Books

This is the first volume edited for the Navy Records Society to deal with the post-1945 Royal Navy. It begins in January 1944, the point at which serious thought started to be given to the size and shape of the postwar Fleet. It concludes with the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, an… Read Abstract »

The Royal Canadian Navy expanded from a regular force of 3,000 men in 1939 to the world’s third largest navy by 1945. It played a significant part in the Atlantic and contributed substantially in other theatres. This was a sizeable achievement for a vast country with a small population, many of whom had never seen… Read Abstract »

The contents of this, the eighth of the Navy Records Society’s Miscellany series, chronicles the activities and adventures of the Royal Navy, its officials, its officers and its men – both in British employment and out of it – over a period of some six hundred years. Ranging from the reign of Edward III to… Read Abstract »

The Mediterranean Fleet entered the 1930s looking back to the lessons of Jutland and the First World War but also seeking to incorporate new technologies, notably air power. Unfortunately in the depression years of the early 1930s there was a lack of funds to remedy deficiencies. The problem became critical during the Abyssinian crisis of… Read Abstract »

The intense rivalry in battleship building that took place between Britain and Germany in the run up to the First World War is seen by many as the most totemic of all armaments races. Blamed by numerous commentators during the inter-war years as a major cause of the Great War, it has become emblematic of… Read Abstract »

This is the first of three volumes detailing the history of the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers and naval air squadrons, during the Second World War. It deals with the formative period between 1939 and 1941 when the Fleet Air Arm tried to recover from the impact of dual control and economic… Read Abstract »

Following the end of the First World War the Mediterranean Fleet found itself heavily involved in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Sea of Marmora, the Black Sea and to a lesser extent, the Adriatic. Naval commanders were faced with complex problems in a situation of neither war nor peace. The collapse of the Ottoman, Russian and… Read Abstract »

The second in a projected set of five volumes dealing with Anglo America Naval Relations, this volume brings together documents from the period 1919-1939 which was dominated by a series of naval arms limitation and disarmament conferences. The book also includes a section of documents that deal with encounters of serving officers and men of… Read Abstract »

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 »

During the course of the Anglo-German naval race, the British Admiralty found a regular flow of information on Germany’s naval policy, on her warship construction and on the technical progress of her fleet to be absolutely vital. It was only on the basis of accurate calculations of Germany’s maritime development that the framers of British… Read Abstract »

The capacity of navies to influence world events through control of seaborne trade was profoundly affected by nineteenth-century developments in economic theory, commercial organization, and naval technology. In turn, these changing circumstances led, from the outbreak of the Russian war in 1854, to repeated attempts to rewrite the international law of belligerent rights at sea…. Read Abstract »

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 »

The Tenth Cruiser Squadron of the Grand Fleet had the task of patrolling the seas between Scotland and Greenland to intercept enemy ships trying to escape into the ocean and merchant ships who could be carrying goods destined for Germany. This was a task of great political sensitivity, since almost all the ships intercepted were… Read Abstract »

Signals intelligence played a vital role in the Allied defeat of the U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. This book presents documents which show the role of signals intelligence during the Battle of the Atlantic. Focusing on the collection, analysis, and employment of signals intelligence materials by the Royal and United States navies during… Read Abstract »

The year 2001 marked the centenary of the Royal Navy’s submarine service. This volume opens with an examination of the background to the Board of Admiralty’s decision in 1900 to buy submarines, bringing to light documents that go a long way toward dispelling the myth that Britain’s pre-1914 naval leaders were opposed to the development… Read Abstract »

This volume contains the U-boat situations and trends written by the staff of the Admiralty’s Operational Intelligence Centre during the Second World War. Based largely on communications intelligence, the U-boat situations and trends were designed to inform a small number of senior officers and high officials of the latest events and developments in the Allied… Read Abstract »

During the First World War German use of unrestricted submarine warfare, supported by extensive mining and surface raids, very nearly forced Britain out of the war in 1917. The island’s heavy dependence on seaborne supplies was gravely threatened again in 1939, supplemented this time by air attacks on shipping. After the war Commanders Waters and… Read Abstract »

This collection of high policy documents charts Britain’s difficulties in defending the Empire in a time of ‘imperial overstretch’. The 20th century saw the rise of several great maritime and military powers and the relative decline of British strength, which created major defence problems for the British Empire. Various solutions were attempted, such as ententes… Read Abstract »

To celebrate its centenary in 1993, the Society produced a special volume covering seven hundred and fifty years of British naval history, containing 535 documents carefully selected by leading experts. See the contents of British Naval Documents 1204-1960.

The working relationship between the Royal Navy and the US Navy began in a tentative and stuttering fashion in the dark days of 1917 and prior to the American entry into World War One they were largely unacquainted. Relations between the individual members of the two services in distant waters appear to have been cordial… Read Abstract »

This volume needs to be read in conjunction with NRS Volume 115 Policy and Operations in the Mediterranean, 1912-1914. The Mediterranean was a secondary theatre for the Royal Navy and the ships tended to be ageing and retired from fleet duty. France assumed the major responsibility, along with Italy but the Royal Navy retained a… Read Abstract »

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 »

The documents in this focus on the Mediterranean in the years 1912 to 1914 are grouped in four sections, each with an informative Introduction. The first covers the debate on British policy in the Mediterranean which occurred soon after Winston Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty, as well as the conversations between Britain and… Read Abstract »

The documents in this large volume describes the earliest beginnings of naval aviation when the potential of airpower became apparent to both military and naval men. The documents are largely from the National Archives, with a small minority from personal collections in repositories such as Kings College London and the National Maritime Museum. During the… Read Abstract »