Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Chatham in the great war. "Chatham played a very important part in the nation's Great War effort. It was one of the British Royal Navy's three 'Manning Ports', with more than a third of the town's ships manned by men allocated to the Chatham Division. The war was only 6 weeks old when Chatham felt the affects of war for the first time. On 22 September 1914, three Royal Naval vessels from the Chatham Division, HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue, were sunk in quick succession by a German submarine, U-9. A total of 1,459 men lost their lives that day, 1,260 of whom were from the Chatham Division. Two months later, on 26 November, the battleship HMS Bulwark exploded and sunk whilst at anchor off of Sheerness on the Kent coast. There was a loss of 736 men, many of whom were from the Chatham area. On 18 August 1914, Private 6737 Walter Henry Smith, who was nineteen and serving with the 6th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, became the first person to be killed during wartime Chatham. He was on sentry duty with a colleague, who accidentally dropped his loaded rifle, discharging a bullet that strook Private Smith and killed him. It wasn't all doom and gloom, however. Winston Churchill, as the First Lord of the Admiralty, visited Chatham early on in the war, on 30 August 1914. On 18 September 1915, two German prisoners of war, Lieutenant Otto Thelen and Lieutenant Hans Keilback, escaped from Donnington Hall in Leicestershire. At first, it was believed they had escaped the country and were on their way back to Germany, but they were re-captured in Chatham four days later. By the end of the war, Chatham and the men who were stationed there had truly played their part in ensuring a historic Allied victory."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 914.223"1914/1918"

A Precarious existence : British submariners in World War One /Richard McKay "When the Royal Navy Submarine Service set off to war in August 1914, few had any indication of the impact that submarines would have. Very little attention has been paid to the lives of the submariners who achieved such successes at the cost of a third of their number. This book tells the social history of those in the Submarine Service during World War One: it examines why men became submariners; it tells of the paucity of the training and the monotony of patrols; it highlights the acute lack of rescue procedures and the development of the justifiable belief among submariners that they were elite. Who could become a submariner? What were living conditions like aboard a submarine? What did they eat? What happened if a man fell ill whilst at sea? This valuable book provides answers to these questions and many more besides."--Provided by the publisher. 2003. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 623.827(42)"1915/1918"

Fishermen, the fishing industry and the Great War at sea : a forgotten history? /Robb Robinson "Recent discussion, academic publications and many of the national exhibitions relating to the Great War at sea have focussed on capital ships, Jutland and perhaps U-boats. Very little has been published about the crucial role played by fishermen, fishing vessels and coastal communities all round the British Isles. Yet fishermen and armed fishing craft were continually on the maritime front line throughout the conflict; they formed the backbone of the Auxiliary Patrol and were in constant action against-U-boats or engaged on unrelenting minesweeping duties. Approximately 3000 fishing vessels were requisitioned and armed by the Admiralty and more than 39,000 fishermen joined the Trawler Section of the Royal Naval Reserve. The class and cultural gap between working fishermen and many RN officers was enormous. This book examines the multifaceted role that fishermen and the fish trade played throughout the conflict. It examines the reasons why, in an age of dreadnoughts and other high-tech military equipment, so many fishermen and fishing vessels were called upon to play such a crucial role in the littoral war against mines and U-boats, not only around the British Isles but also off the coasts of various other theatres of war. It will analyse the nature of the fishing industry's war-time involvement and also the contribution that non-belligerent fishing vessels continued to play in maintaining the beleaguered nation's food supplies."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.459(42)

'Rosy' Wemyss Admiral of the Fleet : the man who created Armistice day /John Johnson-Allen. "Rosslyn Wemyss' life and career was both fascinating and brilliant - a most distinguished admiral who is very little known. He left an indelible mark on the life of this country when he was responsible, with Marshal Foch, for the creation of Armistice Day. One of the most illustrious of Scottish admirals, he was a member of the Clan Wemyss, whose ancestral seat is Wemyss Castle in Fife, overlooking the Firth of Forth. Rosslyn joined the Navy at the age of 13 in 1877, at the same time as Prince George, the younger son of the Prince of Wales, and they became lifelong friends. In 1915, by then a Rear Admiral, he commanded the Gallipoli landings and then the evacuation of all the troops. The latter was so successful that only one man was lost from approximately 140,000. Then in the Red Sea he supported the Arab Revolt and helped T.E. Lawrence and the Arabs to oust the Turks from all the ports on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. Without his support, the Arab Revolt would have collapsed and the legend of Lawrence of Arabia would not have been created. Through Rosslyn's rich archive of letters and reports, this book gives a wonderful insight into the life of a man who became one of the most popular and senior officers in the Royal Navy at the time, and who was known throughout the Navy as 'Rosy'."--Provided by the Publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.0092

