Explore our Collection

Language
Format
Type

showing 4,201 library results for 'navy'

Captain James Fairweather : his life and career /by his granddaughter Nancy Rycroft in association with Keith Mackay. Written by his granddaughter, this is a family history recounting the life of Captain James Fairweather (1853-1933). After working briefly in a Dundee factory, Fairweather went to sea in 1867 joining whaling and sealing ships such as the Victor and rising through the ranks to become Master in 1877 at the age of 24. The following year Fairweather took command of his first ship, the SS Active, a Dundee whaler working the Arctic oceans. Commanding the Aurora for six years, Fairweather continued in the sealing and whaling industry until 1888 when with the decline of the whaling industry, he sought employment in the general trade. He spent three years in command of the Vortigern taking coal from Calcutta to various Indian ports and founded Fairweather House in Calcutta as a social club for marine officers and engineers. At the outbreak of the First World War, Fairweather joined the Royal Navy Reserve, becoming Examination Officer on the Tay. In 1916 Fairweather was given a temporary commission as Lieutenant Commander R.N.R. and the command of the SS Discovery for the Shackleton Relief Expedition, although by the time he reached Montivideo Shackleton's men had already been rescued from Elephant Island. Includes excerpts from the family trees of the Fleeming, Duncan and Fairweather families, family photographs and illustrations of vessels commanded by Fairweather. 2005. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 92FAIRWEATHER
Naval anti-aircraft guns and gunnery / Norman Friedman. "This book does for naval anti-aircraft defence what the author's Naval Firepower did for surface gunnery - it makes a highly complex but historically crucial subject accessible to the layman. It chronicles the growing aerial threat from its inception in the First World War and the response of each of the major navies down to the end of the Second, highlighting in particular the widely underestimated danger from dive-bombing. Central to this discussion is an analysis of what effective AA fire-control required, and how well each navy's systems actually worked. It also takes in the weapons themselves, how they were placed on ships, and how this reflected the tactical concepts of naval AA defence. As would be expected from any Friedman book, it offers striking insights - he argues, for example, that the Royal Navy, so often criticised for lack of 'air-mindedness', was actually the most alert to the threat, but that its systems were inadequate not because they were too primitive but because they tried to achieve too much. The book summarises the experience of WW2, particularly in theatres where the aerial danger was greatest, and a concluding chapter looks at post-1945 developments that drew on wartime lessons. 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."--Provided by the publisher. 2013. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.822.74
French armoured cruisers, 1887-1932 / John Jordan & Philippe Caresse. ''Of all the threats faced by the Royal Navy during the first years of the twentieth century, the one which stood out was the risk to Britains sea lines of communication posed by France s armoured cruisers. Fast, well-armed and well-protected, these ships could have evaded any attempted blockade of the French ports and, supported by a worldwide network of overseas bases, could potentially have caused havoc on the trade routes. Between 1898 and 1901 the French laid down thirteen ships, and completed nine in 1903 4 alone. This book has as its subject the French armoured cruisers built from the late 1880s until shortly before the outbreak of the Great War, beginning with the revolutionary Dupuy-de-Lãome, the worlds first modern armoured cruiser, and ending with the impressive six-funnelled Edgar Quinet and Waldeck-Rousseau. The primary focus of the book is on the technical characteristics of the ships. Detailed and labelled drawings based on the official plans are provided by John Jordan, and each individual class of ship is illustrated by photographs from the extensive personal collection of Philippe Caresse. The technical section is followed by a history in two parts, covering the Great War (1914-18) and the postwar years, during which the surviving ships saw extensive deployment as station cruisers overseas and as training ships. This is the most comprehensive account published in English or in French, and is destined be the standard reference for many years to come.''--Provided by the publisher. 2019. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 623.8253094409041
Coastal defences of the British Empire in the Revolutionary & Napoleonic eras / Daniel MacCannell. "Far more than an architecture book, Coastal Defences of the British Empire in the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras is a sweeping reinterpretation of the Martello towers, Grand Redoubts, Royal Military Canal and other new defence infrastructure. Lavishly illustrated with period maps, views, portraits, cartoons and newly commissioned colour photographs, it includes not only these structures' forerunners, and plans that were never executed, but also the grand strategy that informed them. At its best, this saw Britain's position as a vast land battle, with the deadly threat of the French-held Antwerp navy yards on its own 'left wing', and Lisbon as the enemy's 'weak left' to be 'turned'. The book also takes in the astonishingly inventive, bold and bloody small-boat wars that raged from the Baltic and Channel coast to Chesapeake Bay and Lake Ontario, and provides vivid pen-sketches of the now-obscure and sometimes deeply flawed strategic visionaries, engineers, inventors, and fighting men who held the line as - even after Trafalgar - the forces of an ever more powerful French empire circled like sharks. Along the way, it traces a fundamental change in the nature of war and society: from a ponderous game of fortresses and colonies played by rulers, to murderous 'foot by foot' defence of the whole territory of the nation by 'both sexes and every social type'."--Provided by the publisher. 2021. • BOOK • 1 copy available. 355.4509171241
Spoils of war : the fate of enemy fleets after the two World Wars /Aidan Dodson, Serena Cant. "The fates of defeated navies offer fascinating insights into both the intent of victorious powers and the plight of conquered nations. This book traces the histories of navies and ships of defeated powers in two World Wars, from the months leading up to the relevant armistices or surrenders through to the final execution of the post-war settlements. In doing so, it discusses the way in which the victorious powers reached their final demands, how these were implemented, and to what effect. The later histories of ships that saw subsequent service are also described. The authors have drawn on material from archival and in some cases archaeological sources, many never previously published, and in doing so a wide range of long-standing myths are busted, many of them deriving from numerous errors and misunderstandings that have passed into the 'standard sources'. The fascinating and highly original narrative is accompanied by lists of all navy-built enemy ships, and some significant ex-mercantile vessels, in service at the end of the various hostilities and includes key dates in their careers and their ultimate fates, the latter checked as far as possible in archival sources. This story, completely overlooked until now, offers a new and compelling insight for all those interested in the naval history of the two World Wars."--Provided by the publisher. 2020. • FOLIO • 1 copy available. 359.8352