Naval History

The present reference publication was compiled by John H. Isherwood and has been dedicated to the vessels which used to belong to the famous Cunard Fleet. It was published some twenty five years back with the original intention of its author to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Cunard, it was a tribute to the memory of the author.

This excellent reference book starts with the brief historical overview of Cunard followed by the detailed drawings of virtually all ships that used to form part of the fleet of Cunard Steam-Ship Company - it is a perfect pictorial record of the development of passenger shipping industry during past two centuries. The data contained in this publication, histories of the ships and their pictures, are mainly based on the info obtained from the Central Record of the World Ship Society.

This is a very rare and very important book for everyone interested in the naval history. The amount of the technical information provided in the book makes in so interesting and valuable for all people interested in the naval history and ship modelers, in particular. Note that the publication contains some of the information that would otherwise be quite difficult to find somewhere else.

At times like this, when the world seems to be moving into an era in which there are many risks but few out-and-out adversaries and defense budgets are coining under increasing strain, there has been something of a revival of interest in the so-called "interwar period" between the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Second.

This interest is due less to the hope that scholarly investigations of the issues then confronting defense planners will somehow provide 'answers' for their contemporary successors, than that they will help frame the questions that should be asked. This volume, written by someone actively engaged in today's naval business, demonstrates the value of such open-minded enquiry very clearly.

Joseph Moretz concentrates his attention on the role and perceived importance of the battleship. This is a subject that has been covered many times before, but what is completely new about this is its focus on the operational level of war. Neither the nitty-gritty tactical business of battleship construction, nor the role of navies at the grand-strategic level — but a business-like concentration on what battleships actually did at this tune and what they were expected to do in war.

The author has uncovered a great deal of new information, which demonstrates the extent to which the battleship remained at the heart of naval policy and planning concerns of this period. Thinking about the battleship both helped determine, and in due course reflected, policy on virtually all other aspects of naval policy — naval aviation, the submarine service, control policy, the fleet construction programme and. of course, strategy and tactics. The point is that the battleship needs to be put into context, to be seen more as the most important part of a balanced battle fleet. and less as a weapon system in its own right than has often been the case in previous analyses. The role of the battleship is therefore a huge topic but one which needs to be reviewed as a whole. In so doing.

Joseph Moretz addresses one of the great issues in military history — the question of "military conservatism'. He makes a major contribution to an evolving school now reacting against the once near-universal view that military types habitually prepare to re-fight the last war and are institutionally, even congenitally. unable to respond to new technological challenges effectively. And this too is a conclusion with much contemporary relevance...

Another interesting book about another prominent historical character, namely about Lord Keith, who was a famous Scottish Admiral serving His Majesty fleet and who ended his brilliant career by overseeing the surrender of the Napoleon's army in 1815. This person held almost every single important command and his story shows the history of the Navy during the times of fighting sail.

The present publication is in fact the first monograph to be solely dedicated to the modern biography of this character who learned everything about the commanding naval battles and squadrons in the course of the American Revolution and commanded for fleets, namely the Channel fleet, the Mediterranean fleet, the North Sea fleet and the fleet of the Eastern Seas.

Although he had never led any of the fleet under his command directly to the battle, this admiral was engaged in the support join operations with the Royal Navy of Britain together with the allied forces and managed to maintain command of the sea and to ensure the free passage of commerce at the same time, controlling more than two hundred of vessels. The book is documenting Admiral Keith's dealings with the text based on thousands of public and private records...

This book is solely dedicated to a life of Sir Andrew Cunningham, the Admiral of the Royal Navy and one of the most prominent historic characters, leading sailor of the Navy of the World War Two. He was known for his initials "ABS" and he is still commemorated. The principal theatre of his naval operations was in the Mediterranean sea where he held the line against the strategic situations worse that they could be expected and even imagined by the people dealing with the planning.

This fact has been exemplified by the role that the Royal Navy played in conducting the fighting withdrawal versus the  catastrophic odds from Crete is spring of the year 1941. Admiral felt and knew that not only the fate of the British expeditionary forces but also reputation of the whole Navy was at stake, and this made him resolute in his actual support fir the subject operation. He also held against Churchill's demands for the more offensive actions than just demanded by the strategic circumstances or the resources possessed by the Admiral.

