Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea

Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea PDF Author: Rod Macdonald
Publisher: Whittles
ISBN: 9781849950954
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, the core of Churchill's deterrent Force Z, stunned the world. Churchill had hoped that sending a small powerful squadron of ships to Singapore would deter a threatened Japanese invasion of Malaya and Thailand. He was to be proved tragically wrong. This book explores in detail the wrecks of these two vessels and narrates a summary of the Japanese threat.

Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea

Force Z Shipwrecks of the South China Sea PDF Author: Rod Macdonald
Publisher: Whittles
ISBN: 9781849950954
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The tragedy of the loss in 1941 of two Royal Navy capital ships, HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, the core of Churchill's deterrent Force Z, stunned the world. Churchill had hoped that sending a small powerful squadron of ships to Singapore would deter a threatened Japanese invasion of Malaya and Thailand. He was to be proved tragically wrong. This book explores in detail the wrecks of these two vessels and narrates a summary of the Japanese threat.

Sinking Force Z 1941

Sinking Force Z 1941 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472846613
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
A history and analysis of one of the most dramatic moments in both air power and naval history. With the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, no battleship was safe on the open ocean, and the aircraft took its crown as the most powerful maritime weapon In late 1941, war was looming with Japan, and Britain's empire in southeast Asia was at risk. The British government decided to send Force Z, which included the state-of-the-art battleship Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser Repulse, to bolster the naval defences of Singapore, and provide a mighty naval deterrent to Japanese aggression. These two powerful ships arrived in Singapore on 2 December - five days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But crucially, they lacked air cover. On 9 December Japanese scout planes detected Force Z's approach in the Gulf of Thailand. Unlike at Pearl Harbor, battleships at sea could manoeuvre, and their anti-aircraft defences were ready. But it did no good. The Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo-bombers were the most advanced in the world, and the battle was one-sided. Strategically, the loss of Force Z was a colossal disaster for the British, and one that effectively marked the end of its empire in the East. But even more importantly, the sinking marked the last time that battleships were considered to be the masters of the ocean. From that day on, air power rather than big guns would be the deciding factor in naval warfare.

Hidden Warships

Hidden Warships PDF Author: Nicholas A. Veronico
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1627886648
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
A photo-filled tour of wrecked warships around the world, with their stories recounted in “a wonderfully clear [and] lively style” (Seattle Post Intelligencer). Sunk by enemy fire, scuttled, or run aground, the number of World War II-era battleships, cruisers, submarines, and other warships that ended their service on the bottom of the world’s oceans and seas is enormous. In the decades since the conflict, wreck hunters have pored over historical records and combed the world’s oceans to find their remains. Now you too can see them up close—without getting your feet wet. In Hidden Warships, naval historian Nicholas A. Veronico details the history, recovery, and preservation of these sunken combat ships—including accounts from the divers and restorers who have worked with them. Beginning with the Japanese midget submarines that attacked Pearl Harbor and continuing into the modern era, including the 2006 sinking of the postwar aircraft carrier USS Oriskany, Veronico provides rich detail on each noteworthy vessel, including over 150 photographs, ship specifications, geographic coordinates, and more. For the enthusiast who wants an even more complete experience, the book concludes with a list of preserved ships, an Internet resource guide, and a suggested reading list to continue the exploration. Whether you plan on visiting these historic sites yourself or simply enjoy their compelling stories, Hidden Warships will guide you, above the surface and underwater, through some of the most famous relics of World War II naval warfare. “A tantalizing selection of sunken vessels, including many recent discoveries.” —Naval History Magazine

Shipwreck in the South China Sea

Shipwreck in the South China Sea PDF Author: Claire Daniel
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781418983611
Category : Shipwrecks
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Book Description


