Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Movements of HM ships and submarines : sunk. Great Britain.-Admiralty 1939-1945]. • FOLIO • 9 copies available. 940.545.9(42)

U-Boat pens of the Atlantic battle / Philip Kaplan. "In the opening years of the Second World War, Germany's U-boat (submarine) fleet was tasked with attacking and destroying the supply ships that Britain depended upon for its survival. The U-boats were under the command of Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz who, for much of the war, effectively guided that strategy. There was a very real possibility that the British people would starve if the U-boats succeeded in their campaign. When France fell to the German forces in 1940, Hitler's Ubootwaffe gained a significant asset in five important ports along the Brittany coast - Brest, Lorient, St. Nazaire, La Palace and Bordeaux. The use of these ports put Germany's submarine force hundreds of miles closer to the action in the North Atlantic, the routes of the Allied supply convoys which were operating mainly between Halifax, Nova Scotia and various English port cities. This afforded the U-boats several more days at sea on their deadly patrols than was possible while they had been based in Germany and German-occupied Norway. In this new publication from Philip Kaplan, the massive bunkers or 'pens' constructed in Brittany by the labourers of the German Organisation Todt are revisited. These giant structures, some of which sheltered more than a dozen submarines at a time, still exist because they were built with concrete ceilings more than three metres thick. With equally impressive supporting walls, they suffered relatively little damage in the wartime bombing raids of the Royal Air Force and the US Eighth Army Air Force. Illustrated with more than 150 rare and compelling photo images, this book is a richly rewarding journey back across time to some of the most intriguing and electrifying sites from the war years. The story of the pen shelters and their part in that war is both fascinating and enduring."--Provided by the publisher. 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545.1

Seaforth World naval review 2018 / editor, Conrad Waters. "Now firmly established as an authoritative but affordable summary of all that has happened in the naval world in the previous twelve months, this annual combines regional surveys with one-off major articles on noteworthy new ships and other important developments. Besides the latest warship projects, it also looks at wider issues of importance to navies, such as aviation and weaponry, and calls on expertise from around the globe to give a balanced picture of what is going on and to interpret its significance. Features of this edition include an analysis of the Republic of Korea Navy and the response to its aggressive northern neighbour. Significant Ships will cover the USN's revamped Arleigh Burke class destroyer design, German F125 class frigates, and the RNZN's Otago class offshore patrol vessels. There are also technological reviews dealing with naval aviation by David Hobbs, RN missile programmes by Richard Scott, while Norman Friedman turns his attention to new generation weapons technology. The World Naval Review is intended to make interesting reading as well as providing authoritative reference, so there is a strong visual emphasis, including specially commissioned drawings and the most up-to-date photographs and artists' impressions. For anyone with an interest in contemporary naval affairs, whether an enthusiast or a defence professional, this annual has become required reading."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.353"2018"

Conway" merchant navy sea cadet training school. 1957-1974 incomplete run • JOURNAL • 1 copy available.

Historical development of the date line (1522- 2012) : first comprehensive survey in 2022 ; 500 years date line /by H.-D. Woreschk. "The book falls into two parts. In the first part, the historical framework conditions that led to the formation of the political-economic dateline are presented. The second part deals with the formation of this variant of the dateline itself - a process which, with the help of the latest chart material from the Hydrographic Department of the British Navy (Royal Navy), also takes into account recent developments in the southern and central Pacific. The question of changing the dateline is also pursued from a legal point of view, since it is precisely in this area that one encounters misconceptions in many places. Focal points: impact of imperialist colonialism on the ownership structure in the Pacific Ocean with Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa; influence of the novel means of transport railway, Steamship and electric telegraph on the formation of the date line; Breakdown of the longitude unification (striving to reduce the zero meridians in the meridian-dependent sciences of nautics, cartography, geography, and astronomy) and its influence on the orbit of the date line (Conference of Venice (1881), Rome (1883), Washington (1884); World and Zone Time); Difficulties due to initial meridian diversity in the meridian-dependent sciences with the emphasis on navigation and railway timetable design; beginning of the exploration of Oceania (scientific expeditions of the 'Novara', 'Challenger', 'Gazelle', 'Tuscarora' and 'Egeria'; deep-sea sounding, laying of submarine, continental telegraph cables and a.); first coordinates of the hydrographic divisions of the 'Royal Navy' and the 'US Navy' to the date line that is being formed; Clarification of the question 'Who determines the path of the date line?' Clarification of the multi-layered term 'dateline'; Summary of the 500-year developmental period of today's dateline in the form of a collection of maps and sketches covering three centuries; Detailed representation of the most recent change of the line by Kiribati, Samoa and Tokelau Outlook at possible further changes in the course of the date line; excursions to clarify the developmental background of the emerging political-economic line of the date change; Original sources from 1790 to 2017 from various countries numerous sketches, illustrations and graphics"--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • BOOK • 2 copies available.