Dark seas : the Battle of Cape Matapan /[foreword by Prince Philip ; introduction by J E Harrold]. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.1"1941"

U-boats around Ireland : the Royal Navy's coast of Ireland command during the First World War /Guy Warner "In 1914 Ireland was a naval backwater with only one base of any size in County Cork. However, by the end of World War I, there were 18 naval bases operated by thousands of personnel, hundreds of ships of all sizes and dozens of aircraft. Ireland had become a crucial theatre of the war, fundamental in winning the campaign to defeat the German U-boats. How and why did this come about? Guy Warner tells the story of how vital success at sea in the waters around Ireland became. If Germany could break or even seriously disrupt the flow of merchant vessels then Britain?s ability to have waged war, or indeed feed its population, would have been rendered either difficult or impossible. As well as examining the growth in Royal Navy anti-submarine activities and the roles of key personnel, it also looks at the important part played by rapidly developing technology and the measures devised to counter this new enemy - the U-boat."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.827.3(43)

Ship beneath the ice : the discovery of Shackleton's Endurance /Mensun Bound. "On 21 November 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship, Endurance, finally succumbed to the crushing ice. Its crew watched in silence as the stern rose twenty feet in the air, and then it was gone. The miraculous escape and survival of all twenty-eight men on board have entered legend. And yet, the iconic ship that bore them to the brink of the Antarctic was considered forever lost. A century later, an audacious plan to locate the ship was hatched. The Ship Beneath the Ice gives a blow-by-blow account of the two epic expeditions to find the Endurance. As with Shackleton's own story, the voyages were filled with intense drama and teamwork under pressure. In March 2022, the Endurance was finally found to headlines all over the world. Written by Mensun Bound, the Director of Exploration on both expeditions, this captivating narrative includes countless fascinating stories of Shackleton and his legendary ship. Complete with a selection of Frank Hurley's photos from Shackleton's original voyage in 1914-17, as well as from the expeditions in 2019 and 2022, The Ship Beneath the Ice is the perfect tribute to this monumental discovery."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 910.91673

Exploring the Britannic : the life, last voyage and wreck of Titanic's tragic twin /Simon Mills. "Launched in 1914, two years after the ill-fated voyage of her sister ship, RMS Titanic, the Britannic was intended to be superior to her tragic twin in every way. But war intervened and in 1915 she was requisitioned as a hospital ship. Just one year later, while on her way to collect troops wounded in the Balkans campaign, she fell victim to a mine laid by a German U-boat and tragically sank in the middle of the Aegean Sea. There her wreck lay, at a depth of 400 feet, until it was discovered 59 years later by legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau. In 1996 the wreck was bought by the author of this book, Simon Mills. Exploring the Britannic tells the complete story of this enigmatic ship: her construction, launch and life, her fateful last voyage, and the historical findings resulting from the exploration of the well-preserved wreck over a period of 40 years. With remarkable sonar scans and many never before seen photographs of the wreck, plus fold-out sections of the original Harland & Wolff ship plans, not previously published in their entirety, Exploring the Britannic finally details how the mysteries surrounding the 100-year-old enigma were laid to rest, and what the future might also hold for her."--Provided by the publisher 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 629.123BRITANNIC

The world crisis / by Winston S. Churchill. Churchill, Winston S. 1923-1931. • BOOK • 6 copies available. 940.45

Lusitania : tragedy or war crime? /Jennifer Kewley Draskau "Launched in 1907, the Lusitania was briefly the world's largest liner, symbol of the fierce rivalry between transatlantic shipping agents in Europe and a forerunner of the Titanic - proving to be a similarly ill-starred vessel as it became a target for German U-boats early in the First World War. The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 was as shocking as any incident in the war. The massive loss of life confirmed all the preconceived ideas of German brutality, and there were far-reaching political and social repercussions of this act of aggression. In Britain anti-German propaganda reached fever pitch and forced PM Asquith into a massive Alien Internment programme after riots in Liverpool and London's East End. The USA, which had been resolutely isolationist, experienced a huge swell of support of intervention on the side of the Triple Entente, while in Germany the U-Boat captain was initially hailed a hero before being court-martialled after the international outcry. And there are still question-marks a hundred years on. Why was the ship's captain unfairly scapegoated after not being told of U-boats in the area? Was the ship actually armed as the Germans have often claimed? And how much about all of this and much more did the First Lord of the Admiralty, one Winston S. Churchill, know? Jennifer Kewley Draskau tries to solve these puzzles in Lusitania: Tragedy or War Crime?."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.085.3LUSITANIA

