The Royal Navy and the Capital Ship in the Interwar Period

The Royal Navy and the Capital Ship in the Interwar Period
Author: Joseph Moretz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 113634036X

Joseph Moretz's innovative work focuses on what battleships actually did in the inter-war years and what its designed war role in fact was. In doing so, the book tells us much about British naval policy and planning of the time. Drawing heavily on official Admiralty records and private papers of leading officers, the author examines the navy's operational experience and the evolution of its tactical doctrine during the interwar period. He argues that operational experience, combined with assumptions about the nature of a future naval war, were more important in keeping the battleship afloat than conservatism in Navy.

The Royal Navy and the Capital Ship in the Interwar Period

The Royal Navy and the Capital Ship in the Interwar Period
Author: Joseph Moretz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136340432

Joseph Moretz's innovative work focuses on what battleships actually did in the inter-war years and what its designed war role in fact was. In doing so, the book tells us much about British naval policy and planning of the time. Drawing heavily on official Admiralty records and private papers of leading officers, the author examines the navy's operational experience and the evolution of its tactical doctrine during the interwar period. He argues that operational experience, combined with assumptions about the nature of a future naval war, were more important in keeping the battleship afloat than conservatism in Navy.

The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters

The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters
Author: Andrew Boyd
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 851
Release: 2017-03-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473892503

How British naval power in the Indian Ocean played a critical early role in WWII: “Commands the reader's attention. . . . a history game-changer.” —Warship, Naval Books of the Year This new work tells the compelling story of how the Royal Navy secured the strategic space from Egypt in the west to Australasia in the East through the first half of the Second World War—and explains why this contribution, made while Russia’s fate remained in the balance and before American economic power took effect, was so critical. Without it, the war would certainly have lasted longer and decisive victory might have proved impossible. After the protection of the Atlantic lifeline, this was surely the Royal Navy’s finest achievement, the linchpin of victory. The book moves authoritatively between grand strategy, intelligence, accounts of specific operations, and technical assessment of ships and weapons. It challenges established perceptions of Royal Navy capability and will change the way we think about Britain’s role and contribution in the first half of the war. The Navy of 1939 was stronger than usually suggested and British intelligence did not fail against Japan. Nor was the Royal Navy outmatched by Japan, coming very close to a British Midway off Ceylon in 1942. And it was the Admiralty, demonstrating a reckless disregard for risks, that caused the loss of Force Z in 1941. The book also lays stress on the key part played by the American relationship in Britain’s Eastern naval strategy. Superbly researched and elegantly written, it adds a hugely important dimension to our understanding of the war in the East.

Naval Warfare 1919-45

Naval Warfare 1919-45
Author: Malcolm H. Murfett
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 648
Release: 2008-11-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1134048130

Naval Warfare 1919–45 is a comprehensive history of the war at sea from the end of the Great War to the end of World War Two. Showing the bewildering nature and complexity of the war facing those charged with fighting it around the world, this book ranges far and wide: sweeping across all naval theatres and those powers performing major, as well as minor, roles within them. Armed with the latest material from an extensive set of sources, Malcolm H. Murfett has written an absorbing as well as a comprehensive reference work. He demonstrates that superior equipment and the best intelligence, ominous power and systematic planning, vast finance and suitable training are often simply not enough in themselves to guarantee the successful outcome of a particular encounter at sea. Sometimes the narrow difference between victory and defeat hinges on those infinite variables: the individual’s performance under acute pressure and sheer luck. Naval Warfare 1919–45 is an analytical and interpretive study which is an accessible and fascinating read both for students and for interested members of the general public.

The Culture of Military Organizations

The Culture of Military Organizations
Author: Peter R. Mansoor
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2019-10-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 1108485731

Examines how military culture forms and changes, as well as its impact on the effectiveness of military organizations.

The Development of British Naval Thinking

The Development of British Naval Thinking
Author: Geoffrey Till
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2006-03-15
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135774153

In this book, Britain's leading naval historians and analysts have come together to produce an investigation of the development of British naval thinking over the past three centuries, from the sailing ship era to the present day.

