Navi da guerra (XIX secolo) - Gran Bretagna: libri

British Ironclads 1860-75 : HMS Warrior and the Royal Navy's 'Black Battlefleet' (Osprey)

Nel novembre del 1859 fu varata la nave da guerra francese La Gloire. Fu la prima nave corazzata al mondo, costruita in legno ma con lo scafo rivestito da uno strato protettivo di piastre di ferro. La Gran Bretagna, per non essere da meno, varò la propria nave corazzata l'anno successivo, la HMS Warrior, che, una volta entrata in servizio, divenne la nave da guerra più potente del mondo.

Proprio come la Dreadnought mezzo secolo dopo, questa nave cambiò per sempre la natura della guerra navale e scatenò una frenetica corsa agli armamenti. L'elegante ma potente Warrior incarnava i progressi tecnologici dell'inizio dell'epoca vittoriana e lo spirito di questa nuova era di vapore, ferro e potenza di fuoco.

Riccamente illustrato con disegni dettagliati in sezione, questo libro ripercorre la storia della corazzata britannica dalla sua nascita e comparsa nel 1860 fino al 1875, un anno cruciale che vide la costruzione di una nuova generazione di navi da battaglia con torrette, dall'aspetto decisamente moderno.

Indice: Introduzione - Progettazione e sviluppo - Requisiti tattici - Corazzatura - Armamento - Propulsione - Vita a bordo - Corazzate in azione - Specifiche - Bibliografia.

Dettagli del libro

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums (Volume 4, Part 2) - Cruisers 1865-1939

The Richard Perkins warship identification albums form one of the most detailed studies ever undertaken of the changes to the appearance of Royal Navy ships. However, it is a unique hand-drawn manuscript artefact in the care of the National Maritime Museum, so despite its value it is rarely seen by anyone besides the museum's curators, for whom it is a precious resource, used on an almost daily basis.

In collaboration with the Museum, Seaforth is undertaking the first publication of this monumental work in a superbly produced multi-volume edition that captures all the qualities of the original. Every page is reproduced at full size, making the extensive hand-written annotation readable, while the fine-line drawings retain all the colours that Perkins used to denote appearance differences and alterations.

Following the Museum's binding arrangement, the fourth volume of the series completes the coverage of all cruiser-type ships down to the Belfast class of 1939 begun in Volume III. This second part includes most of the smaller cruisers from about 1916 back to the Amazon class corvettes of 1865.

This is a publishing event of the utmost importance for every enthusiast and ship modeller, who for the first time will be able to own a copy of a unique and invaluable reference work.

Dettagli del libro

British Warships 1860-1906 - A Photographic Record

Illustrated with 200 official admiralty photographs, many of them previously unpublished, this book traces the development of Royal Naval ship design in a period of immense change.

Opening with the Crimean War, this period saw the gradual transition from sail to steam and screw propulsion; from wood to steel construction; from fixed broadside armaments of bronze muzzle-loaders to turret-mounted steel breech-loaders and torpedoes.

The period covered in this volume closes with the launch of HMS Dreadnought, which overnight rendered all existing ships obsolete and signalled the start in earnest of the Anglo-German naval arms race which contributed to the outbreak of WW1.

Each photograph is accompanied by full specifications (where available) and a caption detailing any significant design features, while the main text gives an overview of naval developments across the period under discussion, setting the selected ships in context.

Dettagli del libro

Constitution vs Guerriere - Frigates during the War of 1812 (Osprey)

Famed as a classic naval duel, a one-on-one clash between two sailing frigates offered the victor immeasurable fame and glory. During the War of 1812, the Royal Navy and United States Navy squared off in four such duels, the most famous that between the USS Constitution and HMS Guerrière.
Ships and tactics between the two nations varied enormously, with the American navy favouring a revolutionary design of frigate, with twenty-four pounder guns and heavy structural timbers, while the British, used to fighting the French and Spanish navies, relied on smaller, eighteen-pounder frigates.

Through first-hand accounts of these four single-ship actions and fascinating comparisons of artillery, crew ability and tactical achievements, this book offers an unparalleled insight into the ruthless reality of frigate battles in the War of 1812.

Contents: Introduction - Chronology - Design and development - Strategic situation - Technical Specifications - Combatants - Combat - Aftermath - Bibliography.

