showing us how the geography of the oceans has shaped the destiny of nations, and how naval power has in a real sense made the world we live in today, and will shape the world we live in tomorrow. Not least, Sea Power is marvelous naval history, giving us fresh insight into great naval engagements from the battles of Salamis and Lepanto through to Trafalgar, the Battle of the Atlantic, and submarine conflicts of the Cold War. It is also a keen-eyed reckoning with the likely sites of our next major naval conflicts, particularly the Arctic Ocean, Eastern Mediterranean, and the South China Sea. Finally, Sea Power steps back to take a holistic view of the plagues to our oceans that are best seen that way, from piracy to pollution. When most of us look at a globe, we focus on the shape of the of the seven continents. Admiral Stavridis sees the shapes of the seven seas. After reading Sea Power, you will too. Not since Alfred Thayer Mahan’s legendary The Influence of Sea Power upon History have we had such a powerful reckoning with this vital subject.

A Great and Rising Nation

A Great and Rising Nation
Author: Michael A. Verney
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 309
Release: 2022-07-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 0226819922

Jeremiah Reynolds and the empire of knowledge -- The United States exploring expedition as Jacksonian capitalism -- The United States exploring expedition in popular culture -- The Dead Sea expedition and the empire of faith -- Proslavery explorations of South America -- Arctic exploration and US-UK rapprochement.

Congress Buys a Navy

Congress Buys a Navy
Author: Paul Pedisich
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Civil-military relations
ISBN: 9781682470770

Congress Buys a Navy offers a new look at the nexus of American politics, economics, and the funding and creation of what is thought of as the "modern" U.S. Navy. Filling in significant gaps in prior economic histories of the era, Paul Pedisich analyzes the roles nine presidencies and cabinets, sixteen Navy secretaries, and countless U.S. congressmen have played in shaping and funding our maritime forces. In the years following the American Civil War, the peacetime Navy deteriorated considerably. By 1881 the legislature earmarked virtually all of its naval appropriations to expensive repair work to maintain decrepit wooden and iron ships. Congress reversed that direction at the end of its final session in March 1883 and began building a new Navy by approving the construction of a few modern steam-driven steel warships. Initially, events in the Caribbean and South America, along with U.S. business interests in international trade, provided a stimulus for increased naval expenditures for ships and shore facilities. Thanks to the legislative actions of the twenty congresses that met from 1881 to 1921, the Navy was transformed from a perceived embarrassment to the United States to one of the best fighting forces in the world. Although Navy officers prepared extensive annual recommendations for fleet composition and increases, they were not principal decision makers. Pedisich's narrative begins with President James Garfield's appointment of William Hunt as Secretary of the Navy and the formation of the Forty-seventh Congress in March 1881, and continues on to the reduction of naval forces by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. While the main acts in U.S. political history often privilege the actions of the president and his cabinet, Pedisich brings to light the individual rationales, voting blocs, agendas, and political intrigue that drove this process of making a modern Navy. -- Inside jacket flaps.

Southeast Asia and the Rise of Chinese and Indian Naval Power

Southeast Asia and the Rise of Chinese and Indian Naval Power
Author: Sam Bateman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2014-06-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135147264

This book examines the emerging maritime security scene in Southeast Asia. It considers highly topical implications for the region of possible strategic competition between China and India - the rising naval powers of Asia - with a possible naval "arms race" emerging between these countries both with naval force development and operations. As part of its "Look East" policy, India has deployed naval units to the Pacific Ocean for port visits and exercises both with East Asian navies and the US Navy, but India is also concerned about the possibility of the Chinese Navy operating in the Indian Ocean. Even as the US-India defence relationship continues to deepen, the US and China are struggling to build a closer links. China’s and India’s strategic interests overlap in this region both in maritime strategic competition or conflict – which might be played out in the Bay of Bengal, the Malacca and Singapore Straits and the South China Sea. The sea lines of communication (SLOCs) through Southeast Asian waters constitute vital "choke points" between the Indian and Pacific Oceans carrying essential energy supplies for China and other Northeast Asian countries. Any strategic competition between China and India has implications for other major maritime players in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, especially Australia, the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as the US. This book identifies possible cooperative and confidence-building measures that may contribute to enhanced relations between these two major powers and dampen down the risks associated with their strategic competition.

America, Sea Power, and the World

America, Sea Power, and the World
Author: James C. Bradford
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 502
Release: 2022-11-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 1119772494

The gold standard in college-level American naval history texts, edited by the foremost scholar in the field In the newly revised second edition of America, Sea Power and the World, a team of distinguished researchers delivers an extensive and authoritative survey of American naval history, the place of the United States in world affairs, and the role of that country’s naval forces during peacetime and wartime. Each chapter contains a comprehensive analysis of its subject as well as brief sidebars describing a key weapon or technological development of the era and a short biographical sketch of an influential leader or representative of the navy from that era. The book offers extensive illustration and maps and a throughgoing emphasis on naval policy, strategy, roles, and missions, with careful attention paid to naval operations. These factors given greater focus than the descriptions of battle tactics found in other texts. Readers will also find: A thorough introduction to sea power and the modern state system, as well as the American War for Independence at sea Comprehensive explorations of the genesis of the United States Navy from 1785 to 1806 Practical discussions of the Naval War of 1812 and the Confirmation of Independence from 1807 to 1815 and the Squadron Navy as an agent of the commercial empire until 1890 Fulsome treatments of the Second World War in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and the Pacific, including defensive actions in the Pacific from 1937 to 1943 and offensive actions from 1943 to 1944. New chapters exclusive to the 2nd edition focused on the history of African Americans and women in the US Navy, the development of joint operations and unified command, and the naval history of the last two decades. Perfect for undergraduate students taking courses on the naval history of the United States, America, Sea Power and the World, Second Edition will also earn a place in the libraries of members of the general public interested in naval and military history.