Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

Great British shipwrecks : a personal adventure /Rod Macdonald. For more than 30 years, internationally acclaimed wreck diver and best-selling author, Rod Macdonald, has surveyed and researched shipwrecks around the world. In Great British Shipwrecks Rod uses his encyclopaedic knowledge and an intimate understanding of shipwrecks, gleaned from a lifetime's diving, to provide a snapshot in time of some of the best known and most revered shipwrecks around the UK. For each of the 37 shipwrecks covered Rod provides a dramatic account of its time afloat and its eventual sinking - with each wreck being beautifully illustrated by renowned marine artist Rob Ward. Rod's journey around the UK starts with the classic recreational diving shipwrecks at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands from giants such as the German WWI battleships, Markgraf, Konig and Kronprinz Wilhelm, to the legendary WWI British cruiser HMS Hampshire on which Lord Kitchener perished on a voyage to Russia in 1916. Rod then travels to the English Channel where he covers such famous ships as the P&O liners Moldavia and Salsette which were lost during WWI with many others such as the SS Kyarra and the British submarine HMS/M M2 - the first submarine to carry a seaplane for reconnaissance. The reader is then taken to the North Channel of the Irish Sea where the famous technical diving wrecks of the White Star liner Justicia, HMS Audacious, the first British battleship lost during WWI, and the SS Empire Heritage, which was lost with its deck cargo of Sherman tanks on a voyage from New York during WWII, are beautifully illustrated. Returning to Scotland, the famous West Coast shipwrecks such as the Thesis, Hispania, Rondo and Shuna in the Sound of Mull grace the pages, in addition to the renowned wrecks of the SS Breda, lost near Oban, and the WWII minelayer HMS Port Napier off Skye. Lastly, Rod covers some major North Sea shipwrecks, revealing for the first time the haunting remains of HMS Pathfinder, the first Royal Navy warship to be sunk by U-boat torpedo during WWI. 2012. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 656.61.085.3(42)

The RNAS and the birth of the aircraft carrier 1914-1918 / Ian M. Burns. "The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) origins were as the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps in April 1912, but did not become a separate service until 1 July 1914. However, from the very beginning, the Naval Wing conducted itself as a distinct organisation. Its members commenced creating a dedicated arm of the Royal Navy with the intention of operating aircraft in support of and in association with the Fleet. On the outbreak of war in August 1914, the service quickly expanded to include service on land, initially in support of the Royal Naval Division in Belgium, later providing support to the Royal Flying Corps and as one of the early practitioners of strategic bombing. However, The RNAS and the Birth of the Aircraft Carrier 1914-1918 principally traces the development and operational use of aircraft serving with the fleet. It follows the selection and training of personnel and the struggle to produce suitable aircraft and weapons, including the evolution of the aircraft carrier. Nonetheless, the constant thread throughout will be the operational history of the RNAS over the North Sea with both the Grand Fleet and Harwich Force. Commencing over the Zeppelin base at Cuxhaven on Christmas Day 1914 the ending with two pivotal operations which determined the future of naval aviation, including the raid on Tondern which saw the first instance of carrier-launched airtcraft. The Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps merged in 1918 to become the RAF - yet those early years in World War One shaped the way that sea-based aircraft operated throughout the 20th Century - and beyond."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.38:623.822.74"1914/1918"

Recaptured Africans : surviving slave ships, detention, and dislocation in the final years of the slave trade /Sharla M. Fett. "In the years just before the Civil War, during the most intensive phase of American slave-trade suppression, the U.S. Navy seized roughly 2,000 enslaved Africans from illegal slave ships and brought them into temporary camps at Key West and Charleston. In this study, Sharla Fett reconstructs the social world of these "recaptives" and recounts the relationships they built to survive the holds of slave ships, American detention camps, and, ultimately, a second transatlantic voyage to Liberia. Fett also demonstrates how the presence of slave-trade refugees in southern ports accelerated heated arguments between divergent antebellum political movements--from abolitionist human rights campaigns to slave-trade revivalism--that used recaptives to support their claims about slavery, slave trading, and race. By focusing on shipmate relations rather than naval exploits or legal trials, and by analyzing the experiences of both children and adults of varying African origins, Fett provides the first history of U.S. slave-trade suppression centered on recaptive Africans themselves. In so doing, she examines the state of "recaptivity" as a distinctive variant of slave-trade captivity and situates the recaptives' story within the broader diaspora of "Liberated Africans" throughout the Atlantic world."--Provided by publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 326.1

