Naval Warfare 1815 1914

This book looks at the transition of wooden sailing fleets to the modern steel navy. It details the technological breakthroughs that brought about this change - steampower, armour, artillery and torpedoes, and looks at their affect on naval strategy and tactics. Part of the ever-growing and prestigious Warfare and History series, this book is a must for enthusiasts of military history.

This is a major new naval history of the First World War which reveals the decisive contribution of the war at sea to Allied victory. In a truly global account, Lawrence Sondhaus traces the course of the campaigns in the North Sea, Atlantic, Adriatic, Baltic and Mediterranean and examines the role of critical innovations in the design and performance of ships, wireless communication and firepower. He charts how Allied supremacy led the Central Powers to attempt to revolutionize naval warfare by pursuing unrestricted submarine warfare, ultimately prompting the United States to enter the war. Victory against the submarine challenge, following their earlier success in sweeping the seas of German cruisers and other surface raiders, left the Allies free to use the world's sea lanes to transport supplies and troops to Europe from overseas territories, and eventually from the United States, which proved a decisive factor in their ultimate victory.

"Navies in Modern World History traces the role of navies in world history from the early nineteenth century, through both World Wars, to the onset of the twenty-first century. Lawrence Sondhaus examines the navies of Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Chile and the Soviet Union, demonstrating the variety of ways in which these countries have made decisive use of naval power, and the challenges these navies faced when assembling equipment and stores, training sailors, and undertaking various missions, and shows in what ways the results helped change the course of modern world history." "This book also deals with aircraft carrier design and naval aviation in the second half of the twentieth century, and the leading role of navies and shipbuilders in key technological innovations of the nineteenth century and early twentieth, including advances in steam power, armour, guns and torpedoes. Today, technological break-throughs are centred around naval stealth and maritime propulsion systems. Special attention is devoted to the evolving state of naval technology, showing how the relative industrial capabilities of seafaring countries have been reflected in their maritime building programmes, providing an important link between the evolution of modern national fleets and the broader history of the period." Editeur

This volume, originally published in 1987, fills a gap in a neglected area. Looking at the entire war in the Mediterrean, the volume examines the war from the viewpoint of all the important participants, making full use of archives and manuscript collections in Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and the United States. A fascinating mosaic of campaigns emerges in the Adriatic, Straits of Otranto and the Eastern Aegean. The German assistance to the tribes of Libya, the threat that Germany would get her hands on the Russian Black Sea Fleet and use it in the Mediterreanean, and the appearance and influence of the Americans in 1918 all took place against a background of rivalry between the Allies which frustrated the appointment of Jellicoe in 1918 as supreme command at sea in a role similar to that of Foch on land.

Excerpt from Three Years of Naval Warfare A history of the naval war since 1914 is of a very far reaching character, but I have endeavoured to localise the many campaigns into separate chapters, although a small amount of overlapping is unavoidable. The stupendous events of the last few years have followed one another in such rapid succession that few people realise the enormous task which our Navy was called upon to perform. From the terribly sudden collapse of the whole fabric of Germany's commerce the success of this work must be evident; and although in 1915 many of our ships were still engaged on foreign service, practically all naval matters centralised in home waters. The book is divided into two parts, the first dealing with the work of the Royal Navy around our shores, and the second part treating the British and Allied Fleets abroad. The veil over our Fleet remains as inscrutable as ever, and One is tempted to question the need for such absolute secrecy. The enemy is, Of course, greatly hindered in learn ing Of the dispositions and strength Of our squadrons and patrols, but the disappointment which the public feels is keen. It tends to make us overlook the wonderful patience of our sailors in their long and weary vigil for the hiding foe. Some'day let us hope that we shall be told the full story of the glorious deeds Of our men who had kept the seas in fair weather and foul, in winter and summer, by night and day, in the hope of encountering the enemy, in the enforcing of the blockade, in the protection of our vast overseas trade, in the supplying of our overseas forces, and in keeping our coasts immune from the inhuman and murderous invader. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

From the Falkland Islands to the lakes of Africa, to the former German colonies in the Pacific and the battles along the Isonzo River in Italy, the six volumes in the 'World War I' series recreate the battles and campaigns that raged on land, sea, and in the air.

With the aid of over 300 photographs, complemented by full-colour maps, Naval Warfare provides a detailed guide to the background and conduct of World War I naval operations, describing the struggle to win control of the high seas around the globe.