Books

The Postwar Fleet, Volume 2; 1950 – 1957

Vol 173 (2026), Jeremy Stocker

This is the second volume edited for the Navy Records Society to deal with the post-1945 Royal Navy. It begins in June 1950 and the outbreak of the Korean War, an event which upset many previous planning assumptions and initiated a short-lived rearmament programme. It concludes with the publication of the 1957 Defence White Paper,… Read Abstract »

The Fleet Air Arm in the Second World War Volume II, 1942–1943

Vol 165 (2018), Ben Jones

This is the second of three volumes covering the transformation of the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. As the subtitle of this volume ‘The Fleet Air Arm in Transition’ suggests, the years 1942-1943 marked a stepping stone between the small pre-war cadre operating from a small number of carriers to a naval… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume V: De Robeck and the Dardanelles Campaign

Vol 125 (1984 ), Paul G. Halpern

This edition contains documents from the seventeenth century to the Second World War. There is additional material to complement NRS Volume 116 from the Commission of Enquiry in 1608, an account of the Earl of Warwick’s voyage to the Mediterranean in 1627 and documents relating to the management of the Royal Dockyards between 1672 and… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume V: Selections from the Memoirs and Correspondence of Captain James Bernard Foley, C.B.E., R.A.N. (1874-1974)

Vol 125 (1984 ), J. V. P. Goldrick

This edition contains documents from the seventeenth century to the Second World War. There is additional material to complement NRS Volume 116 from the Commission of Enquiry in 1608, an account of the Earl of Warwick’s voyage to the Mediterranean in 1627 and documents relating to the management of the Royal Dockyards between 1672 and… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume VI: Dudley Pound and the Grand Fleet, 1914-15

Vol 146 (2004), Paul G. Halpern

Edited documents in this Naval Miscellany include the 14th-century repair of Bayonne Galleys, Armada correspondence, the building of Plymouth dockyard, letters of Admiral Collingwood, Nelson’s Public Order Book during his 1801 blockade of Boulogne, Louis Parsons’ journal 1882-1901, Captain Clayton’s letters from the Australia Station 1885-8, Dudley Pound’s Grand Fleet diary 1914-15, and HMS Aurora’s… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume VI: On Royal Duty: H.M.S. Aurora’s Report of Proceedings 1945

Edited documents in this Naval Miscellany include the 14th-century repair of Bayonne Galleys, Armada correspondence, the building of Plymouth dockyard, letters of Admiral Collingwood, Nelson’s Public Order Book during his 1801 blockade of Boulogne, Louis Parsons’ journal 1882-1901, Captain Clayton’s letters from the Australia Station 1885-8, Dudley Pound’s Grand Fleet diary 1914-15, and HMS Aurora’s… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume VII: The Autobiography of Chief Gunner Alexander Grant: H.M.S. Lion at the battle of Jutland

Vol 153 (2008), Eric Grove

This seventh volume of Naval Miscellany contains documents which range in date from the late thirteenth century to the Korean War. They illustrate the many different ways in which the naval forces of the crown have served the realm. Topics covered include the role of ships in campaigns against Scotland under Edward I and Edward… Read Abstract »

The Naval Miscellany, Volume VII: Australian Naval Defence: Selections from the Papers and Correspondence of Captain W. H. C. S. Thring, 1913-34

Vol 153 (2008), David Stevens

This seventh volume of Naval Miscellany contains documents which range in date from the late thirteenth century to the Korean War. They illustrate the many different ways in which the naval forces of the crown have served the realm. Topics covered include the role of ships in campaigns against Scotland under Edward I and Edward… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume VII: The Relief of Admiral North from Gibraltar in 1940

Vol 153 (2008), Robin Brodhurst , Michael Simpson

This seventh volume of Naval Miscellany contains documents which range in date from the late thirteenth century to the Korean War. They illustrate the many different ways in which the naval forces of the crown have served the realm. Topics covered include the role of ships in campaigns against Scotland under Edward I and Edward… Read Abstract »

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The Naval Miscellany, Volume VII: The Development of an Independent Navy for Australia: Correspondence between the First Naval Member and the First Sea Lord, 1947-59

Vol 153 (2008), Alastair Cooper

This seventh volume of Naval Miscellany contains documents which range in date from the late thirteenth century to the Korean War. They illustrate the many different ways in which the naval forces of the crown have served the realm. Topics covered include the role of ships in campaigns against Scotland under Edward I and Edward… Read Abstract »

The Cunningham Papers, Volume II: The Triumph of Allied Sea Power, 1942-1946

Vol 150 (2006), M. Simpson

Following America’s entry into World War Two, there was a necessity for the Royal Navy to strengthen co-operation with the United States Navy. Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s brief term as head of the British Admiralty Delegation in Washington was to endear him to the Americans so much so that they proposed him as Allied Naval… Read Abstract »

Letters and Papers of Professor Sir John Knox Laughton, 1830-1915

Vol 143 (2002), Professor A.D. Lambert

John Knox Laughton created modern naval history to harmonise the adacemic standards of the new English historical profession with the strategic and doctrinal needs of the contemporary Royal Navy. His correspondents included major figures in both the historical and the naval professions: Alfred T Mahan, Samuel Rawson Gardiner, Julian Corbett, Cyprian Bridge and many others…. Read Abstract »