Battleships : WWII evolution of the big guns : rare photographs from wartime /Philip Kaplan. Beginning with a pictorial essay on battleship construction in the 1930s and 1940s, this new book looks at the various design facets of the last great capital ships of the world's navies. Kaplan offers us a glimpse into those massive American and German navy yards and construction facilities that were put to use during this time, acquainting us with the arenas in which these final examples of battleship technology were laid down, built up, launched, fitted out, commissioned and taken out to sea. The book roots itself in a period of monumental change within the history of contemporary warfare. With the baton being passed from the battleship community to that of the aircraft carrier, the iconic battleship was gradually superseded by a new and even more threatening weapons system. It was destined to be consigned to the history books, whilst newer, slicker and more efficient fighting machines took precedence. This publication serves as a tribute to a lost legend of naval warfare. There is a look at some of modern history's most significant battleships, relaying their thrilling stories, defining characteristics and eventual fates. Ships featured include Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, Warspite, Tirpitz and Yamato. The book is completed with 'Fast and Last', a visit on board the four final examples of battleship technology and design, the last serving battleships USS Iowa, USS New Jersey, USS Wisconsin, and USS Missouri. Their Second World War careers are recounted, as are the qualities that made them special. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.821.2(100)"1939/1945"

Ships, shawls and loyal service : the stories of three East Anglian brothers /David Blakely. "Ships, Shawls and Loyal Service details the history of three 19th century brothers, each of whom saw some success in his chosen occupation, but each quite distinct from the others in what he achieved. Inspired by the extensive family tree drawn up in the early 20th century by one of his great-uncles, David Blakely relates the stories of his three ancestors. With strong roots in rural Suffolk, the three Blakely brothers were born at the end of the 18th century into a long-established family. Their ancestors had been gentlemen farmers, but none of the brothers followed that occupation. The eldest spent a year as a midshipman in the Royal Navy and six years as an officer in the Army, before becoming involved in a rural church community in north Norfolk. The second served as an officer on East India Company ships, sailing to India and China and finally being promoted to captain. The youngest brother lived in Norwich and became a well-respected retailer and manufacturer in the textile trade. Ships, Shawls and Loyal Service is a fascinating insight into the lives of three brothers, each of whom took a very different path in life. Early history of the brothers' family is also explored, including their grandfather's business as proprietor of a stage-coach company in Ipswich and his acquaintance with the artist Thomas Gainsborough. This book will appeal to those interested in East Anglian life and trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Readers interested in naval and military actions in Napoleonic times and in sailing between England and the Far East will also find this a valuable account."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.52

Naval hydrography, charismatic bureaucracy, and the British military state, 1825-1855 / Megan Barford "This thesis is an investigation into writing and record keeping practices of those in and around the Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty in the earlier-nineteenth century. It looks at the Hydrographic Office in the context of early-Victorian adminsitrative growth and the print culture of the Royal Navy. In doing so it draws on media-theoretic approaches to paperwork and archives which insist on treating them as topics for invesitigation, and suggests that these can be used to examine fundemental issues of the establishment and effacement of self, and group, and profession, and public as created through a sophisticated bureaucratic system. Hydrographic surveyors were a group of naval officers who role stressed record keeping in a peculiarly acute way, but this was underwritten by an intensive concern in this period about both record keeping and life writing. In particular this thesis focus on the bureaucratic practices at the Admiralty in London and on survey ships as the operated in regions of particular colonial, commercial or strategic importance to the British. It goes on to examine how the work of hydrography was defined and promoted in a popular magazine, explores a particular survery carried out on the St Lawrence River, and describes the way in which the circulation of instruments was managed within a system that relied on personal relationships between those involved. In finally discussing an episode when the system of correspondence organised by the office was placed under the greatest strain, the thesis explores ideas of institutional memory and absolution. As such, the work is a contribution to literature on paperwork, professionalism, and the early-Victorian state."--Provided by the author. 2016 • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 528.47

