U.S. Destroyers - An Illustrated Design History

As for the shipbuilders. BuShips remained independent until 1966, when a general reorganization resulted in its redesignation as the Naval Ship Systems Command under OpNav control. In 1974 what was then known as NavShips merged with NavOrd, the successor to BuOrd (which for a time had been combined with BuAer as the Bureau of Naval Weapons). However, this integration into the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) had little real effect until 1979, when much closer coordination began. These organizational notes merely name the players in a complex game, and in some cases players not nominally significant more than pulled their weight. The key modern example is Admiral H.G. Rickover, who again and again was able to use congressional influence to override OSD and even Navy objections to the construction of nuclear sur-face combatants. In recent times there have also been such influential congressmen as Mendel Rivers and Carl Vinson, and growing congressional staffs (and the increasingly powerful General Accounting Office) are having a pronounced effect.

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The Imperial Russian Navy

Russian naval history has been dominated by her geography and by the fact that most of her coastline is icebound for part of the year, or else inhibited by narrow exits to the open seas. Rarely have these exits been directly under Russian control. Hence much of Russia's history has been dominated by a succession of wars in which she has striven to achieve control of those areas that will give her free access either to the Arctic Ocean, the North Sea or the Mediterranean and thence into the Atlantic, or else to ice-free bases on the Pacific coast. One of the most important objectives which faced Russia at the end of the 17th century was the need to gain outlets in the Black Sea and the Baltic. In achieving such aims the right conditions would be created for Russia to expand her seaborne trading ties with foreign countries. At the same time such outlets would ensure the external security of the country, whose frontiers were under attack from the Tartars in the Crimea, the Turks in the south and the Swedes in the north.

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Anatomy of The Ship - The Flower Class Corvette - Agassiz

The subject of this book is a Flower class corvette built in Vancouver and commissioned in January 1941. Agassiz (pronounced Aga-see) in her as-built, short forecastle configuration differed considerably from the common conception of the long-forecastle 'Flower', such as the museum ship HMCS Sackville in Halifax, Nova Scotia, or the Greek corvette Kriezis (ex-Coreopsis) which represented HMS Compass Rose in the film The Cruel Sea, or 1/72 scale models from the popular Matchbox/Revell kit. It was, however, the short-forecastle configuration that was in the mind's eye of Nicholas Monsarrat when he wrote The Cruel Sea, HM Corvette, East Coast Corvette and others, and this version best represents the Canadian Flowers as they were flung into the thick of the bitter Atlantic convoy battles of 1941-2, described in James Lamb's The Corvette Navy and Alan Easton's 50 North: Canada's Atlantic Battleground.

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Cruisers and Battle Cruisers - An Illustrated History of Their Impact

The contemporary warship that naval scholars and sailors refer to as a cruiser is a vessel with defined structural characteristics suited for certain tasks. These identifying guidelines, however, were not present during the Age of Fighting Sail from the mid—eighteenth to the early nineteenth centuries from which the cruiser emerged as a warship of the world's navies. The term "cruiser" at first did not apply to any single type of vessel but rather to a warship capable of operating independently from the main battle fleet. Their tasks included reconnaissance for the ships-of-the-line (the battleships during the Age of Fighting Sail), commerce protection, and commerce raiding. While relatively small sloops were employed in these tasks, the vessel most commonly used for these functions in the Age of Fighting Sail was the frigate, the ancestor of today's modern cruiser. By the end of the eighteenth century, these were the workhorses in the navies of the world's major maritime powers.

