Library Results | Royal Museums Greenwich

World War Two at sea : the last battleships :rare photopgraphs from wartime archives /Philip Kaplan. "The big-gun battleship served as a symbol of the ultimate power of the world's greatest navies beginning late in the nineteenth century and continuing into the Second World War. So historically important was this vessel that the arms race between Britain and Germany to build navies with larger, more powerful battleships was among the key sources of tension between those nations in the lead up to the First World War. In this book, veteran battleship crew members describe their unforgettable experiences, including those of a young officer in a British battleship at Jutland; tales of the loss of the German warship Scharnhorst in the arctic off the North Cape; the combat experience inside a sixteen-inch gun turret aboard an Iowa-class battleship bombarding Iraq during the Gulf War, and the adventures of HMS Warspite in World War One, in the Mediterranean and on her way to the breaker's yard in 1947. Included too is the story of the great German battleship Bismarck, which sank the pride of the British fleet, the story of HMS Hood, and that of the USS Missouri on whose deck the final surrender document of the Second World War was signed. The text is combined with a compelling selection of historic images representing the era of the great battleships from the early years through the First and Second World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, and the preservation of a handful of these vessels as museum pieces today."--Provided by the publisher. 2014. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.82(42)"1939/1945"

Key figures aboard RMS Titanic : superstars and scapegoats /Anthony Nicholas. "Titanic. The Marilyn Monroe of ocean liners. A sleek, sultry beauty, taken out way before her time. A kind of 21st century Flying Dutchman, with interiors by Cesar Ritz, still striving to achieve the waters of a port she can never reach. Fuelled by a subtle mixture of horror, fascination and sheer, fatal glamour, she surges heedlessly across the still, starlit calm of our collective subconscious, hell bent on achieving her chilling, near midnight rendezvous with her killer. Titanic is a brilliantly lit stage, carrying her cast of exotic, terminally endangered extras toward an abyss at once both unfathomable and inconceivable. Here's where any similarity with any other tome about the Titanic ends. For the first time ever, a succession of key characters and groups of individuals come to the fore. Centre stage, over seventeen chapters, we meet the men whose decisions, actions and omissions combined like some slow burning powder trail to trigger a final, cataclysmic conclusion; the foundering, in mid Atlantic, of the biggest moving object ever seen on the face of the planet. One by one, a series of individuals take a bow. Seemingly omnipotent owners and hugely experienced ship's officers. Engineers and designers. Would be rescuers and embattled wireless operators. We meet them as individuals, not supermen. Their histories, backgrounds and life experiences are assessed for the first time ever, putting their actions on the night that Titanic sank into a context, a light as stark as that of the distress rockets, arcing into the sky?"--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.9163/

Why the Titanic was doomed : a disaster of circumstance /Bryan Jackson. "Titanic - the most magnificent ocean liner of her time - was doomed and destined for disaster before she ever left the docks at Southampton. Doomed by her owner, doomed by her designers, doomed by the men who sailed her - doomed even by her sister ship. Author Bryan Jackson presents a new and unique look at the many circumstances that came together the night of April 14, 1912 to claim over 1,500 lives and leave Titanic lying in 12,000 feet of water on the bottom of the North Atlantic. Each chapter details how seemingly disconnected pieces served to create a tragedy that remains as significant today as it was over a century ago. They include flawed design decisions, outdated regulations, substandard materials, weather conditions, lookouts left blinded and warnings never acted upon. Perhaps the most fascinating piece is a look at how events involving sister ship Olympic would result in Titanic being placed directly on course to meet the iceberg which would sink her. In addition, Jackson offers a look at the circumstances that saved some from perishing in the tragedy. They range from the rich and famous - to family members traveling in third-class who managed to escape the sinking while the majority of the passengers sailing in those accommodations would not survive. Also provided is a comprehensive Titanic timeline which details the events which lead to her construction - and eventual destruction."--Provided by the publisher. 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.9163/4

Tracing your seafaring ancestors : a guide to maritime photographs for family historians /Simon Wills. Photographs of your seafaring ancestors may tell you more about their lives than you realize, and Simon Wills's helpful and practical guide shows you how to identify and interpret the evidence caught on camera. Since maritime roles have been so vital to Britain's prosperity and military might, they are among the commonest professions depicted in photographs of our ancestors, and his handbook is the ideal introduction to them. Maybe your ancestor was a seaman in the Royal Navy, a ship's captain, a steward on an ocean liner, or an officer in the naval reserves? This book shows you how to spot photographic clues to an individual's career. Whether your ancestor served in the merchant navy or the Royal Navy or in another seagoing role such as a fisherman, a lifeboatman, or even a ship's passenger, Simon Wills's book will be your guide. 2016. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.3

Tracing your docker ancestors : a guide for family historians /Alex Ombler. "Alex Ombler's handbook is the first practical guide for family historians who wish to find out about family members who worked in British docks. In a series of concise, informative chapters he takes readers through the history of British ports and identifies research methods and materials - both local and national - through which they can discover the lives and experiences of the people who worked in them."--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • BOOK • 2 copies available. 929.1072041

Royal Marines in the First World War : by sea, by land, by air /Matthew Richardson. Richardson, Matthew 2024. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.41241

Monitors of the Royal Navy : how the fleet brought the big guns to bear /by Jim Crossley. Crossley, F. J.-(F. Jim), 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.821.4(42)

Rodney and the breaking of the line / by Peter Trew. Trew, Peter. 2006. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92RODNEY, GEORGE BRYDGES

Tracing your Royal Marine ancestors : a guide for family historians /Richard Brooks and Matthew Little. Brooks, Richard. 2008. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.5

