As she lay in dry dock, devastatingly damaged by one of Hitler’s newly deployed magnetic mines after barely two months in service, few could have predicted the illustrious career that lay ahead for the cruiser HMS Belfast. After three years of repairs to her broken keel, engine- and boiler-rooms, and extensive refitting, she would go on to play a critical role in the protection of the Arctic Convoys, would fire one of the opening shots at D-Day and continue supporting the Operation Overlor...

For more than 5,000 years, the sea has challenged, rewarded, and punished the brave sailors who set forth to explore it.This history of the sea and sailing tells the remarkable story of those individuals--whether they lived to tell the tale themselves or not.From the early Polynesian seafarers and the first full circumnavigations of the globe, to explorers picking their way through the coral reefs of the West Indies, this book tells the compelling story of ...

A "truly exceptional" account of how Churchill's experiences in the armed forces helped him lead Britain to victory in World War II ( Booklist).No defense minister in modern times has faced the challenges that Winston Churchill did during the Second World War. Fortunately, he had a unique and intimate inside knowledge of all three services, which allowed him to assess their real needs—a crucial task when money, material resources, and, especially, manpower...

Do you remember Australia's '70s? The Vietnam War and the Cold War, the politics, the flower people, the music, the hopes?That Member of Parliament who led marches against war, wrote liberation books he struggled to sell, helped bring down a Government? Who gave the hungry press a feast of scandals? Remember those naked full-moon festivals with all the Minister's happy hippie mates?Well, this old hippie was there, and those mates were his mates, all living their stories. Bu...

The landing craft assault or LCA was one of the unsung heroes of the Second World War. It took part in practically every amphibious operation from Norway to Normandy and landed around 400,000 men in action conditions, plus many more in training. It was the only serviceable British landing craft at the beginning of the War, and it remained in service until the Suez operation of 1956. It landed the first waves of infantry on the British and Canadian beaches in Normandy in 1944, and Americans...

A relentless nautical drama that would define, or end, men’s lives.The English port city of Hull was home to ‘three day millionaires’ – trawlermen on brief shore leave. They were spilling cash from record catches. With months out working fierce seas, who knew if the next trip would be their last?The St Finbarr was set to change all that.She was built as the perfect trawler, no cost spared. She was the future of the industry. She was...

From the time of the Restoration of Charles II, when he returned to England from Breda and was presented with the yacht Mary by the burgomaster of Amsterdam, Royal yachts began to be defined as such in England and built with that special purpose in mind. They were built luxuriously and used for royal visits to the fleet, for diplomacy and for racing and cruising for pleasure. Charles II took more of an interest in the sea than any other English monarch. He built a fleet of royal yachts, fi...

The ultimate officers' guide from the commander of the HMS Hood. "A fascinating historical record . . . a first-class textbook for modern managers" ( Baird Maritime).Published in 1937 and now recognized as one of the most influential, yet highly accessible, volumes on naval command and organization, Running a Big Ship provides truly unique insight into life at sea during the Second World War.O'Conor famously commenced the book wit...

GIOVANNI CASSINI, young Italian astronomer, saw humanity's earliest proofs of what truly is in the heavens. What he observed overturned the fables of the ancients who had tried so hard to explain their stars and planets, and their world.But these new truths were highly dangerous.The Cassini of your history books was seduced from Bologna in his mid-life by a lucrative offer from France's Sun King. Louis had him head a new Paris Observatory, the world's greatest. Cassini rebr...

"A wonderful book detailing the construction of the Royal Navy's sailing warships" from the maritime historian and author of Nelson's Navy ( Pirates and Privateers).The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are official, contemporary artifacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, and ranging from the mid-seventeenth century to the present da...

May 2015 sees the 250th anniversary of the launch of HMS Victory, the ship that is so closely associated with Nelson and his great victory at Trafalgar and which, still extant, has today become the embodiment of the great Age of Sail. Many books have been written about Victory but none like this, which tells the full story of the ship since she first took to the waters in May 1765. It contains many surprises that she was almost wrecked on her launch; that diplomacy conducted onboard her pl...

Published in the months leading up to the Battle of Jutland, W.M. James’ New Battleship Organisations, was the ultimate guide to command and organization of every aspect of a modern First World War capital ship. The book provides a unique, and highly revealing, insight into life aboard ship, the mechanics of command, seamanship, the issuing of orders, and the broad expectations placed upon British naval officers. Specific sections are dedicated to the organization of watches, the division ...