Zeebrugge : the greatest raid of all /Christopher Sandford. "The combined forces invasion of the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on 23 April 1918 remains one of Britain's most glorious military undertakings; not quite as epic a failure as the charge of the Light Brigade, or as well publicised as the Dam Busters raid, but with many of the same basic ingredients. A force drawn from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines set out on ships and submarines to try to block the key strategic port, in a bold attempt to stem the catastrophic losses being inflicted on British shipping by German submarines. It meant attacking a heavily fortified German naval base. The tide, calm weather and the right wind direction for a smoke screen were crucial to the plan. Judged purely on results, it can only be considered a partial strategic success. Casualties were high and the base only partially blocked. Nonetheless, it came to represent the embodiment of the bulldog spirit, the peculiarly British fighting âelan, the belief that anything was possible with enough dash and daring. The essential story of the Zeebrugge mission has been told before, but never through the direct, first-hand accounts of its survivors - including that of Lieutenant Richard Sandford, VC, the acknowledged hero of the day, and the author's great uncle. The fire and bloodshed of the occasion is the book's centrepiece, but there is also room for the family and private lives of the men who volunteered in their hundreds for what they knew effectively to be a suicide mission. Zeebrugge gives a very real sense of the existence of the ordinary British men and women of 100 years ago - made extraordinary by their role in what Winston Churchill called the 'most intrepid and heroic single armed adventure of the Great War.'"--Provided by the publisher 2018. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.458(493.3)

Planning and profits : British naval armaments manufacture and the military-industrial complex, 1918-1941 /Christopher W. Miller "In a time of great need for Britain, a small coterie of influential businessmen gained access to secret information on industrial mobilisation as advisers to the Principal Supply Officers Committee. They provided the state with priceless advice, but, as "insiders" utilised their access to information to build a business empire at a fraction of the normal costs. Outsiders, in contrast, lacked influence and were forced together into a defensive "ring" - or cartel - which effectively fixed prices for British warships. By the 1930s, the cartel grew into one of the most sophisticated profiteering groups of its day. This book examines the relationship between the private naval armaments industry, businessmen, and the British government defence planners between the wars. It reassesses the concept of the military-industrial complex through the impact of disarmament upon private industry, the role of leading industrialists in supply and procurement policy, and the successes and failings of government organisation. It blends together political, naval, and business history in new ways, and, by situating the business activities of industrialists alongside their work as government advisors, sheds new light on the operation of the British state. This is the story of how these men profited while effectively saving the National Government from itself."--Provided by the publisher. 2017 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.02(42)

We are one : the War of 1812: The Battles for St. Michaels, Maryland August 10 & 26, 1813 "Welcome to August 10, 1813, in the little town of St. Michaels, Maryland. On this hot, dark morning the feared British Navy attacked the town of three hundred, defended by local militia. This book tells the story of that attack and a subsequent attempt on August 26. We also look at the life of our citizens at that time and the lasting impact of this war in the Chesapeake Bay."--The preface. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.48"1812/1815"(42:73)

Letters of seamen in the wars with France, 1793-1815 edited by Helen Watt and Anne Hawkins. "Letters of seamen below the rank of commissioned officer are rare, both in original form and in print. This edited collection of 255 letters, written by seamen in the British Navy and their correspondents between 1793 and 1815, gives voice to a group of men whose lives and thoughts are otherwise mostly unknown. The letters are extremely valuable for the insights which they give into aspects of life below decks and the subjects close to the writers' hearts: money matters, ties with home and homesickness. They also provide eye-witness accounts of events during a tumultuous and important period of British and European history. One group of letters, included as a separate section, comprises the letters of seamen and their family and friends which were intercepted by the authorities during the mutinies of 1797. These letters shed a great deal of light on the extraordinary events of that year and of seamen's attitudes to the mutinies. The editors' introductory material, besides highlighting what the letters tell us about seamen's lives and attitudes, also discusses the extent of literacy amongst seamen, setting this into its wider contemporary popular context. The letters are supported by a substantial editorial apparatus and two detailed appendices containing biographies of seamen and information on select ships which took part in the mutinies of 1797."--Provided by the publisher. 2016. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 940.2

