Naval History

Japan's Pacific War against the United States was a massive gamble from the outset. When her seemingly endless struggle for the dominance of China had turned into an attritional slugging match. Japan had found it difficult to secure the raw materials she needed in order to continue, particularly rubber and oil. Lacking domestic supply, it might have been reasonable for Japan to plan on the basis of imports from other countries in Asia, but such supplies were largely controlled by Western democracies opposed to her expansion.

Britain ruled Malaya, where most of the rubber might be sourced; while a Free Dutch administration still controlled Indonesia, despite Holland having been overrun by Japan's German allies in 1940. Indonesia had oil and rubber, but exports to Japan had been suspended by the colonial government. The alternative choice for oil was the USA herself, but she too opposed Japan's brutal imperial expansion, banning oil exports in 1941.

As a result. Japan therefore reasoned that it should seize a "Southern Resource Area" to address this problem. Once Malaya. Indonesia and other Allied holdings in Eastern Asia were secured. Japan would be able to prosecute and complete the war in China. Once that was done. Japan would be able to exploit Chinese economic potential fully, which was the main strategic goal...

Arthur Morey and Don Keith, the authors of the present publication, are the world recognized experts in the field of naval history. Most of the books dedicated to the Coral Sea Battle, are treating the Neosho attack as a footnote, while in this one a completely different angle has been taken sticking with Sims and Neosho ships, together with their crew members as they participated in the battles against Japanese armed forces.

The story told on the pages of this volume is full of heroic endurance as well as human failings. The author does not try to airbrush the actually inglorious facts. Instead, he makes his best to balance all associated elements in order to build a satisfying narrative text with the human interest and magnetic appeal. As a consequence, combined efforts of the authors have resulted in the best-selling title which has already been found to be one of the most successful volumes on naval history. The publication offers its readers a riveting portrayal of the people serving on board the Neosho naval ship and their courageous actions under the conditions of the extreme duress.

Note, however, that it is much more than just another saga dedicated to this vessel as the authors also go into a huge amount of various details related to the several aspects of the Battle of the Coral Sea, addressing how exactly these events were relating to the Neosho and people on board.

A genuine treasure for the people interested in Scotland's history. This volume belongs to the famous series titles "The Making of Scotland" focusing on how the Vikings did make Scotland the centre of the great seafaring kingdom and also how and why their influence can still be felt in Orkney and Shetland.

The book starts with the prologue providing a very short historical background. In fact, in the time period around AD 800 there was no place called Scotland, there was only a territory a quite varied geography that, with the course of the time, became the Scotland, and subject territory was inhabited by people of different customs and culture.

There were many kings and chieftains. No borders existed and the contemporary boundaries of the country were actually meaningless to the inhabitants of that time. And, of course, subject territorial boundaries would definitely be irrelevant for seafaring Vikings coming from Scandinavia.

That is why one of the main objective of the present work was to bring alive the whole context in which seafaring Vikings did operate in Scotland of the past and to demonstrate what part Scotland did actually played in the world of Vikings. In fact, Vikings traveled much further than any of the Europeans had ever traveled and this allowed them to establish an excellent communication network over really great distances...

The book by an expert in the naval history and an excellent writer, Angus Konstam, is an excellent and interesting dedicated to the pirate ships of XVI-XVII centuries. The topics covered by the author of this volume include the design of the pirate ships of those times, their origins and conversion; among the vessels addressed there are both pirate flagships and relatively small ships.

The narrative text of the publication is fascinating and provides readers with many important technical details; of course, as it is implied in the title of the book, its main subject is the pirate ship. It shall be noted that this book is not about the pirates themselves since so many publication have already been released covering their life and activities as it rather concentrates on the ships themselves.

But those readers who wanted to find the information about their vessels, will greatly appreciate the whole content of this remarkable work which will be very helpful to them in terms of providing a brief yet informative overview of the pirate ships supplemented with numerous illustrations for the better and clearer picture. The book will definitely increase their understanding of the broad variety of the vessels actually used by the pirates of the past and of the associated terminology.

