Naval category: 2015 books

During WW1 the North Sea became the principal battleground for the navies of Britain and Germany. This book explains in chronological order the major encounters between Kaiser Wilhelm II’s High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy. It also includes other important operations such as mine-laying and sweeping,...

  Known throughout the fleet as “Big Ben,” the USS Franklin was christened for the legacy of the four prior U.S. Navy ships named after Benjamin Franklin. The Franklin was one of twenty-four Essex-class fast carriers built during World War II, forming the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s...

As was the case in World War II, one of the greatest threats to Britain during World War I was the German U-boat menace. This book traces the development of the U-boat threat from the Brandtaucher, designed by Wilhelm Bauer, the father of the German submarine arm, in 1850, through to the commissioning...

Q-Ships and Their Story is an overview of Q-Ships in the early 20th century. These are armed merchant ships, whose weapons are concealed to provoke surface attacks by submarines.

The Admiral Graf Spee was one of three pocket battleships built by Nazi Germany in the years before the outbreak of World War II. It came into Montevideo harbor in Uruguay seeking repairs in December 1939. The ship was assaulted by a trio of British cruisers and the Nazi government opted to scuttle...

Described by one soldier as "a metal box designed by a sadist to move soldiers across the water,†? the Landing Craft, Infantry was a large beaching craft intended to deliver an infantry company to a hostile shore, once the beachhead was secured. The LCI and its vehicle-delivery counterpart,...

By the end of 1943 the German submarine war on Atlantic convoys was all but defeated, beaten by superior technology, code-breaking and air power. With losses mounting, Dönitz withdrew the wolfpacks, but in a surprise change of strategy, following the D-Day landings in June 1944, he sent his U-boats...

The Arctic is a place of great challenges and great rewards. A century ago, it was whale oil; today, it is motor oil. The increasing open water in the warmer months is attracting cruise ships to tour the Arctic. Significant offshore oil and natural gas deposits are of great interest to an oil-dependent...

More than two centuries after Master’s Mate Fletcher Christian led a mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh on a small, armed transport vessel called Bounty, the true story of this enthralling adventure has become obscured by the legend. Combining vivid characterization and deft storytelling, Caroline...

"An immense treasure trove of fact-filled and highly readable fun.” --Simon Winchester, The New York Times Book Review A Sunday Times (U.K.) Best Book of 2018 and W****inner of the Mary Soames Award for History An unprecedented history of the storied ship that Darwin said helped...

"A remarkable book, in which a very wide spectrum of human behavior is on show---from colossal gullibility on the one hand, to extraordinary ingenuity and determination on the other." —The Daily Telegraph (UK) Treasure Hunt is the story of an obsession. Rumors of Spanish treasure,...

Journey to the seventeenth century and a dramatic period of political upheaval, plague, and fire, with this “vivid portrait of Restoration England” (History Today). Inside Pepys’ London reveals a vivid picture of London at a critical point in history, as it was poised to become a major...

For more than 30 years the Nile river gunboat was an indispensable tool of empire, policing the great river and acting as floating symbols of British imperial power. They participated in every significant colonial campaign in the region, from the British invasion of Egypt in 1882 to the Battle of...

Beyond the Bounty: A biography of the Royal Navy officer from “a master of the maritime narrative” (The Sydney Morning Herald).   The eighteenth century was an era when brave mariners took their ships beyond the horizon in search of an unknown world. Those chosen to lead these expeditions were...