The Royal Navy's Home Fleet in World War 2

The Royal Navy's Home Fleet in World War 2 PDF Author: J. Levy
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230511562
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This book marks the first comprehensive history of Britain's naval bulwark, the Home Fleet. It illuminates the vital role that fleet played in preserving Britain as a base of operations against Hitler. We see portrayed the hard days of blockade, patrol, and battle that encompassed the Home Fleet's war. And we see how that war was made harder by weaknesses at the Admiralty and by the damaging interference of the Minister of Defence - Winston Churchill.

The Royal Navy's Home Fleet in World War 2

The Royal Navy's Home Fleet in World War 2 PDF Author: J. Levy
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230511562
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book marks the first comprehensive history of Britain's naval bulwark, the Home Fleet. It illuminates the vital role that fleet played in preserving Britain as a base of operations against Hitler. We see portrayed the hard days of blockade, patrol, and battle that encompassed the Home Fleet's war. And we see how that war was made harder by weaknesses at the Admiralty and by the damaging interference of the Minister of Defence - Winston Churchill.

Royal Navy Home Fleet 1939–41

Royal Navy Home Fleet 1939–41 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472861469
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
Packed with illustrations, this is a new history and analysis of how the Royal Navy's most important fleet operated and fought the German Navy in the crucial first years of World War II. Throughout its history, the Royal Navy's most powerful fleet has been the one guarding home waters. In this book, naval historian Angus Konstam explores the fighting power, the roles, and the battles of the Home Fleet, in the crucial first years of World War II when it was Britain's most powerful fighting force, anchored in the northern bastion of Scapa Flow. He explains the complex responsibilities of the fleet, charged simultaneously with preventing the powerful German Navy from breaking out into the Atlantic; preparing to challenge any cross-Channel invasion force; and attacking German naval operations in the North Sea. Home Fleet actions included the loss of HMS Hood, the sinking of the Bismarck and countering the invasion of Norway, Germany's biggest amphibious operation of the war. Packed with striking new artwork and 3D diagrams and maps, this book offers a detailed portrait of the Home Fleet during these most crucial years of the war, from the capabilities of the warships to logistics and intelligence-gathering, to how the fleet was organized and commanded, and how and why it fought as it did.

German Heavy Cruisers vs Royal Navy Heavy Cruisers

German Heavy Cruisers vs Royal Navy Heavy Cruisers PDF Author: Mark Lardas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147284310X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
This superbly illustrated study explores the epic clashes of British and German heavy cruisers at the beginning of World War II. The opposing heavy cruisers of the German Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy engaged in a global game of cat and mouse during the opening years of World War II. This was a period in which the heavy cruiser still reigned supreme in open waters, with the opposing sides reluctant to risk their battleships, and aircraft yet to dominate the seas. These swift vessels fought each other in the South Atlantic, North Atlantic, the frigid waters of the Denmark Strait and the Arctic approaches to Russia, capturing the public imagination in the process. This fascinating and beautifully illustrated book examines the design, development and technical performance of these opposing warships, and explores the clashes between them at the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939, the Christmas Day Battle 1940 and the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941. The ships examined include the Deutschland-class Panzerschiffe and Admiral Hipper-class cruisers, and the Royal Navy County- and York-class heavy cruisers.

Japanese Combined Fleet 1942–43

Japanese Combined Fleet 1942–43 PDF Author: Mark Stille
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472860527
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
A superbly illustrated account of the Japanese Navy during the fierce battles of Guadalcanal and the Solomons, explaining how and why it fought as it did. Contrary to myth, the Imperial Japanese Navy was not a shattered force after its defeat at Midway. In this book, Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the IJN's Combined Fleet during the Guadalcanal and Solomons campaigns, when it was reorganized and was forced to fight a grinding battle of attrition against the US Navy. The early surface battles in the Guadalcanal campaign played into the strength of the Combined Fleet, which had long trained for night combat. The IJN's rebuilt carrier force also performed well and managed to score its most clearcut victory against the USN's carriers of the entire war, at the battle of Santa Cruz, but the overall Guadalcanal campaign ended in disaster. The result was that the IJN was unwilling to engage in a major struggle for the Central and Northern Solomons, instead using only its destroyer force and land-based air power to fight a delaying action. However, this was costly and weakened the Combined Fleet for the rest of the war. Using the most recent sources and illustrated with superb artwork, 3D diagrams and maps, the book is the first attempt to focus on how the Combined Fleet fought these campaigns, and, most importantly, how their results affected the rest of the war.

