News, Articles and Comment

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a book providing an account of the Sinai campaign in the First World War, to defend the Suez Canal from Ottoman/German attack.

Ed. The author proposes adapting the Royal Australian Navy’s ‘Ship Zero’ concept for the Royal New Zealand Navy, by providing a pathway for crew training and integration before platforms are fully delivered. A 15 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a short book exploring the development and employment of monitors by the Royal Navy, in particular during the Second World War.

Ed. Our correspondent with the UK Carrier Strike Group relays the increasing tempo of joint and multinational operations as HIGHMAST continues. A 5 minute read.

Ed. An extensive and personal investigation into the microhistory of HMS Wager, a W-class destroyer that operated with the British Pacific Fleet (BPF). Written for the 80^th Anniversary of VJ Day.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers a concise history of Operation RO-GO, a Japanese attempt to counter the Allied advance in New Guinea and the Solomons, in late 1943.

Ed. For this Remembrance Sunday, the author provides an overview of the numerous naval memorials located in the London area. An article on the National Memorial Arboretum 30 years on will follow tomorrow.  A 15 minute read.

Ed. In the words of Admiral Lord Nelson

“No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.”

Even if the Officer of the Watch has become the Logistics Officer! This account does not mention how seriously wounded Stanning was when the Bridge took the direct hit. The sangfroid of both Churchill and Geoffery Stanning belongs to a different age. With grateful thanks to members of the Naval Review Forum, and the RNZN oral history project. And, of course, Sir Winston Churchill, Admiral Geoffery Stanning and George Heppell. “The price of freedom is not free!”

Ed. This article, drawing on German-language sources, presents a fresh biographical sketch of Maximilian von Spee’s naval career, a man of his time who realistically embodied German sea power, in the Mahanian tradition, until his demise at the Falkland Islands on 8 December 1914. A 20 minute read.