Choosing war : Presidential decisions in the Maine, Lusitania, and Panay incidents /Douglas Carl Peifer. "China's expanding air and naval capabilities, coupled with the proliferation of long-range anti-ship and anti-air missile systems, are making US naval diplomacy an increasingly risky enterprise. It is surprising therefore how little attention has been devoted to comparing the way in which different administrations have reacted in dissimilar manners to major naval incidents. This book provides the first comparative analysis of multiple cases. In particular, it examines three incidents: the Maine incident (1898), which led to war in the short term; the Lusitania crisis (1915), which set the trajectory for intervention; and the Panay incident (1937), which was settled diplomatically. After scrutinizing these incidents and the domestic and international factors shaping the subsequent crisis, Douglas Carl Peifer analyses the presidential decision making in terms of options considered and policies selected. The book draws upon international relations and coercion theory but emphasizes the importance of context, complexity, and contingency when assessing presidential decision making. The contemporary tensions in East Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Baltic, and the Black Sea are increasingly vexing US naval diplomacy. By analyzing how Presidents William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt responded to the Maine, Lusitania, and Panay incidents, this book provides an essential instrument to deal with the growing threats of a new naval crisis."--Provided by the publisher. 2016 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49(73)

O eclipse de 1919 : a comprovacao da teoria da relatividade geral, a fisica moderna e o Observatorio Nacional = The eclipse of 1919 :the evidence of the theory of general relativity, modern physics and the National Observatory /Observatorio Navional. "On May 29, 1919, a total eclipse of the Sun was recorded at Sobral, Ceara, and also at Principe Island, on the African coast. The experiments carried out in the observation of this ephemeris allowed the proof of the General Relativity Theory, which the physicist Albert Einstein had published in 1915. Brazil was a protagonist of this important achievement: the photographs recorded in Sobral confirmed the value predicted by the General Relativity Theory on light deflection. Three expeditions went to the city, organised by astronomer Henrique Morize, then director of the National Observatory. Starting the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the total eclipse of the Sun, the National Observatory revisited the city that was the scene of this great science revolution, where it held the exhibition 'Through the sky of Sobral', with images recorded by the award-winning photographer Luiz Baltar, depicting the city and the radiant sky of the 'sertao', backlands. To close this commemorative year, the National Observatory launches this book, which brings together different views on the expeditions to Sobral and Principe Island and on the results that confirmed Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. These reports highlight the importance of the photographic plates taken at Sobral, which definitely provided the data that confirmed the predictions of Einstein's theory. May these articles allow the reader to travel back in time and especially to uncover the scientific revolution that these results have generated! Joao dos Anjos, Director of the National Observatory"--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Dover in the great war. "Situated on the south coast of England, geographically and strategically, Dover more than played its part in the First World War. It was from its harbour that the many vessels of the Dover Patrol set about preventing German ships from using the English Channel. It was undoubtedly one of the most important Royal Naval units that Britain had during the First World War. Because of its important defensive roll, Dover was identified as a legitimate and relevant target by the German authorities. As a result, German Zeppelin's and Gotha aircraft subjected Dover to 113 aerial attacks, dropping 185 bombs in the process. The first of these raids took place on Christmas Eve, 1914; this was also the first time a German bomb had been dropped on British soil. The last raid was on 24 August 1918, in which twenty adults and three children were killed. The local residents who, for whatever reason, were unable to enlist in the military during the war, but who still felt the desire and obligation to serve their King and country, were able to do so in organisations such as the Dover Volunteer Training Corps. Most towns had similar units, and their members carried out some sterling work on the Home Front. By the end of the war, Dover and its people had sustained through testing and difficult times. Like every community throughout the nation, they had paid a heavy price. They had been as close to the war as it was possible to be, without actually being on the Front Line. Ships had sailed from its harbour to engage the enemy, and wounded soldiers had returned to the same harbour. Its men had gone of to fight in the war and, sadly, 721 of them never came back."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 914.223

British and German battlecruisers : their development and operations /Michele Cosentino & Ruggero Stanglini. "The fast and formidably-armed battlecruisers of Great Britain and Germany that were developed before and during the First World War are, in this new book, compared and contrasted in a way, and at a level of detail, that has never been attempted before. The authors begin by looking at the relationship and rivalry between Great Britain and Germany and at how foreign policy, strategic and tactical considerations, economic, industrial and technological developments, and naval policies led to the instigation of the battlecruiser programmes in both countries. Chapters are then devoted to the development of the type in each country, to their design and construction, protection, propulsion plants, weapons, fire control, and communication systems, focussing particularly on the innovative aspects of the designs and on their strengths and weaknesses. These ships eventually clashed in the North Sea at Dogger Bank, in January 1915, and while neither side suffered losses, the differences in their design and handling were apparent, differences that would be more starkly highlighted a year later at Jutland when three British ships were destroyed. These actions, and others they took part in, are described and assessed by the authors who then conclude by analysing their strengths and limitations. This is a major new work for naval enthusiasts everywhere."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • FOLIO • 2 copies available. 623.821.3(42:43)"1914/1918"