Skeletons on the Zahara

Skeletons on the Zahara PDF Author: Dean King
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0759509697
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
b.A masterpiece of historical adventure, ISkeletons on the Zahara The western Sahara is a baking hot and desolate place, home only to nomads and their camels, and to locusts, snails and thorny scrub -- and its barren and ever-changing coastline has baffled sailors for centuries. In August 1815, the US brig Commerce was dashed against Cape Bojador and lost, although through bravery and quick thinking the ship's captain, James Riley, managed to lead all of his crew to safety. What followed was an extraordinary and desperate battle for survival in the face of human hostility, starvation, dehydration, death and despair. Captured, robbed and enslaved, the sailors were dragged and driven through the desert by their new owners, who neither spoke their language nor cared for their plight. Reduced to drinking urine, flayed by the sun, crippled by walking miles across burning stones and sand and losing over half of their body weights, the sailors struggled to hold onto both their humanity and their sanity. To reach safety, they would have to overcome not only the desert but also the greed and anger of those who would keep them in captivity. From the cold waters of the Atlantic to the searing Saharan sands, from the heart of the desert to the heart of man, Skeletons on the Zahara is a spectacular odyssey through the extremes and a gripping account of courage, brotherhood, and survival.

The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944

The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944 PDF Author: Charles Stephenson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN: 1526783649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
A study of the British Royal Navy’s activities in the Indian Ocean during World War II, led by Admiral Sir James Somerville. The story of the British Eastern Fleet, which operated in the Indian Ocean against Japan, has rarely been told. Although it was the largest fleet deployed by the Royal Navy prior to 1945 and played a vital part in the theatre it was sent to protect, it has no place in the popular consciousness of the naval history of the Second World War. So Charles Stephenson’s deeply researched and absorbing narrative gives this forgotten fleet the recognition it deserves. British pre-war naval planning for the Far East is part of the story, as is the disastrous loss of the battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse in 1941, but the body of the book focuses on the new fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir James Somerville, and its operations against the Japanese navy and aircraft as well as Japanese and German submarines. Later in the war, once the fleet had been reinforced with an American aircraft carrier, it was strong enough to take more aggressive actions against the Japanese, and these are described in vivid detail. Charles Stephenson’s authoritative study should appeal to readers who have a special interest in the war with Japan, in naval history more generally and Royal Navy in particular. Praise forThe Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944 “This meticulously researched, outstandingly clear, well written and absorbing account is long overdue and will most likely become a standard work. The text is most helpfully supported by over 80 pages of detailed end notes referenced to each chapter and a detailed index. This is not only a book for naval historians but also for anyone with an interest in the War in the Indian Ocean region. Highly recommended.” —Military Historical Society “I enjoyed this book – it gives us an account of an often neglected part of the war at sea, and of the achievements of Admiral Somerville, who kept his fleet intact in the face of a potentially overwhelming opponent, then was willing to acknowledge that his fleet needed to improve massively before it could take on the Japanese.” —Dr John Rickard, author and webmaster of the ‘Military History Encyclopedia on the Web’

Task Force 58

Task Force 58 PDF Author: Rod Macdonald
Publisher: Frontline Books
ISBN: 1399007580
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 653

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Book Description
The new breed of American fast aircraft carriers could make thirty-three knots, and each carried almost 100 strike aircraft. Brought together as Task Force 58, also known as the Fast Carrier Task Force, this awesome armada at times comprised more than 100 ships carrying more than 100,000 men afloat. By 1945, more than 1,000-combat aircraft, fighters, dive- and torpedo-bombers could be launched in under an hour. The fast carriers were a revolution in naval warfare – it was a time when naval power moved away from the big guns of the battleship to air power projected at sea. Battleships were eventually subordinated to supporting and protecting the fast carriers, of which, at its peak, Task Force 58 had a total of seventeen. This book covers the birth of naval aviation, the appearance of the first modern carriers in the 1920s, through to the famous surprise six-carrier _Kido Butai_ Japanese raid against Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 and then the early US successes of 1942 at the Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. The fast carriers allowed America, in late 1942 and early 1943, to finally move from bitter defence against the Japanese expansionist onslaught, to mounting her own offensive to retake the Pacific. Task Force 58 swept west and north from the Solomon Islands to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, neutralising Truk in Micronesia, and Palau in the Caroline islands, before the vital Mariana Islands operations, the Battle of Saipan, the first battle of the Philippine Sea and the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The strikes by Task Force 58 took Allied forces across the Pacific, to the controversial Battle of Leyte Gulf and to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Task Force 58 had opened the door to the Japanese home islands themselves – allowing US bombers to finally get close enough to launch the devastating nuclear bombing raids on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Task Force 58 participated in virtually all the US Navy’s major battles in the Pacific theatre during the last two years of the war. Having spent many years investigating naval shipwrecks across the Pacific, many the result of the devastating effectiveness of Task Force 58, diver and shipwreck author Rod Macdonald has created the most detailed account to date of the fast carrier strike force, the force that brought Japan to its knees and brought the Second World War to its crashing conclusion.

