Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century

Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century PDF Author: Sam Willis
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9781843833673
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
Our understanding of warfare at sea in the eighteenth century has always been divorced from the practical realities of fighting at sea under sail; our knowledge of tactics is largely based upon the ideas of contemporary theorists rather than practitioners] who knew little of the realities of sailing warfare, and our knowledge of command is similarly flawed. In this book the author presents new evidence from contemporary sources that overturns many old assumptions and introduces a host of new ideas. In a series of thematic chapters, following the rough chronology of a sea fight from initial contact to damage repair, the author offers a dramatic interpretation of fighting at sea in the eighteenth century, and explains in greater depth than ever before how and why sea battles (including Trafalgar) were won and lost in the great Age of Sail. He explains in detail how two ships or fleets identified each other to be enemies; how and why they manoeuvred for battle; how a commander communicated his ideas, and how and why his subordinates acted in the way that they did. SAM WILLIS has lectured at Bristol University and at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is also the author of Fighting Ships, 1750-1850(Quercus).

Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century

Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century PDF Author: Sam Willis
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9781843833673
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
Our understanding of warfare at sea in the eighteenth century has always been divorced from the practical realities of fighting at sea under sail; our knowledge of tactics is largely based upon the ideas of contemporary theorists rather than practitioners] who knew little of the realities of sailing warfare, and our knowledge of command is similarly flawed. In this book the author presents new evidence from contemporary sources that overturns many old assumptions and introduces a host of new ideas. In a series of thematic chapters, following the rough chronology of a sea fight from initial contact to damage repair, the author offers a dramatic interpretation of fighting at sea in the eighteenth century, and explains in greater depth than ever before how and why sea battles (including Trafalgar) were won and lost in the great Age of Sail. He explains in detail how two ships or fleets identified each other to be enemies; how and why they manoeuvred for battle; how a commander communicated his ideas, and how and why his subordinates acted in the way that they did. SAM WILLIS has lectured at Bristol University and at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. He is also the author of Fighting Ships, 1750-1850(Quercus).

War at Sea

War at Sea PDF Author: Nathan Miller
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195110382
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 614

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Book Description
From the sinking of the British passenger liner Athenia on September 3, 1939, by a German U-boat (against orders) to the Japanese surrender on board the Missouri on September 2, 1945, War at Sea covers every major naveal battle of World War II. "A first-rate work and the best history of its kind yet written".--Vice Admiral William P. Mack, U.S.N. (Ret.). 30 photos.

Fighting the Great War at Sea

Fighting the Great War at Sea PDF Author: Norman Friedman
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612519598
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
While the overriding image of the First World War is of the bloody stalemate on the Western Front, the overall shape of the war arose out of its maritime character. It was essentially a struggle about access to worldwide resources, most clearly seen in Germany’s desperate attempts to counter the American industrial threat, which ultimately drew the United States into the war. This radical new book concentrates on the way in which each side tried to use or deny the sea to the other, and in so doing describes rapid wartime changes not only in ship and weapons technology but also in the way naval warfare was envisaged and fought. Melding strategic, technical, and tactical aspects, Friedman approaches the First World War from a fresh perspective and demonstrates how its perceived lessons dominated the way navies prepared for the Second World War.

America's Fighting Admirals

America's Fighting Admirals PDF Author: William Tuohy
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781616739621
Category : Admirals
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
American naval actions of World War II comprise the most widespread, complex, and dramatic battles in the history of sea warfare. The fighting took place over vast distances in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as in the constricted spaces of the Mediterranean and Solomon seas. Each of the major actions had an admiral, the commander in charge, who led the battle. In combat, the abilities and determination of these commanders at sea were put to the most severe test. Americas Fighting Admirals describes the course of U.S. sea action in World War II. It examines the skills, strengths, weaknesses and personalities of the American admirals who fought the battles at sea. It examines the effect that stress, tension, and responsibility have on commanders making vital decisions in the red-hot crucible of battle. And it reveals the changing nature of the responsibilities of flag officers as the war progressed and became enormously complex.

