British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45

2012-12-20 History

Author : Angus Konstam
Release : 2012-12-20
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 411/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45 by : Angus Konstam

Download or read book British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45 written by Angus Konstam. This book was released on 2012-12-20. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier program in the late 1930s. In 1938, the Royal Navy launched the HMS Ark Royal, its first-ever purpose-built aircraft carrier. This was quickly followed by others, including the highly-successful Illustrious class. Smaller and tougher than their American cousins, the British carriers were designed to fight in the tight confines of the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Over the next six years, these carriers battled the Axis powers in every theatre, attacking Italian naval bases, hunting the Bismark, and even joining the fight in the Pacific. This book tells the story of the small, but resilient, carriers and the crucial role they played in the British war effort.

British Aircraft Carriers 1945–2010

2023-04-27 History

Author : Angus Konstam
Release : 2023-04-27
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 899/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis British Aircraft Carriers 1945–2010 by : Angus Konstam

Download or read book British Aircraft Carriers 1945–2010 written by Angus Konstam. This book was released on 2023-04-27. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the Royal Navy flagships that led the fleet through the Cold War, ensured victory in the Falklands War, and saw action in Iraq and the Balkans. In 1945, at the end of World War II, the Royal Navy's carrier fleet proved essential to the post-war world. Royal Navy carriers fought in the Korean War with the UN fleet, in the debacle at Suez, and in British operations in the last days of Empire, in Malaya, Borneo and Aden. But most famously, they were the key to the Royal Navy's victory in the Falklands campaign, and they went on to fight in the two Iraq wars. Illustrated throughout with new profiles of the key carriers and their development, as well as a cutaway of HMS Victorious and superb new illustrations of the carriers in action, this book explains how the Royal Navy's air power changed throughout the Cold War and beyond. Renowned naval historian Angus Konstam explains how the World War II carriers were rebuilt in a pioneering modernization that allowed them to operate a new generation of naval jets. As carriers became more expensive to operate, the Royal Navy had to scrap its conventional fast jets and introduce a new generation of light carriers designed for the innovative Harrier 'jump jet'. When the Falklands War broke out, it was one of these new carriers and one veteran carrier from World War II that gave the Task Force the fighters it needed to defend itself in hostile waters and retake the islands. Covering a period of dramatic change for the Royal Navy, this book is a history of the Royal Navy's most important ships throughout the Cold War, the retreat from Empire, and the Falklands and Iraq wars, up to the moment Royal Navy fixed-wing air power was temporarily axed in 2010.

The Fleet Air Arm Handbook, 1939-1945

2001 History

Author : David W. Wragg
Release : 2001
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Fleet Air Arm Handbook, 1939-1945 by : David W. Wragg

Download or read book The Fleet Air Arm Handbook, 1939-1945 written by David W. Wragg. This book was released on 2001. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-45 is the most comprehensive review available of the Royal Navy's air power during the war years. Starting with a brief history, the book progresses with a full war diary of all of the major operations in a gripping narrative account. In-depth analysis reveals what it was like to work as part of the Fleet Air Arm during the war - the food, accommodation, training, activities and uniform; and gives a glimpse into the men's characters. At the outbreak of the Second World War, British naval aviation was in the midst of chaos and confusion. But as this book shows, the rapid expansion of the Fleet Air Arm was one of the major achievements of the war. The author provides a detailed look at the aircraft, squadrons, naval air stations and aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers involved. The book ends with a review of what is available at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton.

The British Carrier Strike Fleet after 1945

2015-10-30 History

Author : David Hobbs
Release : 2015-10-30
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 12X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The British Carrier Strike Fleet after 1945 by : David Hobbs

Download or read book The British Carrier Strike Fleet after 1945 written by David Hobbs. This book was released on 2015-10-30. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A comprehensive study of the bittersweet post WWII history of British naval aviation . . . will become a standard reference for its subject.”—Firetrench In 1945 the most powerful fleet in the Royal Navy’s history was centered on nine aircraft carriers. This book charts the post-war fortunes of this potent strike force; its decline in the face of diminishing resources, its final fall at the hands of uncomprehending politicians, and its recent resurrection in the form of the Queen Elizabeth class carriers, the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. After 1945 “experts” prophesied that nuclear weapons would make conventional forces obsolete, but British carrier-borne aircraft were almost continuously employed in numerous conflicts as far apart as Korea, Egypt, the Persian Gulf, the South Atlantic, East Africa and the Far East, often giving successive British Governments options when no others were available. In the process the Royal Navy invented many of the techniques and devices crucial to modern carrier operations angled decks, steam catapults and deck-landing aids while also pioneering novel forms of warfare like helicopter-borne assault, and tactics for countering such modern plagues as insurgency and terrorism. This book combines narratives of these poorly understood operations with a clear analysis of the strategic and political background, benefiting from the author's personal experience of both carrier flying and the workings of Whitehall. It is an important but largely untold story, of renewed significance as Britain once again embraces carrier aviation. “Makes a timely and welcome appearance . . . will make compelling reading for those with serious concern for our naval affairs.”—St. Andrews in Focus

Carriers at War, 1939–1945

2013-06-19 History

Author : Adrian Stewart
Release : 2013-06-19
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 323/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Carriers at War, 1939–1945 by : Adrian Stewart

Download or read book Carriers at War, 1939–1945 written by Adrian Stewart. This book was released on 2013-06-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author begins this fascinating book by tracing aircraft carrier development between the Wars. Eschewed by the Germans and Italians and with Britain squandering her early lead, the Americans and Japanese became front-runners.The Royal Navy learnt the hard way in the early stages of WW2 with the loss of HMS Courageous and Glorious but, following successes at Taranto and Matapan, the value of carriers was no longer in doubt. The sinking of Bismarck and the cataclysmic Pearl Harbor attack signaled the end of the Battleship era. Stung by such spectacular losses the US Navy threw its weight behind the carrier concept and the naval war in the Pacific (Guadalcanal, East Solomon Islands, Santa Cruz, Midmay and Leyte Gulf) revolved round carrier-borne aircraft.Meanwhile the carrier became pivotal in protecting vital convoys in the Atlantic, Arctic and Mediterranean. The author backs his arguments with copious examples of naval and air action.

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British Aircraft Carriers 1939–45

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