The Late Victorian Navy

The Late Victorian Navy
Author: Roger Parkinson
Publisher: Boydell Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2008
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781843833727

A reappraisal of the late Victorian Navy, the so-called `Dark Ages', showing how the period was crucial to the emergence of new technology defined by steel and electricity. In purely naval terms, the period from 1889 to 1906 is often referred to (and indeed passed over) as the `pre-Dreadnought era', merely a prelude to the lead-up to the First World War, and thus of relatively little importance; it has therefore received little consideration from historians, a gap which this book remedies by reviewing the late Victorian Navy from a radically new perspective. It starts with the Great Near East crisis of 1878 and shows how itsaftermath in the Carnarvon Commission and its evidence produced a profound shift in strategic thinking, culminating in the Naval Defence Act of 1889; this evidence, from the ship owners, provides the definitive explanation of whythe Victorian Navy gave up on convoy as the primary means of trade protection in wartime, a fundamental question at the time. The book also overturns many assumptions about the era, especially the perception that the navy was weak, and clearly shows that the 1870s and early 1880s brought in crucial technological developments that made the Dreadnought possible.

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.

From Jack Tar to Union Jack

From Jack Tar to Union Jack
Author: Mary A. Conley
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2017-03-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526117657

Jack Tar to Union Jack examines the intersection between empire, navy, and manhood in British society from 1870 to 1918. Through analysis of sources that include courts-martial cases, sailors’ own writings, and the HMS Pinafore, Conley charts new depictions of naval manhood during the Age of Empire, a period which witnessed the radical transformation of the navy, the intensification of imperial competition, the democratisation of British society, and the advent of mass culture. Jack Tar to Union Jack argues that popular representations of naval men increasingly reflected and informed imperial masculine ideals in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Conley shows how the British Bluejacket as both patriotic defender and dutiful husband and father stood in sharp contrast to the stereotypic image of the brave but bawdy tar of the Georgian navy. This book will be essential reading for students of British imperial history, naval and military history, and gender studies.

Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution

Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution
Author: Nicholas A. Lambert
Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press
Total Pages: 462
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781570034923

This volume explores the intrigue and negotiations between the Admiralty and domestic politicians and social reformers before World War I. It also explains how Britain's naval leaders responded to non-military, cultural challenges under the direction of Adimiral Sir John Fisher.

The Making of the Modern Admiralty

The Making of the Modern Admiralty
Author: C. I. Hamilton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2011-02-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 1139496549

This is an important new history of decision-making and policy-making in the British Admiralty from Trafalgar to the aftermath of Jutland. C. I. Hamilton explores the role of technological change, the global balance of power and, in particular, of finance and the First World War in shaping decision-making and organisational development within the Admiralty. He shows that decision-making was found not so much in the hands of the Board but at first largely in the hands of individuals, then groups or committees, and finally certain permanent bureaucracies. The latter bodies, such as the Naval Staff, were crucial to the development of policy-making as was the civil service Secretariat under the Permanent Secretary. By the 1920s the Admiralty had become not just a proper policy-making organisation, but for the first time a thoroughly civil-military one.

Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers
Author: David Phillipson
Publisher: History Press (SC)
Total Pages: 164
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780750931816

Band of Brothers is a history of the boy seaman rating in the Royal Navy, beginning with its evolution from the eighteenth century 'Officer's Servant' through to its abolition in 1956. It tells of an astonishing Victorian Naval tradition which continued right into the modern age. HMS Ganges, a byword on the lower deck of the Royal Navy for strict discipline, was the hardest of the boy seaman training establishments, and was widely regarded as the archetype. The Royal Navy throughout those years was a supremely conservative and traditionalist institution, and particularly in its attitude to and treatment of lower deck people, the boys in particular. Drawing on his own detailed diaries, the author vividly recreates daily life ashore and afloat, in peace and war. Recruitment, food and clothing, training, discipline and punishment are all recorded, and supported by the personal accounts of boy seamen who went on to serve in the Royal Navy as men.

British Battleships, 1889–1904

British Battleships, 1889–1904
Author: R.A. Burt
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 978
Release: 2013-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473826950

A comprehensive look at Royal Navy warships in the pre-dreadnought era, with extensive photos and illustrations. The Russian war scare of 1884 and the public’s anxiety about the Royal Navy’s ability to fight a modern war at sea resulted in the Naval Defense Act of 1889 and a vast program of warship construction. Over the next twenty years a fleet of 52 battleships was built, construction finally interrupted by the revolutionary Dreadnought design. In this volume, the author presents full details of design and construction, armament, protection, machinery and performance, all backed up with accurate data tables listing design figures, trials results, and full particulars at different stages in the ships’ careers. The history of each battleship is chronicled and the reader is reminded of their major contribution in the First World War. They bore the brunt of the action at the Dardenelles, bombarded the Belgium coast, patrolled the North Sea and the Channel, reinforced the Italian Fleet, and served in East Africa, the East Indies, and the White Sea. Most were extensively modified during the war and this variety has made them of special interest to the historian, enthusiast, and ship modeler. With the addition of many new photographs from the author's massive collection, this new edition is a must-have addition to every naval library.

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail
Author: Bernard Ireland
Publisher: Collins
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2000
Genre: Great Britain
ISBN: 9780007109456

Covering the classic era of sailing ship warfare from the mid-eighteenth century to the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail reveals how warships were built, sailed, and fought in the era made popular today by the novels of Patrick O'Brian and C. S. Forester. The often dense technical detail of these works is explained here for the general reader through text and illustrations that bring the period vividly to life. Through his discussions of single-ship actions, fleet operations, famous commanders, and the day-to-day routines of the men who worked the ships, Bernard Ireland investigates how the navy of King George III came to dominate the high seas, ushering in a century of British maritime supremacy. Acclaimed naval artist Tony Gibbons illustrates every type of sailing warship from ships of the line, frigates, and sloops to privateers' schooners, bomb ketches, and xebecs.

Imperial Russian Navy

Imperial Russian Navy
Author: Vladimir Krestjaninov
Publisher: Uniform Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN: 9781906509491

This unique look at the Russian Imperial Navy of the late 19th and early 20th century contains nearly 500 images from archives, museums and private collections.