Naval forces and warfare Books

Book SynopsisIn the century after 1530 the Habsburgs of Spain and the Ottoman Turks fought a maritime war that seemed destined to lead nowhere. Lasting peace was as unlikely as final triumph, in part because the principal beneficiaries of the fighting were pirates or 'corsairs' based in ports such as Malta and Algiers. It was also a war of unequal means, since the Habsburgs had too few good warships and the Ottomans too many bad ones. Phillip Williams here provides a detailed examination of the oared warships used in the fighting, the structures of political and military organization, the role of geography and the environment and the respective claims to be defending 'Christendom' and 'Islam' advanced by Habsburg rulers such as Charles V and Philip II and the Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. Providing a unique perspective on early modern maritime conflict, this book will be essential reading for all students and researchers of Mediterranean History and the early modern world.Trade Review'an excellent analysis.' Ronald H Fritze, Athens State University, Sixteenth Century Journal XLVI/1.Table of ContentsTable of Contents* Introduction The Naval Battle Chusma The Sea Wolves Those Esteemed Dreadful Monsters The Royal Armada The Shadow of God on Earth Dear Prudence The Lordship of the Sea The Shift to the Mediterranean The Problem of Holy War Conclusion

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Book SynopsisAnglo-American theoreticians have to a large extent dominated the formulation and study of modern naval strategy in Western countries. This Anglo-American dominance has resulted in a focus on how the superior power should exploit its superiority in order to realize its strategic objectives. The present study differs from other books on naval strategy by analysing a military strategy for the inferior power instead. Along with Tirpitz’s “risk theory”, The Jeune École is the most significant maritime strategy dealing with the dilemmas facing the weaker navy. This French body of naval thought is distinguished from other strategies of the weak by its elaborate prescriptions for the offensive use of naval forces. This book represents an unprecedented study of The Jeune École based on hitherto unexploited and unpublished primary sources from the Service Historique de la Marine.Trade Review“This book provides the English language reader with the only up-to-date study of this curious development since the appearance of Theodore Ropp’s dissertation-turned-book. Røksund has made some significant additions by using primary sources in the French Navy’s archives which were closed to Ropp when he did his research in the 1930s. The result is a tight story which begins with the French Navy’s surrender of her budget to finance the rebuilding of the Army after 1870 and ends with the emergence of the submarine as the first viable weapon to do what the Jeune École proposed-wage a guerre de course.” Chalmers Hood in Journal of Military History 72/1, Jan 2008Table of ContentsAcknowledgements .. vii Introduction .. ix Chapter One The Theoretical Foundation of the Jeune École .. 1 The Predecessor of the Jeune École .. 1 Strategic Assessment .. 7 Commercial Warfare .. 13 Raiding the Enemy’s Sea Lines of Communication .. 13 Bombardment of the Enemy’s Coast .. 21 The Jeune École and International Law .. 24 The Critics of the Jeune École .. 24 International Law Incompatible with War .. 27 Limited War or Total War—Impacts on Military Thinking .. 35 From Cabinet War to the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars .. 38 The American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War .. 45 Summary .. 50 Chapter Two The Jeune École in Office .. 53 Strategic Assessment .. 53 Verifying the Excellence of the Torpedo Boats .. 63 Rapprochement between Aube and the Council of Admiralty .. 77 Summary .. 81 Chapter Three The Legacy of the Jeune École .. 85 The Strategic Outlook of the French Navy up to the Fashoda Crisis .. 86 The Disciples of Aube .. 97 Total War and International Law .. 98 The Potential Enemies .. 100 The Naval Programme of the Heirs .. 105 The Return of the Jeune École to Power .. 109 The Jeune École and the Staff College .. 111 From Lockroy’s First Period as Minister of Marine to the Fashoda Crisis .. 130 Summary .. 137 Chapter Four The Fashoda Crisis and the Development of a Modern Navy .. 143 Confrontation Between France and Great Britain .. 143 Italy, the Perfect Enemy .. 156 After Fashoda .. 161 Lanessan’s Analysis .. 161 The Reform .. 165 Summary .. 174 Chapter Five The Revitalisation of the Jeune École .. 177 Changing Alliances among the European Powers .. 177 The Submarine and the Jeune École .. 189 The Pelletan Regime .. 213 Summary .. 221 Conclusion .. 225 Appendix: Ministers of Marine 1870–1914 .. 231 Bibliography .. 233 Index .. 239