Clash of fleets : Naval battles of the Great War, 1914-18 /Vincent P. O'Hara "Clash of Fleets is an operational history that records every naval engagement fought between major surface warships during World War I. Much more than a catalog of combat facts, Clash of Fleets explores why battles occurred; how the different navies fought; and how combat advanced doctrine and affected the development and application of technology. The result is a holistic overview of the war at sea as it affected all nations and all theaters of war. A work of this scope is unprecedented. Organized into seven chapters, the authors first introduce the technology, weapons, ships, and the doctrine that governed naval warfare in 1914. The next five chapters explore each year of the war and are subdivided into sections corresponding to major geographic areas. This arrangement allows the massive sweep of action to be presented in a structured and easy to follow format that includes engagements fought by the Austro-Hungarian, British, French, German, Ottoman, and Russian Navies in the Adriatic, Aegean, Baltic, Black, Mediterranean, and North Seas as well as the Atlantic, India, and Pacific Oceans. The role of surface combat in the Great War is analyzed and these actions are compared to major naval wars before and after. In addition to providing detailed descriptions of actions in their historical perspectives, O'Hara and Heinz advance several themes, including the notion that World War I was a war of navies as much as a war of armies. They explain that surface combat had a major impact on all aspects of the naval war and on the course of the war in general. Finally, Clash of Fleets illustrates that systems developed in peace do not always work as expected in war, that some are not used as anticipated, and that others became unexpectedly important. There is much for today's naval professional to consider in the naval conflict that occurred a century ago"--Provided by publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.45

Bayly's war : the battle for the western approaches in the first world war /Steve R Dunn "Bayly's War is the story of the Royal Navy's Coast of Ireland Command (later named Western Approaches Command) during World War One. Britain was particularly vulnerable to the disruption of trade in the Western Approaches through which food and munitions (and later soldiers) from North America and the Caribbean and ores and raw materials from the Southern Americas, all passed on their way to Liverpool or the Channel ports and London. After the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915 and the introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans, Britain found herself engaged in a fight for survival as U-boats targeted all incoming trade in an attempt to drive her into submission. Britain's naval forces, based in Queenstown on the southern Irish coast, fought a long and arduous battle to keep the seaways open, and it was only one they began to master after American naval forces joined in 1917. Vice-Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly was the man appointed to the Coast of Ireland Command. A fierce disciplinarian with a mania for efficiency, and thought by some of his colleagues to be more than a little mad, Bayly took the fight to the enemy. Utilising any vessel he could muster -- trawlers, tugs, yachts -- as well as the few naval craft at his disposal, he set out to hunt down the enemy submarines. The command also swept for mines, escorted merchantmen and fought endlessly against the harsh Atlantic weather. Relief came When America sent destroyers to Queenstown to serve under him, and Bayly, to the surprise of many, integrated the command into a homogenous fighting force. Along the way, the Command had to deal with the ambivalent attitude of the Irish population, the 1916 Easter Rising, the attempt to land arms on Ireland's west coast and the resurgence of Irish nationalism in 1917. Bayly's War is a vivid account of this vigorous defence of Britain's trade and brings to life the U-boat battles, Q-ship actions, merchant ship sinkings and rescues as well as the tireless Bayly, the commander at the centre."--Provided by the publisher. 2018 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.451(417)

Jutland : World War I's greatest naval battle /edited by Michael Epkenhans, Jèorg Hillmann, and Frank Nèagler. "During the first two years of World War I, Germany struggled to overcome a crippling British blockade of its mercantile shipping lanes. With only sixteen dreadnought-class battleships compared to the renowned British Royal Navy's twenty-eight, the German High Seas Fleet stood little chance of winning a direct fight. The Germans staged raids in the North Sea and bombarded English coasts in an attempt to lure small British squadrons into open water where they could be destroyed by submarines and surface boats. After months of skirmishes, conflict erupted on May 31, 1916, in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark, in what would become the most formidable battle in the history of the Royal Navy. In Jutland, international scholars reassess the strategies and tactics employed by the combatants as well as the political and military consequences of their actions. Most previous English-language military analysis has focused on British admiral Sir John Jellicoe, who was widely criticized for excessive caution and for allowing German vice admiral Reinhard Scheer to escape; but the contributors to this volume engage the German perspective, evaluating Scheer's decisions and his skill in preserving his fleet and escaping Britain's superior force. Together, the contributors lucidly demonstrate how both sides suffered from leadership that failed to move beyond outdated strategies of limited war between navies and to embrace the total war approach that came to dominate the twentieth century. The contributors also examine the role of memory, comparing the way the battle has been portrayed in England and Germany. An authoritative collection of scholarship, Jutland serves as an essential reappraisal of this seminal event in twentieth-century naval history."--Provided by the publisher. [2015]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.456(489)