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Cox's Navy - Salvaging the German High Seas Fleet at Scape Flow 1924-1931

During the 1890s the community centre was known as the Dudley Road Free School, and the only formal education young Ernest received was the seven years he spent in its classrooms. Ernest Frank Guelph Cox was born on 12 March 1883, a spit away from the Free School, at 55 Pool Street, in a cramped Victorian terrace. The area was in the heart of Wolverhampton's industrial metalworking district, which Ernest saw every day as he walked to school. He would set off from his house at the end of Pool Street, past the Drayton tin plate works, then into Drayton Street itself, and finally past the Vulcan ironworks on his five-minute walk to the school gates.
Altogether his parents, Thomas and Eliza, raised eleven children -Ernest being their last. Thomas was a tailor by trade and he tried hard to provide for his large family, but could not manage without the help of his elder children. In true Victorian Black Country spirit Ernest was brought up thinking that earning was better than learning, and at the age of fourteen, he gave up the chance of higher education to help support his family. Thomas managed to find Ernest a job as an errand boy for a draper friend, but he hated the toil. Whatever the weather, he was seen trudging around the streets of Wolverhampton between the different drapers' shops clutching packages, letters or samples of stock, or sweeping floors and dusting shelves. The monotony was smothering him slowly and, regardless of his parents' wishes, Ernest's ability to stick with the mind-numbing drudgery began to wilt.

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Coastal Forces at War - The Royal Navy's 'little Ships' in The Narrow Seas 1939-45

The months before the outbreak of the Second World War were halcyon days for many of those who had been posted to Malta to serve in the 1st MTB Flotilla. Based in Msida Creek. Grand Harbour, the flotilla was made up of twelve 60ft powerboats. With the exception of the flotilla leader, each boat was commanded by a young RN lieutenant. They went to sea regularly to practise torpedo attacks, sometimes using their depot ship as the target; they played the role of the enemy, testing the operational capability of the Mediterranean Fleet. Life aboard these high-speed boats offered little in the way of home comforts. The crew, who lived on board, was made up of commanding officer, coxswain, seaman torpedo man, gunner, telegraphist, trained man (able seaman), leading stoker and stoker. Later, first lieutenants were appointed and then an engine room artificer (ERA) or motor mechanic. The boats had an enclosed wheelhouse with two clear-view screens. The helmsman worked the three throttle controls. The officer on watch would sit up outside, above the wheelhouse. with his legs hanging down through a manhole and his feet just behind the helmsman's head. Alternatively, the watch-keeper could stand on a ledge inside the wheelhouse with his head protruding out of the manhole, which gave him more protection from the elements but considerably less visibility.

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Castle Class Corvettes

An early source of official information was found to be 'The Ship Movement Orders' files. Two sets of these voluminous files are located in the UK. One at the Maritime Museum. Greenwich, and the other at the library of the Royal Navy Museum, Portsmouth. Mr and Mrs Denis Beckett. Mr R.C. Angel and Mr. Frank Shipp, all of the Association, volunteered to help with the extraction of the relevant information from these files. It is very largely due to their work that the basis of the data bank of ship locations and movements was compiled. Subsequently this work was amplified by reference to the files at the Public Record Office; particularly those of the ADM 187/30-50 series, the Pink List, and the ADM 199/1714-1719 series providing information on Convoy and Escort Dispositions at Sea. The help and patience of the staff of the Public Records Office was of considerable value in identifying the sources of relevant information. Of particular importance was the identification of the senior officer's ship of the various escort groups in which the Castle Class Convettes formed part. This was necessary because the Reports of Proceedings of the escort groups are filed under the names of the senior officers' ships.

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Battlecruisers

Between 1900 and 1914 the Royal Navy underwent a rapid revolutionary change as a result of a combination of major technical developments and the arrival at a senior level of officers who were ready and willing to to use these developments to maintain Britain's position as the world's leading naval power. These changes effectively resulted in the total replacement of the frontline ships of the fleet with vessels that were larger, more powerful and, in what was expected to be the conditions of a modern naval war, more capable. This was, however, undertaken without direct experience of such a war and to a large extent the success or otherwise of the fleet depended on the accuracy of the decisions and assumptions made by these officers. Foremost among their number was Admiral Sir John Fisher, First Sea Lord 1904-11, who initiated what was to become known as the Dreadnought Revolution - the introduction of the fast, all-big-gun battleship, driven by turbine machinery. On the material side this should have been Fisher's greatest achievement but he was inclined to believe that the day of the battleship was over because they were too vulnerable to the torpedo and mine. He saw the future in the development of torpedo craft, particularly the submarine, and the armoured cruiser, but his writings on this subject are confused. The obvious conclusion to draw from Fisher's statements is that he considered that torpedo craft and mines would take care of naval operations in European waters while the armoured cruiser would secure the deep ocean against commerce raiders.