Life of a Goan seaman Pereira, Clifford J • PAMPHLET • 1 copy available. 92Pereira, Deogo

The Atlantic coast Ammen, Daniel 1905 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1861/1865"(73)

The baltic fleet polka Jolly, J M N.D. • MUSIC • 1 copy available. 92 Napier

The trial of the Honble Admiral Byng at a court-martial held on board His Majesty's ship the St George in Portsmouth harbour, Tuesday Dec 28 1756 for an enquiry into his conduct while he commanded in the Mediterranean ... Great Britain. Royal Navy. Court-martial, Byng : 1756 1757 • RARE-BOOK • 2 copies available. 92Byng

Britain and the mine, 1900-1915 : culture, strategy and international law /Richard Dunley. "This book examines Britain's complex relationship with the mine in the years 1900-1915. The development of mine warfare represented a unique mix of challenges and opportunities for Britain in the years before the First World War. The mine represented the antithesis of British maritime culture in material form, and attempts were made to limit its use under international law. At the same time, mine warfare offered the Royal Navy a solution to its most difficult strategic problem. Richard Dunley explores the contested position occupied by the mine in the attitudes of British policy makers, and in doing so sheds new light on the overlapping worlds of culture, strategy and international law."--Provided by the publisher. 2018 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.465.1

To crown the waves : the great navies of the First World War /edited by Vincent P. O'Hara, W. David Dickson, Richard Worth. [2013] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1915/1918"

Pedestal : the Malta convoy of August 1942 /by Peter C. Smith. "In the summer of 1942 one of the main issues in the balance was the fate of Malta. The island was still a bastion of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and a constant threat to the supply route for the enemy land forces in North Africa. It bravely resisted every onslaught of the Axis powers, but food supplies were desperately short and fuel oil running low. In August of that year Operation Pedestal was launched - a last attempt to relieve Malta. Fourteen merchant ships were allocated to it and the Royal Navy provided the most powerful force ever to escort a convoy including four aircraft carriers. Operating from Sardinia and Sicily, the Germans and Italians let fly with their shore-based aircraft on an unprecedented scale. The losses on the British side were appalling, but the objective was achieved and the blockade of Malta was finally lifted." 1987. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.1"1942"

Eliott's gold : the award of head money after the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779-1783) claim, rejection and parliamentary petition /Roy Clinton. "The Latin family motto beneath the coat of arms of General George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield, reads 'Boldly and Rightly' and so it was that the General Eliott pusued a claim for prize and bounty for the Garrison and Naval department during the Great Siege of Gibraltar 1770-1783. This claim was rejected by the Navy Board as unfounded given a strict interpretation of Naval Prize Statues, but undeterred General Eliott boldly petitioned Parliament and successfully changed the law to obtain 30,000 of Head Money to be rightly distributed amongst the victorious participants. This is the previouslly untold story of how General Eliott, through strategic political manovering and persistence, changed the Navy Board's rejection into gold."--Provided by the publisher. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Warships in the Spanish Civil War / Angus Konstam ; illustrated by Paul Wright. "In July 1936, a pro-fascist coup orchestrated by General Franco tore Spain apart and plunged the country into a bitter civil war. Like Spain itself, the Spanish Navy was torn in two: crews and most ships remained loyal to the Republican government but many of the Navy's officers joined Franco's rebels, and warships under repair or 'mothballed' in southern ports soon fell to the rebel advance. These formed the basis of Franco's 'Nationalist fleet,' and with both Italian and German help, the rebels were able to contest the Republic's control of Spanish waters. Overall the Republican Navy held its own, despite mounting losses, until the collapse of the Republican Army led to the fleet seeking internment in French North Africa. Packed with contemporary photographs and detailed new artwork, this fascinating study examines the ships of the two rival fleets, the motivation and performance of the crews, and the little-known story of how the Spanish Civil War was fought at sea." 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 946.08145

