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Tag Search: International Journal of Naval History

A History of the Royal Navy: World War I

This is a delightful overview of the Royal Navy’s wartime experience during the First World War. Academics will likely find little that is new in this brief survey, but general readership will appreciate a thorough and engaging narrative of this important conflict. The book is part of a series examining the larger history of Britain’s … CONTINUE READING ❯
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The Essence of Intelligence Work is Preparation for War: How “Strategy” Infiltrated the Office of Naval Intelligence, 1882-1889

Contents: “Little More than an Armored Target” The Strategical Awakening Early Developments in U.S. Naval Intelligence The Establishment of ONI ONI’s Strategical Mission Conclusions Scott Mobley University of Wisconsin—Madison “Little More than an Armored Target” Standing on a bridge wing of the guided missile destroyer USS Richard E. Byrd, a peculiar sight caught my eye.  … CONTINUE READING ❯
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Eyes of the Ospreys: An Analysis of RAF Coastal Command’s Operational Research Section in Counter-U-Boat Operations

Contents: Background on the Situation Courses of Action Taken Analysis of Results and Consequences Bibliography Timothy A. Walton Independent Scholar In his declaration of war, President Woodrow Wilson protested: “German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.” [1. Holwitt, Joel Ira. “Execute Against Japan: Freedom of the Seas, the U.S. Navy, Fleet Submarines, … CONTINUE READING ❯
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View from the Quarterdeck: July 2015

In the summer of 2015, l’Hermione, a beautifully reconstructed replica of an 18th century, three-masted, 32-gun, Concorde class French frigate visited ports on the east coast of North America from Yorktown, Virginia, to Lunenberg, Nova Scotia. Her namesake vessel gained fame in 1780 by ferrying the Marquis de Lafayette to America with secret news that … CONTINUE READING ❯
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The Yangtze River Patrol Collection

John Sanders Special Collections & Archives Dudley Knox Library Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California Wednesday, April 26, 1911: “Got into tail of typhoon about 5 a.m. Sea roughest experienced yet. Lucky we are heading into it. Eased up a bit about 8 p.m. Maintained 8 to 12 knots thro it. NY and Albany pulled off … CONTINUE READING ❯
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View from the Quarterdeck: January 2015

In 1950 Samuel Flagg Bemis, long-time Sterling Professor of Diplomatic History and Inter-American Politics at Yale, won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography with his book entitled John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy. A decade later Bemis would serve as President of the American Historical Association. Bemis and others long identified JQA … CONTINUE READING ❯
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The Development of Modern Counter-piracy Initiatives in Southeast Asia: Vietnamese Boat Refugees and Alternative Incidents 1979-1997

Robert C. McCabe Maynooth University Introduction Vietnamese refugees come alongside USS White Plains (AFS-4) in 1979. Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo Archives L35-04. Between 2009 and 2012, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), a specialised division of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), recorded 648 reports of actual and attempted pirate attacks off the coast … CONTINUE READING ❯
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Swimming in the ‘Fishpond’ or Solidarity with the ‘Beresfordian Syndicate’: An Analysis of the Inquiry by the Subcommittee of Imperial Defence into Naval Policy, 1909

Keith McLay Canterbury Christ Church University Admiral Sir John Fisher. Library of Congress LC-B2- 3330-5. Modern histories of the army and navy have long recognised that these institutions are in respect of their external and internal relationships, sui generis, political. The former relations, typically manifest in a competition for resources and prominence in campaign, have … CONTINUE READING ❯
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With Commodore Perry to Japan: The Journal of William Speiden, Jr., 1852-1855

The 1852-1855 voyage of the US Navy’s East India Squadron to Asia has long been recognized as a watershed moment in history. Not only did it signal the emergence of the United States as a major power in Asia and the Pacific, but it also resulted in re-opening Japan to trade and diplomatic relations after … CONTINUE READING ❯
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Some New Looks at the Old Breed: Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps and Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity, 1941-1945

The Naval Institute Press delivers two fascinating books here that bring new scholarship to bear on the history of the United States Marine Corps in World War II (WW II). In both cases the Marine Corps being looked at consists of members the pre-war Corps who fought in WW II, sometimes known as “the Old … CONTINUE READING ❯
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