The Shetland bus : transporting secret agents across the North Sea in WW2 /Stephen Wynn. "The Shetland Bus was not a bus, but the nickname of a special operations group that set up a route across the North Sea between Norway and the Shetland Islands, north-east of mainland Scotland. The first voyage was made by Norwegian sailors to help their compatriots in occupied Norway, but soon the Secret Intelligence Service and the Special Operations Executive asked if they would be prepared to carry cargoes of British agents and equipment, as well. Fourteen boats of different sizes were originally used, and Flemington House in Shetland was commandeered as the operation's HQ. The first official journey was carried out by the Norwegian fishing vessel the Aksel, which left Luna Ness on 30 August 1941 on route to Bremen in Norway. This book examines that first journey, as well later ones, and discusses the agents and operations which members of the Shetland Bus were involved in throughout the war. It also looks at the donation of 3 submarine chasers to the operation, made in October 1943, by the United States Navy. These torpedo-type boats were 110 ft long and very fast, allowing journey times between Shetland and Norway to be greatly reduced and carried out in greater safety. The story of the Shetland Bus would be nothing without the individuals involved, both the sailors of the boats and the agents who were carried between the two countries. These were very brave individuals who helped maintain an important lifeline to the beleaguered Norwegians. It also allowed British and Norwegian agents a way in to Norway so that they could liaise with the Norwegian Underground movement and carry out important missions against the German occupiers."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.5459481

Nimitz at ease / by Capt. Michael A. Lilly, USN (RET). "Nimitz at Ease relates the true and unpublished story of a grand relationship that developed between Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Una and Sandy Walker during World War II and how the Walkers helped relieve Nimitz of the tremendous pressures of war, including awful letters from parents that accused him of killing their son. The Walkers gave Nimitz a place, space and time free of command or demand which, in a small but meaningful way, helped him cope with and win the war in the Pacific. Nimitz commanded all the armed forces in the Pacific during World War II - the largest military power that ever existed in history. Victorious over the Japanese Empire, he was elevated to the highest rank in the United States Navy - five-star Fleet Admiral. Nimitz wore two challenging hats, positions currently held by two different four-star admirals in Hawai'i - Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA). Under the latter hat, he had operational command of all Allied forces - air, land and sea - in the Pacific. He was the supreme commander, overseeing the enormous effort fighting World War II in the Pacific. Nimitz first met and became close friends of the Walkers when, as a young Lieutenant Commander, he was assigned to build the Submarine Base at Pearl Harbor in 1920. He rekindled that friendship soon after taking over the Pacific Fleet after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The day after taking command, Nimitz was asked by the press how he was going to handle a fleet under water and the Japanese juggernaut rampaging through the western Pacific. In response, he drew on a Hawaiian word given him by the Walkers - ho'omanawanui which means All things work out in the fullness of time."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 1 copy available. txt

British piers and pier railways / Anthony Poulton-Smith. "The British have always had a special affinity for their coastal resorts and piers are the epitome of the British seaside. This book takes the reader on a clockwise tour of our islands, stopping at every pier and walking through their histories. Yet this is not just a tour of the pier, for it is not the pier that makes the history, but the people who work and walk along it. Within these pages the reader will meet a prizefighter who achieved fame in a very different sport; learn of several 'professors' whose talents were solely being able to leap from the pier; discover why man would ever want to fly from a pier; meet the former Beatle who worked for a pier company; read about the ferries and steamers that carried visitors; the fires which are an ever-present danger; the men who designed and built the piers along with the entertainers, characters, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs who made the piers. Fascinating information is included on how piers became longer or shorter, which piers served as part of the Royal Navy during two World Wars, and the tremendous amount of work and effort it takes to keep the piers open to the public today. Several piers have embedded rails, with some still being used by trains or trams. These pier railways are described in detail: the engineering, the designs and the changes over the years. While electricity is the sole motive power today, these had once been either steam-driven, pulled by horses, moved by hand or even, in one example, wind-powered by a sail! With over one hundred photographs, both old and new, this is a tour of the coast of the mainland and two islands. Piers which sadly have not survived are included as well as those which never got off the ground (or the shoreline). It reveals why they were built, how they were repurposed over the years, and their role in the future. Join the tour and recall the sea air, candy floss, the music, the sounds of a holiday, that day trip, an encounter, a rendezvous or special memory"--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 627.31

