Gunboats of World War I

Gunboats of World War I PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472805003
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 68

Book Description
Naval action in World War I conjures up images of enormous dreadnoughts slugging it out in vast oceans. Yet the truth is that more sailors were killed serving on gunboats and monitors operating far from the naval epicentre of the war than were ever killed at Jutland. Gunboat engagements during this war were bloody and hard fought, if small in scale. Austrian gunboats on the Danube fired the first shots of the war, whilst German, British and Belgian gunboats fought one of the strangest, most intriguing naval campaigns in history in far-flung Lake Tanganyika. From the Mediterranean to the Black Sea, from the Balkans to Mesopotamia, gunboats played an influential part in the story of World War I. This detailed technical guide to the gunboats of all the major navies of the war means that, for the first time, the story can be told.

American Amphibious Gunboats in World War II

American Amphibious Gunboats in World War II PDF Author: Robin L. Rielly
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147660214X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Book Description
As the United States began its campaign against numerous Japanese-held islands in the Pacific, Japanese tactics required them to develop new weapons and strategies. One of the most crucial to the island assaults was a new group of amphibious gunboats that could deliver heavy fire close in to shore as American forces landed. These gunboats were also to prove important in the interdiction of inter-island barge traffic and, late in the war, the kamikaze threat. Several variations of these gunboats were developed, based on the troop carrying LCI(L). They included three conversions of the LCI(L), with various combinations of guns, rockets and mortars, and a fourth gunboat, the LCS(L), based on the same hull but designed as a weapons platform from the beginning. By the end of the war the amphibious gunboats had proven their worth.

River Gunboats

River Gunboats PDF Author: Roger Branfill-Cook
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1848323808
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1268

Book Description
A comprehensive, fully illustrated encyclopedia of river gunboats from the early 19th century to the present day. The first recorded engagement by a steam-powered warship took place on a river, when in 1824 the Honorable East India Company’s gunboat Diana went into action on the Irrawaddy in Burma. In the 150 years that followed, river gunboats played a significant part in over forty campaigns and individual actions around the world. This comprehensive reference book covers the development of riverboat warfare from the early 19th century to current riverine combat vessels in service today. River gunboats proved to be the decisive factor in a wide range of conflicts across the world—from the New Zealand Wars to the American Civil War, and from both World Wars to the conflicts in Indochina and Vietnam. This lavishly illustrated encyclopedia describes the river gunboats that saw action, plus those converted river steamers which took part in combat. This volume also includes maps of the river systems where they operated, together with narratives of the principal actions involving river gunboats.

British Motor Gun Boat 1939–45

British Motor Gun Boat 1939–45 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472803191
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 111

Book Description
Motor Gun Boats were the “Spitfires of the Seas” of the Royal Navy. Bristling with small-calibre guns and machine guns, they served in a variety of roles during the War. In the early war period they battled against German E-boats in the English Channel, then went on the offensive, searching the enemy shore for targets of opportunity. At other times, they ran support for Motor Torpedo Boats and were used to deliver commandos on various raids. Naval Warfare expert, Angus Konstam, tells the story of these small, but destructive boats, beginning with their design and development and carrying through to their operational use in both the European and Mediterranean theatres of World War II.

Mississippi River Gunboats of the American Civil War 1861–65

Mississippi River Gunboats of the American Civil War 1861–65 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472800613
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 129

Book Description
At the start of the American Civil War, neither side had warships on the Mississippi River and in the first few months both sides scrambled to gather a flotilla, converting existing riverboats for naval use. These ships were transformed into powerful naval weapons despite a lack of resources, trained manpower and suitable vessels. The creation of a river fleet was a miracle of ingenuity, improvisation and logistics, particularly for the South. This title describes their design, development and operation throughout the American Civil War.

The U.S. Navy's "Interim" LSM(R)s in World War II

The U.S. Navy's Author: Ron MacKay, Jr.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476623287
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
The "Interim" LSM(R) or Landing Ship, Medium (Rocket) was a revolutionary development in rocket warfare in World War II and the U.S. Navy's first true rocket ship. An entirely new class of commissioned warship and the forerunners of today's missile-firing naval combatants, these ships began as improvised conversions of conventional amphibious landing craft in South Carolina's Charleston Navy Yard during late 1944. They were rushed to the Pacific Theatre to support the U.S. Army and Marines with heavy rocket bombardments that devastated Japanese forces on Okinawa in 1945. Their primary mission was to deliver maximum firepower to enemy targets ashore. Yet LSM(R)s also repulsed explosive Japanese speed boats, rescued crippled warships, recovered hundreds of survivors at sea and were deployed as antisubmarine hunter-killers. Casualties were staggering: enemy gunfire blasted one, while kamikaze attacks sank three, crippled a fourth and grazed two more. This book provides a comprehensive operational history of the Navy's 12 original "Interim" LSM(R)s.

British Gunboats of Victoria's Empire

British Gunboats of Victoria's Empire PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472851579
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 49

Book Description
A beautifully illustrated history of the iconic ocean-going gunboats of British 'gunboat diplomacy', the hundreds of little warships that for 50 years demonstrated the power of the Royal Navy worldwide, and which maintained and enforced the rule of the British Empire at its peak. In recent years the phrase 'gunboat diplomacy' has been used to describe the crude use of naval power to bully or coerce a weaker nation. During the reign of Queen Victoria, 'gunboat diplomacy' was viewed very differently. It was the use of a very limited naval force to encourage global stability and to protect British overseas trade. This very subtle use of naval power was a vital cornerstone of the Pax Britannica. Between the Crimean War (1854–56) and 1904, when the gunboat era came to an abrupt end, the Royal Navy's ocean-going gunboats underpinned Britain's position as a global power and fulfilled the country's role as a 'global policeman'. Created during the Crimean War, these gunboats first saw action in China. However, they were also used to hunt down pirates in the coasts and rivers of Borneo and Malaya, to quell insurrections and revolts in the Caribbean or hunt slavers off the African coast. The first gunboats were designed for service in the Crimean War, but during the 1860s a new generation of ships began entering service – vessels designed specifically to fulfill this global policing role. Better-designed gunboats followed, but by the 1880s, the need for them was waning . The axe finally fell in 1904 when Admiral 'Jackie' Fisher brought the gunboat era to an end in order to help fund the new age of the dreadnought. This exciting New Vanguard title describes the rise and fall of the gunboat, the appearance and capability of these vital warships, and what life was like on board. It also examines key actions they were involved in.

German S-Boats in Action in the Second World War

German S-Boats in Action in the Second World War PDF Author: Hans Frank
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783830298
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Book Description
A detailed narrative of S-boat, or schnellboot, actions during World War II in all the theatres where they were deployed. The author, describes, with the help of a multitude of maps and photographs, all the incidents that these 45-knot fast attack craft were involved in. The German motor torpedo boat (German: S-boot, English: E-boat) was a controversial subject in the pre-war period of German naval rearmament. As late as 1938, the Fleet Commander recommended that S-boot building be terminated on the grounds that the craft was merely a 'weapon of opportunity' without a defined role. This outlook changed dramatically after the first wartime successes. Soon the S-boot was required on all fronts, and the area of operations. In this volume the operational deployment of the S-Boot in these theatres is given comprehensive treatment for the first time, and not purely from the isolated viewpoint of S-Boot warfare, but as an integral part of the overall military objectives of the time. This study of the effectiveness of the S-Boot, its successes and failures, is based on war diary entries and previously unseen original sources. It is a first-class account of this German naval arm in which survived to be the last class of German surface warship still carrying the offensive to the enemy.
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