Naval History
Western Approaches – Coastal Command
During November 1942 Admiral Sir Percy Noble, who had been C.-in-C., Western Approaches since February 1941, was succeeded by Admiral Sir Max Horton. Starting with miserably inadequate resources, Noble had done a magnificent job in creating a viable AS defence for the convoys. Churchill, however, found him lacking sufficient aggression, wanting a man who would use the Allies’ growing strength…
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CSS Arkansas Part I
Gentlemen, in seeking combat as we now do we must win or perish. —Lieutenant Isaac Brown The officers and men of Farragut’s fleet, anchored above Vicksburg, were at breakfast on Tuesday, July 1, 1862, when Charles Davis’s squadron hove into sight. Winona crewman O’Neil noted its arrival in his diary:…
CSS Arkansas Part II
The Lancaster, anchored above the fleet with some steam up, claimed to be the first to see the danger. Colonel Ellet signaled the ship to attack the rebel ram. “As she rounded to give her a little of our kind of warfare, a 64 pound ball came through our bulwarks…
Battle of Navarino
The Naval Battle of Navarino (1827). Oil painting by Garneray. The Great Age of Fighting had then passed its peak, and there would be only one more large sailing fleet battle, the one-sided slaughter of an Egyptian-Turkish squadron by a combined fleet composed of British, French, and Russian warships at…
What If: Britannia Rules the Waves: The Battle of Jutland, 1916 Part I
The Challenge On 15 June 1888, the twenty-year-old Kaiser Wilhelm II was crowned emperor of Germany. Although capable of moments of brilliant insight, Wilhelm II was infamous for his obnoxious arrogance, uncontrollable temper and erratic decision making. Intensely Anglophobic, he despised the British Empire and felt that Germany was being…
What If: Britannia Rules the Waves: The Battle of Jutland, 1916 Part II
Montague Dawson paints the German High Seas Fleet, under command of Admiral Reinhard Scheer, perform a daring and untested full speed turn in unison to escape the range of the British Grand Fleet under command of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe on the horizon. The Run to the North At approximately…
NAVAL TRAWLER TUMAN
A model of the Tuman. The Type 1934-class Z4. It is the 10th of August, 1941. The Red Army’s front is collapsing and the Germans are closing on the most important cities of the USSR. But we aren’t talking about that today. Our attention is drawn to the Barents Sea,…