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Kagero Topshots No. 11008 - Su-22 M4 UM3K

Supersonic fig'hter-bomber aircraft of variable geometry wings. It's a mid-wing monoplane of metal construction. Its landing gear is the tricycle type with a front main wheel. The Su-22 introduced the Polish Air Force to the third generation of jets. The aircraft features the PrNK type targeting/navigation system coupled with CVM-20-22 central control computer and gyro-stabilized platform, which vastly improves the aircraft's navigation and attack capabilities. Su-22 was the first aircraft in the PAF to possess the capability of target detection without ground visibility It's also equipped with modern armament systems. The Klon-54 type laser designator (for targeting guided missiles) is mounted in the front part of the fuselage. The Su-22 can be armed with highly specialized Ch-29 L/T missiles, designed for destroying fortifications of strategic importance, anti-radar Ch-25 MP missiles, as well as a wide array of various munitions including bombs and unguided missiles. The aircraft's armament is further enhanced by two NR-30 type cannons with 80 rounds per each.

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Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947

The photographs used throughout this book have been gathered from many sources, many of which are acknowledged beneath each individual photograph. While a great number of the photographs were taken by Curtiss photographers at Curtiss factories, not one of these was obtained directly from Curtiss sources for use in this book. Since the closing of the aeroplane division of the Curliss-Wright Corporation in 1947, such material has been in storage inaccessible to researchers. The Curtiss factory photos used are copies made by the US Army, Navy, or National Air Museum or are original photographs in the hands of private collectors and former Curtiss employees. Particular mention should be made of the remarkable series of glass plate negatives made of Aerial Experiment Association and Curtiss activities from 1907 to 1914 by Mr E. T. Benner. These independent photographs provide the principal record of the work done during that period.

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Beech Aircraft and Their Predecessors

The son of Cornelius and Tommie (Hay) Beech, Walter Hershel Beech was born in Pulaski, Tennessee, on 30 January 1891. As a youth he showed mechanical aptitude, performing repair and installation work in sawmills and municipal power plants. The fever of flying caught him quite early and he made his first venture into the field of aeronautics while he was 14-years old. Using his mother's new bed sheets and a wooden frame, he built a glider. While his attempt to fly ended disastrously for the glider, the incident did not lessen his enthusiasm for flying. After attending public schools and Giles College in his native city, he was employed by an automobile company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For two years he travelled in Europe as a sales representative for this company. While in Minneapolis, he made his first recorded solo flight in a Curtiss pusher-type biplane which he acquired as a wreck and repaired in a workshop outside. On 11 July 1914 W H Beech, with little instruction from the previous owner, flew the aircraft from a meadow on his first try. From that moment flying became his prime interest. In 1917 he joined the aviation section of the United States Army Signal Corps, and as a pilot and engine expert, he was assigned to Kelly Field, Texas, where he instructed young pilots and was recognised for taking part in record-setting ferrying operations. At the close of the 1914—18 War, he remained in the Service where, as an instructor, he continued to give student fliers the benefit of his flying and mechanical experience.

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Airspeed Aircraft since 1931

Paradoxically, a major air disaster led indirectly to the appearance of Airspeed. Soon after the Government-designed and -built passenger airship, the R.101, crashed in the early morning of 5 October, 1930, on Beauvais Ridge in northern France during a rashly programmed flight to India, via Egypt, the decision was made to abandon Britain's airship building and development programme. Although its Government-sponsored, but fixed-price, and industry-constructed sister ship, the R.100, had, only six weeks before the disaster, returned to England after a reasonably successful, if incident-prone, flight to and from Canada, the design and development work on this airship was also stopped. On 2 December, 1930, the Howden, Yorkshire, base of its designers and constructors—the Airship Guarantee Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vickers under Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney as managing director—was closed down, and the technicians, design staff and other workers had to move on to new employment.

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