Прочая образовательная литература
Различные книги в жанре Прочая образовательная литератураJapanese Battleships, 1897?1945
This unprecedented photographic collection contains 125 stunning black and white photographs of the battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The remarkable images, some very rare, constitute an archive that is almost without equal in the West. The book begins with the launch of Japan's first contemporary battleship, Yashima, and concludes with the final destruction of the fleet in the Pacific in 1945. In between these two milestones, Japan constructed the third largest navy in the world. All of the fleet's dreadnoughts saw action in World War II but only the Nagato survived the conflict. She subsequently became a test target in the Bikini A-bomb tests in 1946.
Pirate Nation
For all the romantic mythology surrounding the court of Queen Elizabeth I, the financial underpinning of the reign of ‘Gloriana’ was decidedly sordid. Elizabeth’s policy of seizing foreign assets made her popular at home but drew her into a partnership with pirates who preyed on the state’s foes and friends alike, being rewarded or punished depending on how much of a cut the Queen received, rather than the legitimacy of their action. For this reason the rule of law at sea was arbitrary and almost non-existent. Even those, such as the Lord Admiral and the Court of Admiralty, who were tasked with policing the seas and eliminating piracy, managed their own pirate fleets. While honest merchants could rail and protest, the value to the exchequer of this dubious income was enormous, often equaling, on an annual basis, the input from all other sources such as taxation or customs dues. Moreover, the practice of piracy taught English seamen how to fight and, when the nation was at its greatest peril, in 1588, it was pirates who kept the Spanish Armada away from invading the English coast. Charles Howard, commander of the British forces, Richard Grenville, Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake, were all pirates who became ‘admirals all for England’s sake’, and were well rewarded by the Queen for their exploits. This highly original book argues that the deeply ingrained piratical and self-interested approach to naval warfare by these English captains almost allowed the Armada to succeed. A radical reassessment of Elizabethan maritime history, Pirate Nation makes this and a number of other startling revelations about the myth and the reality of Elizabethan naval policy. A highly readable work, this radical reappraisal of Elizabethan maritime practice offers provocative insights about some of the most cherished events in British history.
The U.S. Naval Institute on Naval Innovation
Technological changes are inevitable, often of great benefit, and they must be understood by all maritime leaders. Since the Navy’s beginnings, it has created, adapted, rejected, and sometimes grudgingly accepted new technologies. Technological changes in the maritime arena have ranged from the highly disruptive transition from sail to steam propulsion to the adoption of nuclear power for submarines and surface ships. This entry into the Wheel Book series considers the nature of technological innovation in the U.S. Navy, and it discusses the manner in which the Navy is currently adopting new technologies like robotic and autonomous systems, CYBER, and LASERS.
Very Special Ships
Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the Abdiel-class fast minelayers, which were considered the fastest and most versatile to serve in the Royal Navy during World War II. This book spans the scope of the class from alpha to zulu as they operated in many roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta, transporting items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. To provide a complete picture of this important class of ships, Very Special Ships examines the origin and history of the minelayers, describes the design and construction of each ship in the class, details the operational history of the ships during World War II, and concludes with the post-war careers of the surviving ships.
Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns and Gunnery
This book does for naval anti-aircraft defense what Friedman’s Naval Firepower did for surface gunnery – it makes a highly complex but historically crucial subject accessible to the layman. It traces the growing aerial threat from its inception in WWI and the response of each of the major navies down to the end of WWII, highlighting in particular the underestimated danger from dive-bombing. The work considers what effective AA fire-control required, and how well each navy’s systems actually worked, analyzing the weapons, how they were placed on ships, and how this reflected the tactical concepts of naval AA defense. All important guns, directors and electronics are represented in close-up photos and drawings, and lengthy appendices detail their technical data. It is, simply, another superb contribution to naval technical history by its leading exponent.
The British Battleship
Norman Friedman brings a new perspective to an ever-popular subject in The British Battleship: 1906–1946. With a unique ability to frame technologies within the context of politics, economics, and strategy, he offers unique insight into the development of the Royal Navy capital ships. With plans of the important classes commissioned from John Roberts and A D Baker III and a color section featuring the original Admiralty draughts, this book offers something to even the most knowledgeable enthusiast.
Sky Ships
Originally published in 1990, Sky Ships is easily the most comprehensive history of U.S. Navy airships ever written. The Naval Institute Press is releasing this new edition to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the book’s publication.Impressed by Germany’s commercial and military Zeppelins, the United States initiated its own lighter-than-air (LTA) program in 1915. Naval Air Station Lakehurst (now Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst) in New Jersey was homeport for several of the largest machines ever to navigate the air: rigid airships. An instrument of very-long-range (strategic) reconnaissance, the promise of the large airship was compelling; the Navy could hardly ignore it. In the commercial realm, success peaked in 1936 with transatlantic round trips between Central Europe and the Americas by Hindenburg and by Graf Zeppelin ending, however, with the infamous fire in May 1937. That setback, the onset of war and the accelerated progress of heavier-than-air (HTA) technology ended rigid airship development. The Navy Department persisted, modernizing and deploying the non-rigid type or blimp as an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) platform in the Second World War and, as well, for airborne early-warning (AEW) through the 1950s. Unlike carrier aviation and the hardware of a “new” nuclear Navy, the program had yet to integrate into fleet forces and the naval-aviation organization. Concluding progressive cutbacks, all fleet airship commands were disestablished in 1961–a last flight logged at NAS Lakehurst on 31 August 1962. This edition features over two hundred new photographs. Sky Ships presents more than two decades of archival and oral-history research, and it remains the most comprehensive volume on the subject.
The British Carrier Strike Fleet
As a follow-up to the highly regarded British Pacific Fleet, David Hobbs looks at the post-World War II fortunes of the most powerful fleet in the Royal Navy—its decline in the face of diminishing resources, its final fall at the hands of ignorant politicians, and its recent resurrection in the form of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Despite prophecies that nuclear weapons would make conventional forces obsolete, British carrier-borne aircraft were almost continuously employed. The Royal Navy faced new challenges in places like Korea, Egypt, and the Persian Gulf. During these trials the Royal Navy invented techniques and devices crucial to modern carrier operations, pioneering novel forms of warfare tactics for countering insurgency and terrorism. This book combines narratives of poorly understood operations with clear analysis of their strategic and political background. With beautiful illustrations and original research, British Carrier Strike Fleet tells an important but largely untold story of renewed significance as Britain once again embraces carrier operation.