News, Articles and Comment

Ed. The author investigates the crisis planning and political justifications for the US invasion of the island nation of Grenada on 25^th October 1983. A 15 minute read.

Ed. Our correspondent proposes a challenge for the NR’s readership: The author, who is aged 89 and has contributed many articles over the years to the NR, more in a humorous vein than a serious one, takes a look back at the Royal Navy in war and peace over the past century and ponders some of its lighter social changes. A 5 minute read.

Ed. This article, the second in a trilogy, focuses on the development of situational assessment by naval commanders, utilising then recent historical examples to demonstrate the synergistic properties of intelligence in modern warfare. Reproduced from the NR‘s Archive, originally published in August 2007 [95/3, p. 245]. A 30 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book exploring the US Navy’s use of naval landing parties, and their guns, from the Civil War through various operations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, up to the Second World War.

Ed. As a diversity and inclusion resource for Black History Month, in the second article of a two-part series, the author examines how slavery, the law and conflict pushed black sailors into the Royal Navy before and after Trafalgar, and how those black sailors were treated. A 40 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book exploring the ‘Pirates’ Code’, and the wider issues surrounding 18th century piracy.

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. 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.