Rules of Game

Rules of Game
Author: Andrew Gordon
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 722
Release: 2013-02-21
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612512321

Foreword by Admiral Sir John Woodward. When published in hardcover in 1997, this book was praised for providing an engrossing education not only in naval strategy and tactics but in Victorian social attitudes and the influence of character on history. In juxtaposing an operational with a cultural theme, the author comes closer than any historian yet to explaining what was behind the often described operations of this famous 1916 battle at Jutland. Although the British fleet was victorious over the Germans, the cost in ships and men was high, and debates have raged within British naval circles ever since about why the Royal Navy was unable to take advantage of the situation. In this book Andrew Gordon focuses on what he calls a fault-line between two incompatible styles of tactical leadership within the Royal Navy and different understandings of the rules of the games.

Dreadnought to Daring

Dreadnought to Daring
Author: Peter Hore
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 567
Release: 2012-11-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848321481

Dreadnought to Daring is an absorbing and highly readable summary of a century of naval thinking which has been written by some of the leading lights in contemporary naval history. Founded in 1912 by some of the Royal Navy’s brightest officers, the quarterly Naval Review has never been subject to official censorship, and its naval members do not need official permission to write for it, so it has always provided an independent, lively and at times outspoken forum for service debate. In broad terms it has covered contemporary operations, principles of naval warfare, history, and anecdotes which record the lighter side of naval life, but sometimes with a bite to them. A correspondence section provides an important barometer of service opinion, while extensive book reviews, written by those with real knowledge of the subject, carry considerable weight. For these reasons the Naval Review is widely regarded as a journal of record. In return for its freedom, circulation is restricted to members and membership to serving or retired officers. However, this volume will give the interested public an insight into its activities, past and present. Intended both to celebrate and to analyse the impact of the journal over its 100-year history, it comprises a series of specially commissioned articles, divided chronologically and thematically, devoted to subjects that have been of importance to the naval community as reflected in the pages of the journal. It concludes with an assessment of how well the Naval Review has succeeded in its founders’ aim and what influence it has had on policy.

Winning a Future War

Winning a Future War
Author: Norman Friedman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2019-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781782669074

"To win in the Pacific during World War II, the U.S. Navy had to transform itself technically, tactically, and strategically. It had to create a fleet capable of the unprecedented feat of fighting and winning far from home, without existing bases, in the face of an enemy with numerous bases fighting in his own waters. Much of the credit for the transformation should go to the war gaming conducted at the U.S. Naval War College. Conversely, as we face further demands for transformation, the inter-war experience at the War College offers valuable guidance as to what works, and why, and how."

The British Pacific Fleet

The British Pacific Fleet
Author: David Hobbs
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 414
Release: 2012-03-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783469226

“Magnificent and important . . . should be on the shelves of anyone with a genuine interest in the history of the Royal Navy in the Second World War.” —Military History Monthly In August 1944 the British Pacific Fleet did not exist. Six months later it was strong enough to launch air attacks on Japanese territory, and by the end of the war it constituted the most powerful force in the history of the Royal Navy, fighting as professional equals alongside the US Navy in the thick of the action. How this was achieved by a nation nearing exhaustion after five years of conflict is a story of epic proportions in which ingenuity, diplomacy and dogged persistence all played a part. As much a political as a technical triumph, the BPF was uniquely complex in its make-up: its C-in-C was responsible to the Admiralty for the general direction of his Fleet; took operational orders from the American Admiral Nimitz; answered to the Government of Australia for the construction and maintenance of a vast base infrastructure, and to other Commonwealth Governments for the ships and men that formed his fully-integrated multi-national fleet. This ground-breaking new work by David Hobbs describes the background, creation and expansion of the BPF from its first tentative strikes, through operations off the coast of Japan to its impact on the immediate post-war period, including the opinions of USN liaison officers attached to the British flagships. The book is the first to demonstrate the real scope and scale of the BPF’s impressive achievement. “Perhaps the greatest Royal Navy story of, at least, the twentieth century.” —Aircrew Book Review