Plan Z : the Nazi bid for naval dominance /by David Wragg. Wragg, David W. 2008. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542

Pirate queens : the lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read /Rebecca Alexandra Simon. Simon, Rebecca-(College teacher), 2022. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 910.45

Amphibious assault Falklands : the battle of San Carlos Water The author was in charge of the amphibious operations in the Falklands War. He describes some of the problems involved in recreating a largely abandoned operational technique in an ad-hoc fashion. During the time it took to 'go south' some sense of order was imposed and a not very well defined command structure evolved. The author tells how San Carlos Water was chosen for the assault and subsequent inshore operations. Contains extensive black and white photographs. 1996 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.828.2(42)

The hidden threat : the story of mines and minesweeping by the Royal Navy in World War I /by Jim Crossley. Crossley, F. J.-(F. Jim), 2011. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.45:355.465

Diving stations : the story of Captain George Hunt and the Ultor /by Peter Dornan. Dornan, Peter, 2010. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92Hunt:629.123Ultor

Death on the hell ships : prisoners at sea in the Pacific war Michno, Gregory F 2001 • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.542.6

The Milk Cows : U-boat tankers at war, 1941-1945 /John White. White, John F. 2009. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.827(43)"1941/1945"

Strike from the sea : the Royal Navy & US Navy at war in the Middle East /Iain Ballantyne. Ballantyne, Iain, 2004. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.49"1949/2003"(42:73)

Thetis down : the slow death of a submarine /Tony Booth. "On 1 June 1939 His Majesty's Submarine Thetis sank in Liverpool. Her loss is still the worst peacetime submarine disaster the Royal Navy has faced when ninety-nine men drowned or slowly suffocated during their last fifty hours of life. The disaster became an internationally famous event."--Provided by the publisher. 2008. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 656.61.085.3THETIS

Naval air : celebrating a century of naval flying /by Philip Kaplan. "Naval aviation arrived early in the last century in the form of balloons and airships employed by the British Royal Navy for reconnaissance, and interest was stirring in naval circles in a greater aeronautical capacity for the service. Britain's tradition of projecting a global reach through her sea power would, in the view of many, be greatly enhanced by such a capability. Among the first advocates of military aircraft development was British naval minister, Winston Churchill. Over the course of the last century since this point of inception, huge leaps have been made in the design, development, and performance of naval aircraft. This comprehensive account, brought to us by eminent aviation historian Philip Kaplan, details the journey from origin through early development into wartime deployment. This is carried forward through post-war innovations and into modern conflicts such as the Falklands campaign. Attention is paid to the key landmarks of aviation history, such as Taranto, Pearl Harbour, The Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Midway and the Korean campaign. Reference is also paid throughout to the flying aces; the high points in the combat careers of the greatest naval and marine aviators of the past century. Kaplan weaves multiple threads in an effort to produce a comprehensive and detailed history. One of these is the part played by women in the history of flight, detailing a journey characterised by ever-closer involvement at the vanguard of aviation development, showing how societal changes have impacted upon this area in tune with others. Bringing the history up to date, there is a section dedicated to the Helicopter, its varying uses, current disposition and status of the various types in the U.S and British navies. Complemented by a collection of interesting photographs, this is sure to appeal to aviation enthusiasts as well as social historians of the past one hundred years; this isn't just a history of the various aircraft but of the people who got them off the ground and flew them into a new century."--Dust jacket. 2013. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 359.38(42:73)

The English convict hulks 1600s-1868 : transporting criminals to Australia /Mick Davis. "In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Britain had eased its problem of crowded jails and surplus criminals by packing them into ships and sending them off to the American colonies to be sold as what amounted to slave labour. All this came to an end with the revolution of 1775 and the legal system was stuck with an ever-increasing army of desperate felons. As there was no national prison system, these felons were crammed on to derelict sailing ships, the hulks, and put to hard labour in appalling conditions, mainly along the rivers Thames and Medway. Their story has been largely ignored by generations of historians and here, for the first time, detailed accounts of their plight, along with the lives and careers of the quite extraordinary men who ruled over them, is examined. Duncan Campbell, for instance, was the ship's captain and plantation owner who first organised the hulk system, and Aaron Graham the magistrate who spied upon, and then defended, the leader of the Nore mutiny and employed William Bligh of the Bounty mutiny to captain his ships. There are biographies of some of the colourful rogues, children and gentleman thieves who were crammed together and condemned to spend years in despair, starvation and degradation, often with their arms and legs manacled and subject to vicious punishments for minor infringements of the regulations. In theory, the hulks were simply holding pens until convicts could be shipped off to the new colonies in Australia, but many sentenced to be transported for terms of between seven years to life were destined to serve most of, if not all, their term onboard. Those that did make it to the other side of the world after a harrowing journey were seldom better off and their story is told in the final chapter."--Provided by the publisher. 2024. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 994.02

Birth, marriage and death records : a guide for family historians /by David Annal, Audrey Collins. Birth, marriage and death records are an essential resource for family historians, and this handbook is an authoritative introduction to them. It explains the original motives for registering these milestones in individual lives, describes how these record-keeping systems evolved, and shows how they can be explored and interpreted. 2012. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 929.5

The Royal Navy and the Peruvian-Chilean War, 1879-1881 : Rudolf de Lisle's diaries and watercolors /edited by Gerard de Lisle. 2007. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.353(83)"1879/1881"

The war on hospital ships, 1914-1918 / Stephen McGreal. McGreal, Stephen, 2008. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 623.828.6"1914/1918"

Destroyers, greyhounds of the fleet : memoirs of a naval gunner in the Second World War /Peter Saxton. Saxton, Peter J., 2025. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 940.545941

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