Today, the Indian Ocean to which this book is dedicated to, remains the least researched geographic region of the world. However, there have been significant cultural exchanges around its shores and across its waters. Edward Alpers, professional historian and the author of this volume has explored all complex issues relating to the above mentioned cultural exchange in the region through combining historical approach with the insights of geography, anthropology and other relevant disciplines.

The volume has already proven to be an excellent source of relevant information providing all interested readers with a brand new perspective from which is it easier to get better understanding of the Indian Ocean. What the author has tried to underline in his work was that the oceans shall not be treated only as just barriers; they are rather connecting barrier which have proven their dominance in shaping the history. The publication is packed with valuable information supplemented with the numerous very useful ocean maps and photographs.

The opening chapter of the volume is setting up the history and discussing the monsoons considered crucial to understanding some maritime patterns.... In short, this book is a very good introduction to this undeservedly under-studied region and its content will be of great interest for all lovers of the oceans and history.

This book dedicated to the Tudor warships was prepared by Angus Konstam, also known for his publication on Pirate Ships and Elizabethan Sea Dogs. Apart from the people having an interest in the naval history, the content of this book will be of particular use for the ship modelers. That is why we would highly recommend all of the above mentioned categories of readers to add this title to their reference libraries.

The book has been written in a manner allowing readers to take in all presented information. The author of the book is a specialist in the period covered and he is successfully bringing to life the developmental history of the Tudor's Navy fleet and the use of those warships on the high seas. The volume examines the Mary Rose - the only warship of the XVI century on display anywhere. The author has also included thoroughly researched archive photos and detailed color artwork, such as the cutaways and contemporary images all of them are very informative and add to the overall benefit.

He has produced a very good example of the genre and made a book which may now be used as a quick introduction to the design and ordinance of the early Tudor naval vessels. In short, this is an outstanding volume on a really unique subject of Spanish Armada; note that the information and data contained herein may serve as an excellent basis for the future researches for people with the deeper interest in the field.

This ship of the United States Naval Forces was the third one to bear the name USS North Carolina. Her commissioned service covered about six years time, and only eleven years elapsed between her authorization and decommissioning; however, in such short period of time rapid development in the industry technology enabled aircrafts and aircraft carriers to completely replace battleships as the main strength of the navy fleet.

Within some years after the completion of World War Two, only the United States retained battleships in its navy. Four battleships belonging to IOWA class were kept in the reserve fleet. Over the years some were updated and returned to the active fleet. For those who wish to see a battleship as it was when the dreadnaughts ruled the seas, the USS North Carolina, moored in Wilmington, North Carolina, has been preserved just as she was on her active duty.

This volume is telling its readers a great and glorious story of the famous USS North Carolina from newly constructed to museum ship. An excellent reference and historical book, and a genuine treasure for the ship modelers who will definitely find the technical information contained in it very useful when building a model of this vessel.

The authors of this title concentrated on small number of specific ships, namely cruisers of the United States Navy fleet and managed to cover them in the greatest detail. Though the publication consists of only 48 pages, the amount of information provided in it is really impressive. The authors put together thorough overview of naval design. In addition, there is a very useful appendix to the main content of the book.

The photographs and illustrations supplementing the text of the book are really fascinating. This is an extremely useful and valuable reference point for ship modelers, researchers or students interested in the times of the steel navy cruisers. The stories contained in the book provide readers with the salient technical details of the individual vessels, paying particular attention to the improvements which were made by their predecessors. Each of the sections of this volume has been very well illustrated and supplemented with numerous photos and artworks.

All interested readers have found this book a very valuable reference source for the students, researchers in this field and ship modelers. The authors have put together the brilliant overview of a quite neglected field of naval design and associated developments presented in a very readable and fascinating manner that made the book extremely popular.