The Cunningham Papers, Volume I: The Mediterranean Fleet, 1939-1942

Vol 140 (1999), M. Simpson

Following America’s entry into World War Two, there was a necessity for the Royal Navy to strengthen co-operation with the United States Navy. Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham’s brief term as head of the British Admiralty Delegation in Washington was to endear him to the Americans so much so that they proposed him as Allied Naval… Read Abstract »

The Somerville Papers

Sir James Somerville (1882-1949) was one of the great influences on the 20th-century navy, both as a commander of fleets and a pioneer of radio and radar. The Admiral’s extensive correspondence, diaries and reports are deposited in the Churchill Archives Centre at Cambridge. These edited selections reveal much of the background about major naval operations… Read Abstract »

The Beatty Papers, Volume II, 1916-1927

Vol 132 (1993), Professor B. McL. Ranft

David Beatty joined the Victorian Navy in 1884. His early career therefore occurred at a time of great technological, tactical and strategic challenges to the Royal Navy. In 1910 he was promoted to Rear Admiral, and from 1912 served as Naval Secretary to Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty. This role in turn… Read Abstract »

The Beatty Papers, Volume I, 1902-1918

Vol 128 (1989), Professor B.McL. Ranft

David Beatty joined the Victorian Navy in 1884. His early career therefore occurred at a time of great technological, tactical and strategic challenges to the Royal Navy. In 1910 he was promoted to Rear Admiral, and from 1912 served as Naval Secretary to Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty. This role in turn… Read Abstract »

The Pollen Papers: The Privately Circulated Printed Works of Arthur Hungerford Pollen, 1901-1916

Vol 124 (1984), Dr J.T. Sumida

Arthur Pollen (1866-1937) trained as a barrister but eventually became a successful businessman. In 1900 he became interested in the problem of aiming naval artillery after witnessing a practice firing at sea. From that time he formulated his ideas for a system of firing accurately at long range and in 1906 he persuaded the Admiralty… Read Abstract »

The Keyes Papers, Volume III, 1939-1945

Vol 122 (1981), Professor P.G. Halpern

The start of Volume III, 1939-1945, finds Keyes in a frustrating position. Too young for fleet command in the First World War, he was now too old for command in the Second World War. Keyes’s temperament did not allow him to suffer in silence. His criticisms of the Naval Staff, and implicitly of the government… Read Abstract »

The Keyes Papers, Volume II, 1919-1938

Vol 121 (1979), Professor P.G. Halpern

Roger John Brownlow Keyes, first Baron Keyes (1872-1945). Keyes was a controversial man during his lifetime and has remained so ever since. His correspondence and papers is a vast collection held at Churchill College, Cambridge, and these volumes are just a selection of them. There has been renewed interest in the period since the publication… Read Abstract »

The Keyes Papers, Volume I, 1914-1918

Vol 117 (1972), Professor P.G. Halpern

Roger John Brownlow Keyes, first Baron Keyes (1872-1945). Keyes was a controversial man during his lifetime and has remained so ever since. His correspondence and papers is a vast collection held at Churchill College, Cambridge, and these volumes are just a selection of them. There has been renewed interest in the period since the publication… Read Abstract »

The Jellicoe Papers, Volume II, 1916-1935

Vol 111 (1968), A. Temple Patterson

This substantial selection of the professional and private papers of Admiral John Jellicoe, first Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935), extends from 1893 to 1935. Its publication was directly followed in 1969, by Professor Patterson’s succinct biography of the admiral. Since then, a resurgence of interest in the Battle of Jutland and in pre-war naval provision has resulted… Read Abstract »

The Jellicoe Papers, Volume I, 1893-1916

Vol 108 (1966), A. Temple Patterson

This substantial selection of the professional and private papers of Admiral John Jellicoe, first Earl Jellicoe (1859-1935), extends from 1893 to 1935. Its publication was directly followed in 1969, by Professor Patterson’s succinct biography of the admiral. Since then, a resurgence of interest in the Battle of Jutland and in pre-war naval provision has resulted… Read Abstract »

The Papers of Admiral Sir John Fisher, Volume II

Vol 106 (1964), Lt. Cdr. P.K. Kemp R.N.

This collection of documents is restricted to official papers written by (or at the instigation of) Admiral Sir John Fisher, first Baron Fisher (1841-1920) in his capacity as First Sea Lord 1904-1910. Fisher was convinced of the inevitability of war with Germany. All his volcanic energy was directed to reforming the Royal Navy and preparing… Read Abstract »

The Papers of Admiral Sir John Fisher, Volume I

Vol 102 (1960), Lt. Cdr. P.K. Kemp R.N.

This collection of documents is restricted to official papers written by (or at the instigation of) Admiral Sir John Fisher, first Baron Fisher (1841-1920) in his capacity as First Sea Lord 1904-1910. Fisher was convinced of the inevitability of war with Germany. All his volcanic energy was directed to reforming the Royal Navy and preparing… Read Abstract »