At War at Sea

At War at Sea PDF Author: Ronald H. Spector
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0140246010
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Beginning with a gripping account of one of the most decisive naval battles in history-the 1905 battle of Tsushima between the Japanese and Russians-and ending with the sophisticated missile engagements of the Falklands and in the Persian Gulf, naval historian Ronald Spector explores every facet of the past one hundred years of naval warfare. Drawing from more than one hundred diaries, memoirs, letters, and interviews, this is, above all, a masterful narrative of the human side of combat at sea-real stories told from the point of view of the sailors who experienced it. Exhaustively researched and fascinating in detail, At War at Sea is a monumental history of the men, the ships, and the battles fought on the high seas. "Superb . . . Spector's account provides evocative and fresh perspectives on cultures, technologies and innovations that influenced sailors' lives and shaped naval warfare." (The San Diego Union-Tribune) "Monumental . . . Many books have recorded the history of the United States Navy, but few have meshed that history with that of all other major navies-an unusual comparative technique that brings into often startling relief the virtues and flaws of our own navy." (The Washington Post)"

War at Sea in the Age of Sail (Smithsonian History of Warfare)

War at Sea in the Age of Sail (Smithsonian History of Warfare) PDF Author: Andrew Lambert
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
ISBN: 9780060838553
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Our fascination with the drama of war at sea is as strong today as it was in the heyday of the sailing ship.This book, written by one of the world's foremost authors on naval warfare, describes the dramatic battles of an age when sail was supreme. Andrew Lambert's comprehensive history examines key naval conflicts from the highest strategic level right down to the experience of the ordinary sailor. Fully illustrated throughout, this book incorporates computer-generated cartography that brings the sea battles to life. An in-depth look at ship design and the "floating culture" onboard The Anglo-Dutch Wars of 1650–74, when English commanders challenged Dutch sea power with superior speed, close quarters fighting, and fireships The rise and fall of the French Navy under the Sun King, Louis XIV The Napoleonic Wars, the defeat of the French fleet, and the rise of British Royal Navy hero Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson

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

The Struggle for Sea Power: A Naval History of the American Revolution PDF Author: Sam Willis
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393248836
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
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.

World War II at Sea

World War II at Sea PDF Author: Craig L. Symonds
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190243686
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 793

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Book Description
Author of Lincoln and His Admirals (winner of the Lincoln Prize), The Battle of Midway (Best Book of the Year, Military History Quarterly), and Operation Neptune, (winner of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature), Craig L. Symonds has established himself as one of the finest naval historians at work today. World War II at Sea represents his crowning achievement: a complete narrative of the naval war and all of its belligerents, on all of the world's oceans and seas, between 1939 and 1945. Opening with the 1930 London Conference, Symonds shows how any limitations on naval warfare would become irrelevant before the decade was up, as Europe erupted into conflict once more and its navies were brought to bear against each other. World War II at Sea offers a global perspective, focusing on the major engagements and personalities and revealing both their scale and their interconnection: the U-boat attack on Scapa Flow and the Battle of the Atlantic; the "miracle" evacuation from Dunkirk and the pitched battles for control of Norway fjords; Mussolini's Regia Marina-at the start of the war the fourth-largest navy in the world-and the dominance of the Kidö Butai and Japanese naval power in the Pacific; Pearl Harbor then Midway; the struggles of the Russian Navy and the scuttling of the French Fleet in Toulon in 1942; the landings in North Africa and then Normandy. Here as well are the notable naval leaders-FDR and Churchill, both self-proclaimed "Navy men," Karl Dönitz, François Darlan, Ernest King, Isoroku Yamamoto, Erich Raeder, Inigo Campioni, Louis Mountbatten, William Halsey, as well as the hundreds of thousands of seamen and officers of all nationalities whose live were imperiled and lost during the greatest naval conflicts in history, from small-scale assaults and amphibious operations to the largest armadas ever assembled. Many have argued that World War II was dominated by naval operations; few have shown and how and why this was the case. Symonds combines precision with story-telling verve, expertly illuminating not only the mechanics of large-scale warfare on (and below) the sea but offering wisdom into the nature of the war itself.

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail PDF Author: Bernard Ireland
Publisher: Collins
ISBN: 9780007109456
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
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.

Against the Odds

Against the Odds PDF Author: Alexander McKee
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
An enthralling collection of sea battles, selected and retold by a leading naval historian.