Dettagli del libro

HMS Warrior, 1860 - Victoria's Ironclad Deterrent

Built to underline Victorian Britain's supremacy at sea, HMS Warrior was the world's first iron-hulled, armoured warship. In 1979 she was rescued from ignominy as an oil jetty in Milford Haven to become the subject of an ambitious restoration programme, and for the last twenty years has been open to the public at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

The story of her revolutionary design, career history and the strange twists of fate that enabled her to survive into an age when her significance in naval architecture would be fully recognised, is described in detail together with the meticulous research that went into faithfully restoring every aspect of the ship.

Complete with archival illustrations and photographs, specially commissioned photography, lines plans and diagrams, this is a comprehensive and elegantly produced commemorative volume of a remarkable ship.

Dettagli del libro

Nautical Training Ships - An Illustrated History

For well over a hundred years all around the coast of Britain there were located a series of nautical training ships. Often surplus navy wooden walls, the ships provided a means of educating boys and young men, while preparing them for a lifetime at sea.

The more famous of the schools included HMS Conway, initially on the Mersey, and then at Menai; the TS Mercury, at Hamble, Hampshire; the Mars on the Tay, at Dundee; the Vindicatrix at Sharpness Docks on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal; the Worcester on the Thames and the Arethusa at Greenhithe.
The Arethusa, converted from a sailing vessel, lasted until 1974 before she was purchased and sailed to America to be restored as a typical sailing vessel of the late nineteenth century.

Phil Carradice tells the story of the training ships that helped keep Britain a maritime nation from their foundation to their demise as Britain's once-proud merchant marine declined in the latter years of the twentieth century.

Dettagli del libro

Nile River Gunboats 1882-1918 (Osprey)

Per oltre 30 anni, le cannoniere del Nilo sono state uno strumento indispensabile dell'impero, pattugliando il grande fiume e fungendo da simboli galleggianti del potere imperiale britannico. Hanno partecipato a tutte le principali campagne coloniali nella regione, dall'invasione britannica dell'Egitto nel 1882 alla battaglia di Omdurman nel 1898, quando la Gran Bretagna ottenne finalmente il controllo del Sudan.
In seguito, le cannoniere contribuirono a mantenere il controllo britannico sia sull'Egitto che sul Sudan, e svolsero un ruolo chiave nella salvaguardia degli interessi britannici intorno alle sorgenti del Nilo, una regione aspramente contesa da diverse potenze europee.

Arricchito da illustrazioni realizzate appositamente, questo volume esaustivo offre un'analisi dettagliata dell'intera carriera delle cannoniere del Nilo, dal pattugliamento degli interessi coloniali britannici lungo il grande fiume alla difesa dell'Egitto contro gli ottomani durante la prima guerra mondiale.

Dettagli del libro

The Royal Navy 1793-1815 (Osprey)

By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 Britain was the undisputed master of the seas, owing to the power and strength of the Royal Navy. Its fleets, comprising ships of the line, frigates, and gunboats, had doubled in size since the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, totalling almost a thousand capital vessels.

This book examines the commanders, men, and ships of the Royal Navy during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, and discusses the Navy's command structure (from the Admiralty down to ship level) and its organization at sea. The tactics employed in action by a fleet, squadron, and individual ship, respectively are also discussed, as are the medical services providing a fascinating insight into the navy that ruled the waves.

Contents: Introduction - Combat mission - Organization - Command, control and communications - Weapons and equipment - Tactics - Conclusion - Orders of battle - Chronology - Bibliography - Index.

Dettagli del libro

USS Lawrence vs HMS Detroit - The War of 1812 on the Great Lakes (Osprey)

The most critical naval fighting during the War of 1812 took place, not on the high seas, but on the inland lakes of North America: the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
Carrying between 12 and 22 cannon, the British and American sloops-of-war were ship-rigged, brig-rigged or schooner-rigged vessels.
Lakes actions often involved two ships facing each other broadside to broadside, the best example of which was the battle of Lake Erie in 1813 where HMS Detroit led a Royal Navy squadron against the USS Lawrence-led US Navy.

Featuring full-colour artwork, this lively study investigates the prolonged struggle between British and US sloops-of-war, highlighting the differences between the war on the lakes and the war on the oceans during the Age of Fighting Sail.
It reveals the circumstances under which these ships were built, how they were armed, and the human story behind their construction and use in battle.

Dettagli del libro