Naval
CHINA (PLAN)
Recent developments in the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) have continued to be headlined by steady progress with its aircraft carrier programme. The former Russian Project 1143.5/6 Varyag was commissioned as Liaoning on 25 September 2012 at a ceremony at the Dalian shipyard which had carried out its refurbishment, the importance of the event being marked by the presence of…
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Operation PEDESTAL, (3–15 August 1942)
Operation Pedestal, SS Ohio entering Grand Harbour, Malta. The last contested Royal Navy operation to resupply Malta. Maintaining the effectiveness of the island’s aircraft and warship strike forces against the very long and vulnerable Axis supply routes to North Africa was crucial, especially as the Allies prepared for a new…
Luftwaffe versus the British Fleet
The sun rose blood-red over the Aegean Sea, and May 22nd 1941 promised to be hot. On the Peloponnesian airfields of Argos, Mycenae and Molae hundreds of engines roared into life as Ju 87s, Me 109s and Me 110s lined up for the take-off. Seldom had German airmen waited to…
Caesar’s Naval Campaign against the Veneti
Battle of Morbihan Since the destruction of the enemy fleet was the only permanent way to end this problem, Caesar directed his men to build ships. However, his galleys were at a serious disadvantage compared to the far thicker Veneti ships. The thickness of their ships meant they were resistant…
BRITISH INVASION OFÂ TURKEY
The last moments of the French battleship Bouvet which struck a mine in the Dardanelles on March 18, 1915, capsized and sank within two minutes, killing over 600 men. British battleship HMS Irresistible abandoned and sinking, 18 March 1915, during the Battle of Gallipoli. By the end of 1914, the…
Battle of Tarawa Atoll
The capture of the Pacific Atoll of Tarawa in November 1943 launched the Marshall Islands campaign, which initiated the U.S. drive across the central Pacific. Tarawa is an atoll in the Gilbert Islands consisting of small islands, the largest of which, Betio, is no more than 2.5 miles in length.…
Ceylon 1942
IJN AKAGI by dugazm This island and British colony off the southeast tip of India was most significant during the Pacific war because of Japanese raids on and near it in April 1942. These raids accomplished little tactically or operationally; what they failed to do, however, was of critical strategic…