Navies
Modern Royal Navy 2001-2014
The war on terror began to unravel the Strategic Defence Review of 1998, which besides the usual rationalization and economies was also motivated by achieving a reinvigorated joint expeditionary edge for Britain’s armed forces. Much of this was brought about by the long-term land commitments in the Middle East since 2001 and the subsequent return to Afghanistan in 2005, which…
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CHINA DREAMS ON Part II
China’s aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, during military drills in the Pacific. Type 075 class of amphibious assault ship. Every yuan China devotes to projects of questionable worth in South and Central Asia is one less yuan Beijing has to spend on threatening implements of maritime and aerospace power for the…
French Navy: 1870s to 1904 Part II
French battleship design had a style all of its own, backed up by intensive work and study on ship behaviour, though this was often of a theoretical rather than practical kind. Change and Modernisation, 1890-1904 The next fifteen years were an era of unprecedented and dramatic technological developments in all…
Royal Navy Readiness for a War with Japan in Mid-1941: Intelligence and Capability II
Importantly, FECB collaborated closely with NID with inevitable advantages here for intelligence distribution and exploitation. Patrick Beesly, who worked for NID in the war, described FECB as a ‘well thought out and comprehensive organisation, the first example of an inter-service effort in the intelligence field, and for NID its most…
Royal Navy Readiness for a War with Japan in Mid-1941: Intelligence and Capability III
Royal Navy air capability in 1941 The Royal Navy required a strategy for dealing with Japan that took realistic account of its available resources in 1941. However, it also needed to apply the right capabilities and fighting tactics. Here, understanding the new potential of air power at sea and applying…
Royal Navy Readiness for a War with Japan in Mid-1941: Intelligence and Capability IV
The latest Royal Navy carriers had the most advanced radar of the day. Aircraft communications systems and direction-finding homing were steadily improved. The Royal Navy continued developing and refining the techniques for long-range enemy raid detection and fighter direction that were first tried in Norway and employed during subsequent operations…
The Sri Lankan Government Forces – Sri Lankan War I
Red area shows the approximate areas of Sri Lanka controlled by the LTTE and the Government, as of December 2005. Background The regular Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was founded in 1910 although a reserve volunteer force had existed since 1881. The CDF came under the command of the British Army.…