Cape Matapan 1941 : Cunningham's Mediterranean triumph /Angus Konstam ; illustrated by Adam Tooby. "The Battle of Matapan witnessed the first use of significant new technologies to bring about a stunning British victory over the Italian Navy. The Allies had tapped into the Ultra coded messages sent by the Axis powers, and the Italians siffered from not having radar - a technological advanage of which they were largely unaware. Radar would play a major role in the critical night action during the battle, one of the most decisive engagement of the Mediterranean naval war. Written by renowned naval historian Angus Konstam, this book explores the battle in unrivalled visual detail. It also examines why, despite the emphatic Royal Navy victory, the Allies failed to capitalize on their consequent strategic advantage during the months that followed." 2023. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.54/21959

The Keith papers : selected from the letters and papers of Admiral Viscount Keith Elphinstone, George Keith 1927-1955 • BOOK • 6 copies available. 92Elphinstone

The Wager disaster : mayhem, mutiny and murder in the south seas /C.H. Layman. "In 1741, Britain and Spain were at war. Commodore Anson and his small squadron battled round Cape Horn into the Pacific to take the war to the Spanish possessions in the South Seas. It was a notable moment in British naval history, when far-sighted men were beginning to realise the great benefits to British trade from a strong Navy with a worldwide reach. There were no accurate charts of the west coast of South America. The marine chronometer had not been invented, so longitude was largely a matter of guesswork. And before the value of lime juice had been recognised, the dreaded scurvy took a grim toll on the health of ships' companies. One of the squadron, HMS Wager, a 6th rate of 28 guns, was driven onto a lee shore in vicious hurricane-force winds and wrecked on an uninhabited island off the coast of what is now Chilean Patagonia. About 140 Wager men reached the land, most of them then to be lost through starvation, exhaustion, hypothermia, drowning, and sometimes violence. Gunner Bulkeley led a party who mutinied against an unpopular captain, and set off in an open boat with no chart. No one approves of mutiny, but his 2500 nautical-mile journey from Chilean Patagonia to Brazil, through the world's worst seas, was an epic feat of navigation, and one of the greatest castaway survival voyages in the annals of the sea. Only 36 men (including Midshipman Byron, grandfather of the poet) eventually made it back to Britain, where their tales of fearful ordeals in a far country caught the imagination of the public. This book uses their accounts to piece together the story of a dramatic fight for survival under extreme conditions. The wrecking of the Wager had surprisingly lasting effects on both the history of Chile and the administration of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, as this book tells. Anson, justly called the Father of the Navy, saw to it that the lessons of the Wager disaster were learned and some important reforms implemented. In 2006 the wreck was discovered by a British expedition, and it is now being studied by Chilean marine archaeologists. Here in the Wager's extraordinary story, is a record of human endurance and perseverance in the face of almost superhuman adversity."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.085.3WAGER

At the crossroads between peace and war : the London naval conference of 1930 /edited by John Maurer and Christopher M. Bell. "This volume provides fresh perspectives on the international strategic environment between the two world wars. At London in 1930, the United States, Great Britain, and Japan concluded an important arms control agreement to manage the international competition in naval armaments. In particular, the major naval powers reached agreement about how many heavy cruisers they could possess. Hailed at the time as a signal achievement in international cooperation, the success at London proved short-lived. France and Italy refused to participate in the treaty. Even worse followed, as within a few years growing antagonisms among the great powers manifested itself in the complete breakdown of the interwar arms control regime negotiated at London. The resulting naval arms race would set Japan and the United States on a collision course toward Pearl Harbor. "-- 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.019.2"1930"

Death at Dawn : Captain Warburton-Lee VC and the Battle of Narvik, April 1940 /Alf R. Jacobsen "In the great and gallant tradition of the Royal Navy, Captain Bernard Warburton-Lee followed the call of Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, to lead his flotilla into hostile waters through 50 miles of blizzards. His ships delivered a crushing blow to the Nazi German squadron then occupying Narvik, the famous Arctic iron-ore port. Only moments later, a salvo of German shells smashed the bridge of HMS Hardy, killing Warburton-Lee and several of his officers. His last signal to his fellow men was without fear: 'Keep on engaging the enemy!' With his death, the Royal Navy had lost one of its youngest and most talented officers: a truly human hero. Death at Dawn is the epic retelling of the first Battle of Narvik, fought over the course of two days, during which two German destroyers were sunk and six damaged. Utilising first-hand accounts, including letters from Warburton-Lee to his wife Elizabeth, Alf R. Jacobsen crafts the events leading up to and during the conflict into a gripping tale of human courage at the edges of the earth."--Provided by the Publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available.