Passport Not Required

Passport Not Required PDF Author: Estate of Eric J Dietrich-Berryman
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Before America entered World War II, twenty-two U.S. citizens went to England and volunteered with the Royal Navy. Commissioned between September 1939 and November 1941, they fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and on a variety of fronts. While the history of Americans serving in the Royal Air Force is well known, the story of these naval volunteers has not been previously told. Most trained at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, but since foreign military service was against U.S. law, their names were never made public. Now, after years of research, their identities and the details of their contributions can be made known.

British Lend-Lease Warships 1940–45

British Lend-Lease Warships 1940–45 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472861256
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
An illustrated history of the American-built destroyers and frigates supplied to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, which played a crucial role in Britain's war in the Atlantic. As U-boat attacks on Britain's vital sea lanes increased in ferocity, and Royal Navy warship losses mounted, the United States passed the Lend-Lease Act, the cornerstone of America's wartime role as armourer to the Allies. Naval historian Angus Konstam here offers an account of the Royal Navy's Lend-Lease destroyers and escorts. The first batch were 50 World War I-era 'four-stacker' destroyers, in a deal sealed by the transfer of several global British bases to the USA. These warships were immediately recrewed, refitted and pressed into service in the Battle of the Atlantic. These ageing destroyers were followed by over a hundred more Lend-Lease warships, many of which were built especially for British service in American shipyards. Their arrival helped tip the balance in the hard-fought war against the U-boats, while others were used to fulfil other crucial wartime missions. With detailed ship profiles of the major classes, a cutaway of HMS Campbeltown (of Saint-Nazaire raid fame) as it appeared in 1941, and superb battlescene artwork, this is a comprehensive look at a crucial aspect of the Battle of the Atlantic.

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: 1526783622
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
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 theater 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 prewar 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.

The Churchill War Papers

The Churchill War Papers PDF Author: Winston Churchill
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 9780393019599
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1898

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Book Description
The much-anticipated third volume of Churchill's fascinating papers.

The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys

The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys PDF Author: Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134730179
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 394

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Book Description
Published here for the first time, this volume presents a superb range of insights into this crucial effort of the Second World War. This Naval Staff History describes the vital role of the Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945 and was first issued by the Historical Section of the Admiralty as a confidential study for use within the Royal Navy in 1954. It grew out of the earlier Battle Summary No. 22 compiled by Commander J. Owen of the Admiralty’s Historical Section and issued in 1943 to cover the convoys run to North Russia in the last half of 1942 and early 1943. That wartime Battle Summary was subsequently revised and expanded by Commander L.J. Pitcairn-Jones to include all the main convoys run from August 1941 until the end of the war using all the historical records which were at hand after the war. A new preface provides additional context for the convoys, highlighting support provided to Russian forces in their struggle against Germany, for the original Staff History was narrowly focused on the naval aspects of the Arctic Convoys to Russia. This is an excellent resource for all students with a particular interest in the Arctic Convoys, the Second World War and in maritime and military history.

Italian Battle Fleet 1940–43

Italian Battle Fleet 1940–43 PDF Author: Enrico Cernuschi
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472860608
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
A comprehensive. illustrated account of the wartime Italian battle fleet, from its ships and technology to command structure, logistics, codebreaking and more. In the 1920s, the Italian Navy faced great challenges. Mussolini's ambitious Italy turned away from its alliance with Britain and France, and the Regia Marina faced the prospect of confronting both the French Navy and the Mediterranean Fleet of the Royal Navy. In the years leading up to World War II, the Regia Marina built and deployed a powerful battleship-led fleet – known in Italy as 'La Squadra' – intended to make the Mediterranean an Italian sea once more. In this book, Italian naval historian Enrico Cernuschi offers a fresh assessment of the wartime Italian battle fleet, based on his lifetime of primary-source research from both Italian and Allied sources. It offers a comprehensive portrait of this proud armada, how it was devised and built, and how it operated and fought. It covers a multitude of factors often overlooked, such as Italy's naval codebreakers, the fleet's logistics, and the qualities and limitations of Italian industry that supported it. The book also provides a concise account and analysis of the battle fleet's activities through the war, from major clashes such as the Battle of Calabria to lesser-known expeditions. The author's research into Italian wartime primary sources overturns some myths still commonplace in Anglo-American accounts. Illustrated with superb new artwork, maps and 3D diagrams, and featuring rare photos, this book is a fascinating account of Italy's great fleet of World War II.