Blue versus Orange : the U.S. Naval War College, Japan, and the old enemy in the Pacific, 1945-1946 /Hal M. Friedman. "Blue versus Orange: The U.S. Naval War College, Japan, and the Old Enemy in the Pacific, 1945-1946, by Hal M. Friedman, closely analyzes war gaming at the Naval War College in the academic year 1945-46, as both a reflection and source of the U.S. Navy's doctrinal and strategic responses to the experience of World War II - responses that would help the Navy shape its approach to the Cold War. The book describes in fascinating detail the practice of war gaming at the Naval War College in that era."--Provided by the publisher. 2013 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1945/1946"(73:52)

Through ice and fire : a Russian Arctic Convoy diary 1942 /Leona J. Thomas "Leonard H. Thomas embarked on the Russian Arctic convoys in 1942, keeping a secret notebook from which he later wrote his memoirs. His writing contained many well-observed tales of life aboard his ship, HMS Ulster Queen, and detailed the hardships that he and his fellow men faced. They endured long hours at action stations, locked in the engine room, ensuring the ship ploughed on despite being under fire from the skies above and the sea below; they were only able to guess at what was happening outside from the terrifying cacophony of noise. Thomas tells of how the men suffered from an appalling food shortage, the intense cold, and the stark conditions as they sailed from a rainy Belfast to the freezing, unforgiving, and unknown shores of Archangelsk in northern Russia. Thomas's account also offers insight into the morale of the men, and how they used their humour to keep going under the constant threat of succumbing to a watery grave. Once berthed in Archangelsk, the approaching winter and the frosty Russian attitudes towards the British Navy brought more problems. Thomas's daughter, Leona, has collected and edited his writings to form a poignant account of these convoys, one with unparalleled depth and emotion. This has ensured that Leonard's story can now be told in a manner which illustrates the fortitude and bravery of the men who sailed through ice and fire, so far from home, to aid the war effort."--Provided by the publisher. 2015. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.1(47)

Pacific crucible : war at sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 /Ian W. Toll. "On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss, a blow that destroyed the offensive power of their fleet. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative. This dramatic narrative, relying predominantly on eyewitness accounts and primary sources, is laced with riveting details of heroism and sacrifice on the stricken ships and planes of both navies. At the war's outset, Japan's pilots and planes enjoyed a clear-cut superiority to their American counterparts, but there was a price to be paid. Japanese pilots endured a lengthy and grueling training in which they were disciplined with baseball bats, often suffering broken bones; and the production line of the Zero - Japan's superbly maneuverable fighter plane - ended not at a highway or railhead but at a rice paddy, through which the planes were then hauled on ox carts. Combat losses, of either pilots or planes, could not be replaced in time to match the fully mobilized American war machine. Pacific Crucible also spotlights recent scholarship that revises our understanding of the conflict, including the Japanese decision to provoke a war that few in their highest circles thought they could win. Those doubters included the flamboyantly brilliant Admiral Isokoru Yamamoto, architect of the raid on Pearl and the Midway offensive. Once again, Ian W. Toll proves himself to be a simply magnificent writer. The result here is a page-turning history that does justice to the breadth and depth of a tremendous subject."--Provided by the publisher. [2012]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.6

In the hurricane's eye : the genius of George Washington and the victory at Yorktown /Nathaniel Philbrick. "In the fall of 1780, after five frustrating years of war, George Washington had come to realize that the only way to defeat the British Empire was with the help of the French navy. But as he had learned after two years of trying, coordinating his army's movements with those of a fleet of warships based thousands of miles away was next to impossible. And then, on September 5, 1781, the impossible happened. Recognized today as one of the most important naval engagements in the history of the world, the Battle of the Chesapeake--fought without a single American ship--made the subsequent victory of the Americans at Yorktown a virtual inevitability. In a narrative that moves from Washington's headquarters on the Hudson River, to the wooded hillside in North Carolina where Nathanael Greene fought Lord Cornwallis to a vicious draw, to Lafayette's brilliant series of maneuvers across Tidewater Virginia, Philbrick details the epic and suspenseful year through to its triumphant conclusion. A riveting and wide-ranging story, full of dramatic, unexpected turns, In the Hurricane's Eye reveals that the fate of the American Revolution depended, in the end, on Washington and the sea."--Jacket flap. [2018] • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1781"(755)