Spitfire Faces

Spitfire Faces PDF Author: Dilip Sarkar
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399065351
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
The Supermarine Spitfire arguably remains the most iconic fighter aircraft ever produced. Unsurprisingly, it has become a symbol of British excellence and national pride. Interest in the Spitfire remains undiminished as time goes on, and its bibliography is virtually infinite. while many of these books feature the technical and operational history of the Spitfire, this book features the human element of the story, concentrating on the stories of not only those who flew the Spitfire into battle, but also the men and women who maintained and built it. By the summer of 1941, the Spitfire had replaced the Hurricane as the RAF’s front-line fighter, seeing service in every theater of war, from north-west Europe to the Far East, and operating in many roles never envisaged by its gifted, yet tragic, designer, R.J. Mitchell. Although intended as a short-range daylight interceptor, Spitfires became dive-bombers, offensive escort fighters, night-fighters, photographic reconnaissance mounts – and more. R.J. Mitchell, however, was always very conscious that a human being would risk his or her life flying his creation – and this book concentrates on that human story. Covering the Spitfire’s design, development and wartime operational history, Spitfire Faces features photographs from the personal collections of survivors, collated as the result of the author’s close personal relationships and friendships with so many of them.

Voices from the Bottom of the South China Sea the Untold Story of America's Largest Chinese Emigrant Disaster

Voices from the Bottom of the South China Sea the Untold Story of America's Largest Chinese Emigrant Disaster PDF Author: Robert S. Wells
Publisher: Fortis Publishing
ISBN: 9781937592431
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Voices from the Bottom of the South China Sea is the remarkable, untold illustration of the bonds between Americans and Chinese, brought to life in the true story of a deadly 1874 shipwreck off Southern China that killed hundreds and scattered treasure in the South China Sea. When a midnight coal fire burst across the deck of the SS Japan, the Chinese emigrants perished, just hours away from being reunited with their families after years. Voices captures the Chinese passengers' lives in California, where they built America's railroads, mined its silver, and grew its food, only to see public sentiment turn against them with an anti- immigrant, racist fervor. Their lives were entrusted to a veteran China Sea trader-the erstwhile Captain Edward Warsaw-an American captain whose vigilance and courage in command of the world's largest wooden passenger vessel were sorely tested when his ship caught fire and sank on that fateful return voyage to China. Nearly 400 of his Chinese passengers on the Japan, a side-wheel steamship that Mark Twain called a "perfect palace of a ship," would perish. Cut off from their lifeboats by the raging fire, many would drown when they were forced to jump into the sea, only to be dragged down with their money belts of gold, their earning from their years spent laboring in America. This amazing history involves a shipwreck, pirates, and lost treasure. But most of all, Voices captures the shared passions, ambitions, and animosities of Chinese and Americans seeking fortune in nineteenth century California. With the lost records of the event recently discovered and pieced together by the author, a former navy captain who commanded a warship in the waters where Captain Warsaw's ship went down, this book allows the lost voices to tell their story to the world from the bottom of the South China Sea.

Burma Memories WWII

Burma Memories WWII PDF Author: Sandra Campagnac-Carney
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1312625503
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Short stories of Anglo-Burmese and others who bore the brunt of abandonment during WWII, as the British, unprepared for the onslaught of the Japanese abandoned them in WWII Burma. Facing unimaginable hardship, they faced the woes of war, many of them dying without any help.