Naval History

The book by an expert in the naval history and an excellent writer, Angus Konstam, is an excellent and interesting dedicated to the pirate ships of XVI-XVII centuries. The topics covered by the author of this volume include the design of the pirate ships of those times, their origins and conversion; among the vessels addressed there are both pirate flagships and relatively small ships.

The narrative text of the publication is fascinating and provides readers with many important technical details; of course, as it is implied in the title of the book, its main subject is the pirate ship. It shall be noted that this book is not about the pirates themselves since so many publication have already been released covering their life and activities as it rather concentrates on the ships themselves.

But those readers who wanted to find the information about their vessels, will greatly appreciate the whole content of this remarkable work which will be very helpful to them in terms of providing a brief yet informative overview of the pirate ships supplemented with numerous illustrations for the better and clearer picture. The book will definitely increase their understanding of the broad variety of the vessels actually used by the pirates of the past and of the associated terminology.

Today, the Indian Ocean to which this book is dedicated to, remains the least researched geographic region of the world. However, there have been significant cultural exchanges around its shores and across its waters. Edward Alpers, professional historian and the author of this volume has explored all complex issues relating to the above mentioned cultural exchange in the region through combining historical approach with the insights of geography, anthropology and other relevant disciplines.

The volume has already proven to be an excellent source of relevant information providing all interested readers with a brand new perspective from which is it easier to get better understanding of the Indian Ocean. What the author has tried to underline in his work was that the oceans shall not be treated only as just barriers; they are rather connecting barrier which have proven their dominance in shaping the history. The publication is packed with valuable information supplemented with the numerous very useful ocean maps and photographs.

The opening chapter of the volume is setting up the history and discussing the monsoons considered crucial to understanding some maritime patterns.... In short, this book is a very good introduction to this undeservedly under-studied region and its content will be of great interest for all lovers of the oceans and history.

This book dedicated to the Tudor warships was prepared by Angus Konstam, also known for his publication on Pirate Ships and Elizabethan Sea Dogs. Apart from the people having an interest in the naval history, the content of this book will be of particular use for the ship modelers. That is why we would highly recommend all of the above mentioned categories of readers to add this title to their reference libraries.

The book has been written in a manner allowing readers to take in all presented information. The author of the book is a specialist in the period covered and he is successfully bringing to life the developmental history of the Tudor's Navy fleet and the use of those warships on the high seas. The volume examines the Mary Rose - the only warship of the XVI century on display anywhere. The author has also included thoroughly researched archive photos and detailed color artwork, such as the cutaways and contemporary images all of them are very informative and add to the overall benefit.

He has produced a very good example of the genre and made a book which may now be used as a quick introduction to the design and ordinance of the early Tudor naval vessels. In short, this is an outstanding volume on a really unique subject of Spanish Armada; note that the information and data contained herein may serve as an excellent basis for the future researches for people with the deeper interest in the field.

This ship of the United States Naval Forces was the third one to bear the name USS North Carolina. Her commissioned service covered about six years time, and only eleven years elapsed between her authorization and decommissioning; however, in such short period of time rapid development in the industry technology enabled aircrafts and aircraft carriers to completely replace battleships as the main strength of the navy fleet.

Within some years after the completion of World War Two, only the United States retained battleships in its navy. Four battleships belonging to IOWA class were kept in the reserve fleet. Over the years some were updated and returned to the active fleet. For those who wish to see a battleship as it was when the dreadnaughts ruled the seas, the USS North Carolina, moored in Wilmington, North Carolina, has been preserved just as she was on her active duty.

This volume is telling its readers a great and glorious story of the famous USS North Carolina from newly constructed to museum ship. An excellent reference and historical book, and a genuine treasure for the ship modelers who will definitely find the technical information contained in it very useful when building a model of this vessel.

The authors of this title concentrated on small number of specific ships, namely cruisers of the United States Navy fleet and managed to cover them in the greatest detail. Though the publication consists of only 48 pages, the amount of information provided in it is really impressive. The authors put together thorough overview of naval design. In addition, there is a very useful appendix to the main content of the book.

The photographs and illustrations supplementing the text of the book are really fascinating. This is an extremely useful and valuable reference point for ship modelers, researchers or students interested in the times of the steel navy cruisers. The stories contained in the book provide readers with the salient technical details of the individual vessels, paying particular attention to the improvements which were made by their predecessors. Each of the sections of this volume has been very well illustrated and supplemented with numerous photos and artworks.

All interested readers have found this book a very valuable reference source for the students, researchers in this field and ship modelers. The authors have put together the brilliant overview of a quite neglected field of naval design and associated developments presented in a very readable and fascinating manner that made the book extremely popular.

The Old Head of Kinsale is a very steep and extremely rocky promontory jutting aggressively into the Atlantic from the southwest coast of Ireland. On its crest are a lighthouse, a coast guard station and the ruins of an early Celtic settlement. For about two thousand years it has been a vantage point for the people on shore and a familiar and essential landmark to those at sea.

Behind it lies a deep and secure harbor, once the shelter of Spanish and English fleets, and the town of Kinsale, today a sleepy fishing port swollen each summer by the tourist and the yachtsman. There is little to do but talk, and any conversation eventually turns to the Lusitania torpedoed nearby in 1915, with the loss of 1,201 human lives. There is a Lusitania bar, a Lusitania grill and the inevitable Lusitania souvenirs.

Equally inevitable is the Lusitania legend that the great liner was loaded with bullion which is there for the taking for anyone sufficiently rich and determined to risk diving three hundred feet to the granite and current-swept bottom of the Atlantic twelve miles south and two points west of the Old Head.... The publication, as it is clear from the title of this publication by Colin Simpson, is specifically intended to tell readers many true and interesting historical facts about maybe the most fateful of all marine disasters...

The famous book by a well-known naval historian Richard Hough, presents the most principal points of the naval history of the World War I. It contains many photographs, battle maps, and nineteen pages of endnotes. It is very informative reading for those who are interested in the battles of the past. This interesting story of the warring German and British navies has been written in a documentary novel style with many questions being answered in the process of review of many historical theories.

The publication by N. Rodger is intended to describe with a truly unprecedented scholarship and authority the Britain's rise to the naval greatness and also to demonstrate the central place and critically important role of the Navy fleet and naval activities in the lives of the nations. The content of the book has been developed on the basis of the experience and the results obtained in the course of numerous researches conducted by the author over past decade.

Note that the author describes not only battles and voyages as well as the battle cruisers but also how exactly the Navy fleet of Britain was manned and supplied, how it was fed and, what is also very important, how exactly it was directed and financed. The author has provided readers with the convincing reassessment of the famous historical figures. he has very illuminatingly contrasted all distinct and particular qualities of Collingwood and Nelson. Another intention of the author was to demonstrate people that , if they do not have a good understanding of the importance of naval history of Britain, they will never be able to fully understand Britain.

The content of the volume is arranged in chapters by theme with a very broad periods of time. The book contains twenty-four pages of illustrations together with the statistical appendices and a very valuable Glossary of terms.