Arctic interlude : Independent to North Russia /Harry C. Hutson. "Arctic Interlude is the full account of a disastrous Allied Arctic operation to send merchant ships independently to North Russia from Iceland. This book tells the true story of Operation FB and in doing so fills a neglected gap in the published history of the Arctic sea war. There is a strong human element throughout, from personal recollections of those involved. The story concerns the fortunes and misfortunes of thirteen merchant ships and their crews attempting to reach North Russia in late October/early November 1942. The ships were spaced some 200 miles apart and no escort was provided. Seven of these ships were British, five American and one was Russian. Five reached Russia safely - two British and three American. Five were sunk or lost en route - three British, one American and the Russian vessel. Three were forced to return to Iceland - two British and one American. Four Royal Navy anti-submarine trawlers were stationed along the proposed route between the North Cape of Iceland and the South Cape of Spitzbergen. Two Allied submarines, one British and the other Dutch, were stationed near the South Cape of Spitzbergen. Four other anti-submarine trawlers, two British and two Russian were sailed from North Russian ports to cover the Barents Sea area. Two Russian submarines were deployed to the east of Spitzbergen as part of this operation. The decision to attempt such an operation was due to the fact that after the heavy losses sustained by the previous two convoys to North Russia, PQ-17 and PQ-18, further convoy sailings were to be stopped for three months. Stalin did not accept that these were good enough reasons to stop sending him supplies. This operation - code-named Operation FB - was an effort to placate him. Material for the book has been gathered from sources in the United Kingdom, the United States, the USSR, Norway and Germany."--Provided by the publisher. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.54/293

Samuel Pepys and the strange wrecking of the Gloucester : a true restoration tragedy /Nigel Pickford. "In 1682, Charles II invited his scandalous younger brother, James, Duke of York, to return from exile and take his rightful place as heir to the throne. To celebrate, the future king set sail in a fleet of eight ships destined for Edinburgh, where he would reunite with his young pregnant wife. Yet disaster struck en route, somewhere off the Norfolk coast. The royal frigate carrying James and his entourage sank, causing some two hundred sailors and courtiers to perish. The diarist Samuel Pepys had been asked to sail with James but refused the invitation, preferring to travel in one of the other ships. Why? What did he know that others did not? Religious and political tensions were rife in the years leading up to the wreck of the Gloucester. James was a Catholic, as was his wife, and there was a large constituency who wished them dead. Plots and conspiracies abounded. The Royal Navy was itself in disarray, badly equipped and poorly organised. Could someone on board be to blame for the sinking, either from malice or incompetence? Nigel Pickford's compelling account of the catastrophe draws on a richness of historical material including letters, diaries and ships' logs, revealing for the first time the full drama and tragic consequences of a shipwreck that shook Restoration Britain."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.452

Discovering the North-West Passage : the four-year Arctic odyssey of H.M.S. Investigator and the McClure Expedition /Glenn M. Stein. The story of HMS Investigator and the voyage undertaken by Vice-Admiral Robert McClure (1807-1873) in 1850-1854 to search for the missing Franklin expedition which had disappeared in 1848. McClure was born in Ireland and joined the Royal Navy in 1824, obtaining his first polar experience in HMS Terror in 1836. He joined an early expedition to find the Franklin expedition in 1848 and then in 1850 accompanied HMS Enterprise, under the command of Richard Collinson, on a further search. The two ships were separated in a storm, never to meet up again. McClure continued through the Bering Strait but was eventually forced to abandon the ship after she became icebound in Mercy Bay in 1853. The crew continued overland finally meeting up with HMS Resolute and HMS Intrepid, also searching for Franklin from the opposite direction. The text is supported by a detailed bibliography, notes and appendices which include the crew list of HMS Investigator and detail the creation of the Polar Medal. [2015]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.4(987)"1850/1854"