And that was quite different sort of battle, highly political and continual, but for sure, should that battle be lost by Cunningham, the potential consequences could be terrible. The publication will provide naval historians and just enthusiasts with all required information and very interesting facts related to the life and fight of the Admiral Cunningham.

The author of this world popular and famous publication, Ian Johnston, who is a professional graphic designer having a deep interest in ships and their construction, presents the perfect and rare collection of the selected stunning shipyard photographic images, most of which have never been published anywhere before. The Clydebank ship construction yard, although known mostly for capital vessels and large liners, did build a vast range of the vessels between 1914 and 1920.

This book includes two hundred images intended to depict in really unprecedented detail every single technical aspect of the shipyard's output, from Aquitania (1914) to Enterprise (1920). These images chronicle the huge impact that the war had on the working conditions in the ship yard, and especially in the introduction of women to the workforce. The publication is a remarkably vivid portrait of the lost industry at the very top point of its success.

The quality of the photos contained in the book is truly incredible and the descriptions are accurately detailed and very interesting to all categories of readers regardless of their background. The vast majority of the images are focusing on the construction of the fifty-four vessels that took place at the shipyard in the period 1914-1919...

According to the numerous reviews submitted by the readers from different parts of the world, this book definitely deserves the attention of anyone interested in marine world and maritime history. They all recommend this one to all fans of the early times of the world exploration as the book provide the perfect presentation of the material quite within any other titles. Hundreds of footnotes given by the author as supplementary information will be of particular use to the people deeply dealing with the subject.

There are also dozens of images to make reading more interesting and fascinating. This book should be read slowly and attentively, thoroughly passing all the ideas of the sixteenth century, so please note that this will require some of your time and attention. Read it and we are sure you will not get disappointed as you will get to know so much more about one of the most important periods in the world maritime history.

In fact, it is a great story of one of the greatest seafarers and explorers, told by one of the crew members of the vessel, that is why the book is so highly recommended to the general readership and fans of the marine history, in particular, who will all benefit from the content.

This work by Jason Burns is focusing on the shipwrecking events and on the history as well as the archaeology of a single vessel. The publication provides readers with the information on the international shipping and struggle for dominance in the maritime shipping in the XIX century.

The author has successfully used a wealth of the historical information and data together with the results obtained in the course of the numerous archaeological surveys to shed the light on the wreck of a XIX-century merchant ship off Pensacola, Florida, US, offering readers a very interesting story, well-written and researched... Stroll along the white sands of Santa Rosa Island on Florida's Panhandle, gaze out to the clear emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico, then close your eyes and imagine this scene: at daybreak the storm has abated, but heavy seas still pound the beach...

In his book the author, Jason Burns, used the very wide assortment of historical data along with the results of various archaeological surveys in order to tell the readers the fascinating story of the shipwreck happened to a XIX-century merchant vessel "Catharine" not far from Pensacola, Florida. He offers a very interesting reading, well written and researched.

According to the professional reviews, the major strength of this publication by Brian Rouleau is that the author has not limited the scope of his research to either Atlantic or Pacific. He rather sets out to perform the examination of the global maritime empire. This new volume forces the readers to reconsider the ways in which the foreign relations are working.

The author of the book has professionally crafted a truly impressive reimagining of the working-class seamen placing them at the centre of the American relationship with the other world in the early and mid-XIX century. The straightforward arguments and imaginative research conducted by the author has made this publication an uncommonly pleasant reading. The efforts made by Rouleau has eventually resulted in this groundbreaking study of the American sailors abroad; in this volume, he has rewritten the whole history of the foreign relations of the United States in the antebellum are.

One of the point revealed by the author was that the Manifest Density was the global process extending quite far beyond the terrestrial borders of America, and he has done this through a very keen analysis and impressively thorough research. The content of the volume is illustrating a very wide range of the inter-cultural encounters between the seafarers and the people who they met all around the globe.