News, Articles and Comment

Ed. Former Naval Staff historian D. W. Waters originally presented this essay as the Presidential Address to the British Society for the History of Science in 1978. It was reprinted in the NR over two volumes in 1984 [72/3 & 72/4]. Waters’ conclusions, based on the rigorous data analysis conducted for the Defeat of the Enemy Attack upon Shipping (1957), demonstrated mathematically the superiority of escorted convoys over independent sailings during the U-boat conflicts of 1914-1918 and 1939-1945. Reproduced here as part of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic. A 40 minute read.

The latest book reviews are now available. One is of the latest edition of The Trafalgar Chronicles, the other, a fictional […]

The latest book reviews have been published, one on naval fiction set at the turn of the 20th century and […]

Ed. The first of a two-part series, as a diversity and inclusion resource for Black History Month, the author examines the role of black labour in the Atlantic maritime system, from which the Royal Navy’s black sailors were drawn during the 18th century. This instalment focuses on the tragedy of black slavery as a component of the Atlantic system, and the remarkable achievements of those slaves who nevertheless became Royal Navy sailors. A 30 minute read.

Ed. Not too unlike the Hellenstic inventor Archimedes and his patron Hiero II of Syracuse, or 20th century technologists such as Bob Noyce and William Shockley, brothers Samuel and Jeremy Bentham were a pair of functionalist Georgian characters. While Jeremy is well known for his contributions to the Reform Movement and utilitarian philosophy, the younger brother Samuel, a prototypical early steam-era inventor and Royal Navy engineer, in the mold of predecessors such as Thomas Slade and Charles Middleton, or successors like Sir Robert Seppings and Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, is less well known. The authors herein examine Samuel Bentham’s life and work. A 30 minute read.

The latest book reviews have been published, covering a history of those ships named HMS London, a two-volume look at the […]

Ed. The author surveys the naval career of John Perkins, a black Jamaican and contemporary of Nelson, whose buccaneering career in the Caribbean met with considerable success and embodied the Royal Navy’s trade interdiction mission in those waters. A 15 minute read.