News, Articles and Comment

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 an edited volume examining the evolution of the tactics, doctrine and technology in the first half of the 20th century for naval operations at night.

Ed. The author investigates the operational command style, risk strategy, and facility for delegation of Admiral Chester Nimitz, focusing on his management and employment of subordinates including the methodical Raymond Spruance and the larger-than-life ‘Bull’ Halsey. A 30 minute read.

Ed. The author revisits the old chestnut of FAA control: should naval aviation, vital to the RN’s strike group doctrine, reside under RAF or RN control?

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book examining the largest sea battle in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944.

Ed. Sixteen years ago, in response to a History Today article for the 66^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Rules of the Game author Andrew Gordon examined the question of the strategic significance of the air battle (in which FAA pilots took part), and emphasized the RN’s role in stopping the German invasion before it could begin. Republished here from NR 95/1 for the 83^rd anniversary of the Battle. A 15 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a forthcoming book (due to be published on 28 September) from Osprey on the German High Seas Fleet in the First World War.

Ed. The author contemplates the implications of the ‘Art of Admiralty’, as explored in NR 111/3, for the mindset of the RN’s leadership as a cultural component of a maritime nation in today’s complex operating environment. A 5 minute read.

Ed. Reproduced here for the Battle’s 109^th anniversary are two first-hand accounts, one from an officer aboard a British destroyer flotilla, and the other of the action aboard HMS New Zealand from the perspective of HSH Prince George of Battenberg, Lt RN, son of the former First Sea Lord Prince Louis of Battenberg. A 15 minute read.