Social history of british naval officers, 1775 -1815/ Evan Wilson "This book explores the world of British naval officers at the height of the Royal Navy's power in the age of sail. It describes the full spectrum of officers, from commissioned officers to the unheralded but essential members of every ship's company, the warrant officers. The book focusses on naval officers' social status and its implications for their careers. The demands of life at sea conflicted with the expectations of genteel behaviour and background in eighteenth-century Britain, and the ways officers grappled with this challenge forms a key theme. Drawing on a large database of more than a thousand officers, the book argues that, contrary to the prevailing view, officers were mostly from the middling sort, not the landed elite. It shows how the navy attracted hordes of hopeful commissioned officers, how unemployment was common for the majority even in wartime, and how only a select group managed to gain promotion to post-captain. The book corrects our understanding of the men who lived and served in the wardrooms of the Royal Navy and refocusses our attention away from those who won fame and fortune and onto ordinary naval officers."--Provided by the publisher. 2017. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.33(42)

Minutes of the proceedings at a court-martial assembled for the trial of the Honourable Admiral Augustus Keppel on a charge exhibited against him by Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Palliser ... Great Britain. Royal Navy. Court-martial, Keppel : 1779 1779 • RARE-OVER • 3 copies available. 92Keppel

Minutes of the proceedings at the trial of Vice-Admiral Griffin. At a court-martial, held on board his Majesty's ship Somerset at Chatham, on Monday, December 3, 1750; for an enquiry into his conduct, while he commanded His Majesty's ships in the East-Indies, in the year 1748./Taken in short hand by Tho. Cook, Attorney at Law. Cook, Thomas 1751 • RARE-BOOK • 1 copy available. 094:344.4"1746"

RHNS Averof : thunder in the Aegean /John C. Carr. "Built at Livorno in 1910, the 10,000-ton RHNS Averof had the distinction of being the flagship, and by far the biggest warship, of the Royal Hellenic Navy until 1951. More than a century after its construction, she is still afloat, one of just three armoured cruisers still in existence in the world. Originally intended for the Italian navy, the ship was bought by Greece and soon saw her first action in the Balkan Wars. In the Battle of Cape Helles (3 Dec 1912) Averof inflicted heavy casualties on the Turkish fleet, following it up with a victory in the Battle of Lemnos (5 Jan 1913). In the 1920s the ship underwent a major refit in France, which included modernizing her armament by replacing her obsolete torpedo tubes with more anti-aircraft guns. When the Germans overran Greece in World War Two, Averof made a dramatic escape to Alexandria, dodging attacks by the Luftwaffe, despite Admiralty orders that she be scuttled. In 1941 she escorted a convoy to India, being the first Greek vessel to enter Indian waters since the time of Alexander the Great, and continued to serve on escort duties throughout the war. In 1945 Averof was laid up on the island of Poros and neglected until 1984 when the Greek Admiralty decided to resurrect the ship. After years of slow refitting and preservation, the ship is now moored at Phaleron on the coast of Athens as a floating naval museum. As well as giving full technical specifications and operational history, including details of her restoration, John Carr draws on first-hand accounts of the officers and men to relate the long and remarkable career of this fine ship."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.822.3AVEROF

Oceans apart : the journal of a seaman /by Michael John Kenn. "The British Merchant Navy fleet in the 1950's and 60's was the largest in the world. The book paints a verbal picture of what life was like in the service at that time. There are many thousands of men and women who have served faithfully both before and after that period, of whom very little is known or has been written about. Oceans Apart is one attempt to redress the balance. It give an autobiographical account of one man's experiences throughout his career from the day he joined the Sea Training School at Gravesend, Kent, aged seventeen to the day he left the sea for good. Written from the viewpoint of an ordinary Deck Hand the book provides an account of the daily life onboard both freighters and tankers, plus one liner. It shows a unique perspective, and gives an insight into the experiences of the silent heroes the country relies upon to ensure provisions for the nation. Oceans Apart is a historical and geographical autobiography where the reader accompanies A.B. Michael John Kenn on his travels and follows his adventures on the high seas. The reader will experience the humorous incidents and endure the hardships, live the solitude and enjoy the camaraderie of a life on the ocean wave. It is a true insight into the souls of the men who have served in the British Merchant Navy."--Provided by the publisher. 2008. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92KENN

Explore our Collection