The United States Merchant Marine in World War I : ships, crews, shipbuilders and operators /Greg H. Williams. "During World War I, the American Merchant Marine meant dangerous duty. Sailors on cargo ships faced the daily threat of enemy submarines, along with the usual hazards of life at sea, and help was rarely close enough for swift rescues. Pre-war shipping in America depended mainly on foreign vessels, but with the outbreak of war these were no longer available. Construction began quickly on new ships, most of which were not completed until long after the end of the war. Drawing on contemporary newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and Shipping Board, Department of Commerce and Coast Guard records, this book provides the first complete overview of the American Merchant Marine during World War I. Detailed accounts cover the expansion of trans-Atlantic shipping, shipbuilding records 1914-1918, operating companies, ship losses from enemy action, the role of the Naval Overseas Transportation Service and mariner experiences."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.45:656.61(73)

The Baltimore Sabotage Cell : German agents, American traitors, and the U-boat Deutschland during World War I /Dwight R. Messimer. "By the summer of 1915 Germany was faced with two major problems in fighting World War I: how to break the British blockade and how to stop or seriously disrupt the British supply line across the Atlantic. The solution to the former was to find a way over, through, or under it. Aircraft in those days were too primitive, too short range, and too underpowered to accomplish this, and Germany lacked the naval strength to force a passage through the blockade. But if Germany could build a fleet of cargo U-boats that were large enough to carry meaningful loads and had the range to make a round trip between Germany and the United States without refueling, the blockade might be successfully broken. Since the German navy could not cut Britain's supply line to America, another answer lay in sabotaging munitions factories, depots, and ships, as well as infecting horses and mules at the western end of the supply line. German agents, with American sympathizers, successfully carried out more than fifty attacks involving fires and explosions and spread anthrax and glanders on the East Coast before America's entry into the war on 6 April 1917. Breaking the blockade with a fleet of cargo U-boats provided the lowest risk of drawing America into the war; at the same time, sabotage was incompatible with Germany's diplomatic goal of keeping the United States out of the war. The two solutions were very different, but the fact that both campaigns were run by intelligence agencies - the Etappendienst (navy) and the Geheimdienst (army), through the agency of one man, Paul Hilken, in one American city, Baltimore, make them inseparable. Those solutions created the dichotomy that produced the U-boat Deutschland and the Baltimore Sabotage Cell. Here, Messimer provides the first study of the degree to which U.S. citizens were enlisted in Germany's sabotage operations and debunks many myths that surround the Deutschland."--Provided by the publisher. 2015 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.4/8743

Lloyd's reports of prize cases heard before and decided by the Right Honourable Sir Samuel Evans ... during the European War which began in August 1914 Great Britain. High Court of Justice 1915-1921 • BOOK • 7 copies available. 347.992

The admirals : Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King -- the five-star admirals who won the war at sea /Walter R. Borneman. A unique collective biography of the four men who "with a combination of nimble counsel, exasperating ego, studied patience, and street-fighter tactics" shaped the modern U.S. Navy to win WWII at sea. Only four men in American history have been promoted to the five-star rank of Admiral of the Fleet: William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, and William Halsey. These four men were the best and the brightest the navy produced, and together they led the U.S. navy to victory in World War II, establishing the United States as the world's greatest fleet. In THE ADMIRALS, award-winning historian Walter R. Borneman tells their story in full detail for the first time. Drawing upon journals, ship logs, and other primary sources, he brings an incredible historical moment to life, showing us how the four admirals revolutionized naval warfare forever with submarines and aircraft carriers, and how these men-who were both friends and rivals-worked together to ensure that the Axis fleets lay destroyed on the ocean floor at the end of World War II. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92:355.33(73)

The history of the war / The Times. Times, The 1915-1920. • FOLIO • 21 copies available. 940.3

The technical history and index : a serial history of technical problems dealt with by Admiralty departments /Technical History Section, Admiralty. Great Britain.-Admiralty 1919-1921 • FOLIO • 49 copies available. 940.459(42)

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