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Book SynopsisA maritime adventure memoir that follows a crew of misfits hired to sail an 18th-century warship 5,000 miles to HollywoodIn the late 1990s, Patrick O'Brian's multimillion-copy-selling historical novel seriesthe AubreyMaturin series, which was set during the Napoleonic Warsseemed destined for film. With Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey and Paul Bettany as Stephen Maturin, the production only needed a ship that could stand in for Lucky Jack's HMS Surprise, with historical accuracy paramount. The filmmakers found the Rose, a replica of an 18th-century ship that would work perfectly. Only there was one problem: the Rose was in Newport, Rhode Island, not in Southern California, where they would be filming. Enter a ragtag crew of thirty oddballs who stepped up for the task, including Will Sofrin, at the time a 21-year-old wooden-boat builder and yacht racer, who joined as the ship's carpenter.All Hands on Deck is Sofrin's memoir of the epic adventure delivering the Rose to Hollywood. It's a storTrade Review“Fact stalks fiction in this epic tale. Huzzah!” * Peter Weir, Academy Award–winning co-writer, producer, and director of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World *“High-spirited and finely detailed . . . Sofrin intersperses details of life aboard the Rose with tidbits of tall ship history and enlightening commentary on Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels . . . this adventure tale will delight sailors of all stripes.” * Publishers Weekly *“Enthralling . . . Experienced sailors and landlubbers alike will find Sofrin’s work a pleasure to read.” * Kirkus *“Sofrin spares little detail, making all the issues of sailing and shipbuilding much less intimidating through carefully rendered diagrams, with all parts of the ship’s superstructure and complex rigging meticulously labeled. Fans of the movie and serious sailors will revel in Sofrin’s tale.” * Booklist *“A tale worthy of Patrick O’Brian himself … All Hands on Deck is a vivid reminder not only of how far the sailing world has come, but also of how much we still share with the Jack Tars who came before us.” * Quarterdeck *“All Hands on Deck...offers a special, tightly packaged vignette exploring the serendipity of this brief but compelling career as a shipwright and deckhand.” * Woodenboat Magazine *“A thrilling account. Readers needn’t have ever set foot on a boat to enjoy this story.” * Tracy Edwards, trailblazing round-the-world sailor *“Will Sofrin takes us on an unbelievable ride on the high seas . . . I have played pretend on the open ocean. Will Sofrin has lived the real experiences and survived to tell the tale.” * Dan Shotz, executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning Starz series Black Sails *“Like many a sailor, Will Sofrin is a wicked good storyteller, with a jaundiced eye, an impish sense of humor, and a nose for the telling detail. Lovers of the Aubrey-Maturin novels and the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World will find his account a worthy addition to the salty O’Brian world we love. You don’t want to miss it!” * Dean King, national bestselling author of A Sea of Words, Patrick O’Brian: A Life Revealed, and Skeletons on the Zahara *“While researching for paintings I have probably read hundreds of ships' logbooks from the glory days of the Royal Navy, just as Patrick O'Brian did, so I know what things looked like from the quarterdeck (there are very, very few surviving accounts from the crews). But with this book Will Sofrin gives us a great insight into the intense working life of the lower deck, now just as it was then, constantly battling the elements, gear failure, and sometimes each other.” * Geoff Hunt, marine artist and illustrator of the Patrick O'Brian book covers *“Will Sofrin’s thrilling account of the eventful, sometimes terrifying delivery of the tall ship that starred in Peter Weir’s adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s The Far Side of the World is a must-read. Even if you haven’t seen the movie or read O’Brian’s novels, this is an adventure story of the highest order.” * Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the National Book Award–winning In the Heart of the Sea and Travels with George *“All Hands on Deck is a fascinating read: a combination of a travelogue to distant lands, maritime history, and adventures and misadventures on the high seas. Through it all, author Will Sofrin is learning to live in tight and uncomfortable quarters on a tall ship alongside crewmembers of very divergent personalities. They ultimately form a team with the common goal of staying alive on an unforgiving and unpredictable ocean.” * Michael Tougias, New York Times bestselling author of Extreme Survival and A Storm Too Soon *“In the canon of classic literature is a disproportionate volume of epic tales of the sea. Almost invariably these tales focus on a young, green hand signing aboard a ship, casting off, and heading out into the great salty unknown for the first time. In All Hands on Deck, by Will Sofrin, we have a latter-day tale of a seagoing apprenticeship under sail. Lucid, personal, funny, and instructive, it could be read next to Two Years Before the Mast with no apologies. Ships and times may have changed, but the sea and young souls drawn to the sea have changed but little. This story is a worthy tale of a young man and a ship and the sea. I enjoyed it immensely.” * Captain Daniel Moreland *“People love tall ships, but the lives and culture of modern tall ship sailors are a mystery to most who attend sea festivals and the like. In All Hands on Deck, Will Sofrin accomplishes two things: He brings to light the real world of today’s traditional mariners while telling the thrilling tale of how he himself was plunged into that world. With accomplished and insightful storytelling, Sofrin recounts an extraordinary, often hair-raising voyage, and in doing so reveals to readers the lives of the modern-day sailors of the big rigs.” * James L. Nelson, award-winning author of the Norsemen Saga and Benedict Arnold’s Navy *“In 2022, Will's twenty-year-old memories of 2002 with the Rose plunge up and down, from the present to historical descriptions of their passages and landfalls over the centuries, what life aboard these kinds of ships is now, and what it used to be like. With a cast of shipmates on the replica tall ship, from bowsprit to capstan, a door is opened for the reader between a developed modern world on a well-traveled ocean route and long-gone days when it was first being sailed, written, and talked about. A lively blend of new and old adventure stories, this book bromantically and informatively bridges time on the timeless seas.” * Tania Aebi, bestselling author of Maiden Voyage and the first American woman and youngest person to sail around the world *

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