Nile River Gunboats 1882–1918

Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472814770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Book Description
For more than 30 years the Nile river gunboat was an indispensable tool of empire, policing the great river and acting as floating symbols of British imperial power. They participated in every significant colonial campaign in the region, from the British invasion of Egypt in 1882 to the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, when Britain finally won control of the Sudan. After that, the gunboats helped maintain British control over both Egypt and the Sudan, and played a key role in safeguarding British interests around the headwaters of the Nile – a region hotly contested by several European powers. Featuring specially commissioned artwork, this comprehensive volume offers a detailed analysis of the Nile river gunboats' entire career, from policing British colonial interests along the great river to defending Egypt against the Ottoman Turks in World War I.

River Gunboats

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 Gunboats of Victoria's Empire

Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472851595
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 83

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.

Nile River Gunboats 1882–1918

Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472814789
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Model ships with steam propulsion

Author: Thomas Hillenbrand
Publisher: Verlag für Technik und Handwerk
ISBN:
Category : Crafts & Hobbies
Languages : en
Pages : 483

Book Description
Next to railways, they are the epitome of historical technology: steamships. No wonder, then, that they also have a special appeal for model builders. To drive one's model not simply with an electric motor, but even more originally with a steam engine, is the dream of many technology fans. If the model then moves across the pond, trailing a plume of steam behind it, the enthusiasm is perfect! But how do you build such a model? What are the possibilities? Which models are suitable? These and many more questions are answered in detail by steamship specialist Thomas Hillenbrand in this book. In addition to the basics of technology and construction, he looks at various types of models, most of which he has successfully built himself - some of them very unusual constructions. The book concludes with an example of the construction of a steamship with a simple superstructure - an ideal introduction to this fascinating branch of model building. So, open the throttle and full steam ahead! From the content: • Some of the history of steam-powered ships and models • Steam as a source of power • The steam boiler • Some information about combustion and the firing of steam boilers • The different versions of the propulsion engine • Commissioning, troubleshooting and repair of the steam system • The propulsion systems of the steamship • Suitable models for steam propulsion • Installation of the steam system in the model • Presentation of different steamship models • Building the Steam Launch Presto

British Battleships 1890–1905

Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472844564
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 49

Book Description
The Royal Navy's battleships at the turn of the 20th century were the most powerful battlefleet in the world, and embodied one of the key periods in warship development - the development of the dreadnought battleship. The term 'pre-dreadnought' was applied in retrospect, to describe the capital ships built during the decade and a half before the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906. At that moment these once great warships were rendered obsolete. However, until then, they were simply called 'battleships' and were unquestionably the most powerful warships of their day. These mighty warships represented the cutting edge of naval technology. The ugly ducklings of the ironclad era had been transformed into beautiful swans, albeit deadly ones. In Britain, this period was dominated by Sir William White, the Navy's Chief Constructor. Under his guidance the mastless battleships of the 1880s gave way to an altogether more elegant type of capital ship. The period of trial and error which marked the ironclad era ushered in a more scientific style of naval architecture. As a result, these battleships were among the most powerful warships in the world during the late Victorian era, and set a benchmark for the new battle fleets produced by navies such as Japan, Russia and the United States. Illustrated throughout with full-colour artwork, this fascinating study offers a detailed and definitive guide to the design, development and legacy of the Royal Navy's battleships at the turn of the 20th century as they paved the way for the coming of the Dreadnought.

British Ironclads 1860–75

Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472826884
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 87

Book Description
In November 1859, the French warship La Gloire was launched. She was the world's first seagoing ironclad - a warship built from wood, but whose hull was clad in a protective layer of iron plate. Britain, not to be outdone, launched her own ironclad the following year - HMS Warrior - which, when she entered service, became the most powerful warship in the world. Just like the Dreadnought half a century later, this ship changed the nature of naval warfare forever, and sparked a frantic arms race. The elegant but powerful Warrior embodied the technological advances of the early Victorian era, and the spirit of this new age of steam, iron and firepower. Fully illustrated with detailed cutaway artwork, this book covers the British ironclad from its inception and emergence in 1860, to 1875, a watershed year, which saw the building of a new generation of recognisably modern turreted battleships.

Empire and Jihad

Author: Neil Faulkner
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 030025878X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Book Description
A panoramic, provocative account of the clash between British imperialism and Arab jihadism in Africa between 1870 and 1920 The Ottoman Sultan called for a "Great Jihad" against the Entente powers at the start of the First World War. He was building on half a century of conflict between British colonialism and the people of the Middle East and North Africa. Resistance to Western violence increasingly took the form of radical Islamic insurgency. Ranging from the forests of Central Africa to the deserts of Egypt, Sudan, and Somaliland, Neil Faulkner explores a fatal collision between two forms of oppression, one rooted in the ancient slave trade, the other in modern "coolie" capitalism. He reveals the complex interactions between anti-slavery humanitarianism, British hostility to embryonic Arab nationalism, "war on terror" moral panics, and Islamist revolt. Far from being an enduring remnant of the medieval past, or an essential expression of Muslim identity, Faulkner argues that "Holy War" was a reactionary response to the violence of modern imperialism.

These Bodies of Water

Author: Sabrina Mahfouz
Publisher: Tinder Press
ISBN: 1472282515
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Book Description
'Impossible to put down while you're reading, and impossible to forget about when you've finished' Glamour After a gruelling job interview where she was interrogated about everything from her political leanings to her family background, Sabrina Mahfouz realised that one unspoken question had pervaded her entire life: as a woman of Middle Eastern heritage, could she really be trusted? Years later, Sabrina found herself confronting this question and how it was specifically informed by the British Empire's historical dominance in the Middle East. Taking us on a journey of the Middle-Eastern coastlines and waterways that were so vital to the Empire's hold, and combining memoir, history, politics, myth and poetry, These Bodies of Water is a tapestry of writing that tells the unacknowledged story of Britain's relationship with the Middle East in the most revealing terms. 'A writer of staggering conviction, ingenuity and integrity' Kae Tempest 'Brilliant and profound' Nikesh Shukla 'A bold, brave look at the ways imperialism affects us all' Riz Ahmed

Gunboats of World War I

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.