British ships in China seas : 1700 to the present day /edited by Richard Harding, Adrian Jarvis and Alston Kennerley. "Papers presented at a conference held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in September 2002, organised jointly by the Society for Nautical Research and National Museums on Merseyside"--T.p. 2004. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 382(42:51)

The first HMS Invincible (1747-58) : her excavations (1980-1991) /by John M. Bingeman. "In 1980, following the discovery of a wreck off the south coast by a local fisherman, John Bingeman applied for a Government Protection Order and subsequently identified the ship as the Royal Navy's first Invincible (1747-58). Invincible was a 74-gun warship that came to grief on Sunday the 19th February 1758 off Portsmouth. She was sailing as part of the expedition to besiege the French Fortress of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. This was the beginning of a progressive series of military operations leading to the eventual colonisation of Canada. The Ship, brought into British service when only three years old, was the first newly designed 74-gun warship to be captured from the French. It represented a significant step forward in ship construction and was to become the prototype for a new generation of British men-of-war. In 1758 when Invincible foundered, she was a British ship-of-the-line fully equipped for an expedition abroad. Although her guns and much of her equipment were salvaged at the time, she was subsequently abandoned with a considerable amount of equipment still onboard. This volume includes a description of Invincible 's building as a French warship; her capture in 1747 by the Royal Navy, her foundering in the Solent, and the 1979-1990 excavations of the wreck site. Particular attention is paid to the artefacts recovered, which have provided naval archaeologists and historians with a time capsule of equipment aboard a warship in the mid-18th century. In addition, because Invincible was carrying troops to Canada, the wreck site contained regimental equipment, including army buttons that pre-dated previously accepted dates and are therefore of great significance to army historians."--Provided by the publisher. 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 930.26(204)

The Naval Institute guide to combat fleets of the world, 16th edition : their ships, aircraft, and systems /Eric Wertheim. "Called 'the nation's premier naval reference book',The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World is internationally acknowledged as the best one-volume reference to the world's naval and paranaval forces. Updated regularly since 1976, it has come to be relied on for all-inclusive, accurate, and up-to-date data on the ships, navies, coast guards, and naval aviation arms of more than 170 countries and territories. Large fleets and small maritime forces get equally thorough treatment. Comprehensive indexes make the book easy to use and allow for quick comparisons between ships and fleets. This new 16th edition, presents information on all the major and minor maritime developments that could impact the world scene in the years to come. Heavily illustrated with 4,450 black & white photos and 179 multi-view line drawings, Combat Fleets provides the user with the most detailed views available for identification and comparison purposes. Additional aids for the user include a section on how to use the book, lists of terms and abbreviations,an informative ship-name index, and more. An expanded chapter on the Chinese navy provides major updates on the status of their new aircraft carrier and the latest Chinese submarines, surface ships and naval missiles. Dozens of detailed line drawings depict exactly where weapons and sensors are located on the world's combatants such as the Iranian Ghadir-class submarines, the French Forbin-class destroyers, and the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ships. The ship data section for each country provides full coverage of all ships, from the largest aircraft carriers to the smallest training and auxiliary craft. The vessels of the world's coast guards and customs services are given thorough treatment as well. But the book is much more than a ship encyclopedia. It includes information on the personnel strengths of each country's naval forces, major base locations, and details on maritime radar, sonar, naval aircraft, and weapon systems currently in service."--Provided by the publisher. 2012. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.82(100)

From Versailles to Mers el-Kâebir : the promise of Anglo-French naval cooperation, 1919-40 /George E. Melton. "This book concerns itself with one of the most unlikely relationships in the two decades before World War II: the alliance of the Royal Navy and the French fleet. By the mid 1930s, both fleets had overextended themselves with global defense commitments, owing mainly to the collapse of the world war alliances and to an ominous shift in the balance of world naval power. To maximize their power, England and France combined their assets in a naval alliance. The union was not an altogether happy one, but it survived in one form or another until the British attack upon the French fleet at Mers el-Kâebir in 1940. George E. Melton brings new insights to the diplomacy that led to this often strained cooperation, and reinterprets some of the most important events of early World War II"-- [2015]. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1919/1940"(42:44)

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