News, Articles and Comment

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.

Ed. The author agrees with CDR de Silva that much has changed in the “promotion sweepstakes” but that service culture bottlenecks and educational barriers still linger.

Ed. No stranger to historical debate, the author defends the appeasement policy of the late 1930s in view of the dire need to buy time for rapid rearmament.

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.

Ed. The author responds to CDR Oliver de Silva’s featured article (111/3, p. 66) and raises some qualifications about the future of the Royal Marines within the Navy’s service culture.

Ed. In July 1997 (NR 85/3, p. 202) Lt G D Franklin reviewed the experience of the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) in the war against Japan, observing that, although the valuable combat lessons paid dividends in Korea, by the time of the Falklands conflict they had seemingly been forgotten. Republished here for the 78^th anniversary of VJ Day. A 25 minute read.

Ed. The Naval Review‘s Briefing Room is being expanded to include expert summaries on UK Defence institutions and formations. Currently on file are summaries of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and, reproduced here, the United Kingdom Carrier Strike Group (UKCSG).

Ed. For a number of recent editions we have been using the reverse of the address form that accompanies the hardcopy as another form of communication. Inevitably, a number of these are reaching the recycling bin unread, so for those that missed it, it is now included in the edition contents and reproduced here as well.

Ed. When was the last time we spent enough on Defence and Security, the nation’s insurance policy? The problem, of course, is that democratic nations decide the answer to this question through elected politicians, not the military; many wise people are involved in reviewing and offering their best analysis of the likely future turn of events but this, as history regularly reminds us, is an inexact science. It all boils down to how effectively we communicate the power of the argument – articulating the threat and the likelihood versus the size of the purse and the amount of risk a government is prepared to accept in the level of military and security capability it wishes to invest in.