Destroyer Battles

Destroyer Battles Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of Destroyer Battles book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.

Destroyer Battles

Author : Robert Stem
Publisher : Seaforth Publishing
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2008-09-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781848320079

Get Book

Destroyer Battles by Robert Stem Pdf

Fast, manoeuvrable and heavily armed, destroyers were the most aggressive surface warships of the twentieth century. Although originally conceived as a defensive screen to protect the main battlefleet from torpedo attack, the gamekeeper soon turned poacher, and became primarily a weapon of offence. As such they were involved in many hard-fought battles, using both torpedoes and guns, especially with enemy vessels of the same kind. This book recounts some of the most significant, spectacular or unusual actions in the history of destroyer warfare, from the first employment of torpedo craft during the Russo-Japanese War to the recent terrorist attack on USS Cole. With individual chapters devoted to each incident, the book may be read as a series of dramatic narratives, but each reflects a development in the tactics or technology, so taken as a whole the book amounts to a complete history of the destroyer from an unusual and previously neglected angle.

Destroyer Battles

Author : Robert C. Stem
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 441 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2008-09-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473813564

Get Book

Destroyer Battles by Robert C. Stem Pdf

Fast, manoeuvrable and heavily armed, destroyers were the most aggressive surface warships of the twentieth century. Although originally conceived as a defensive screen to protect the main battlefleet from torpedo attack, the gamekeeper soon turned poacher, and became primarily a weapon of offence. As such they were involved in many hard-fought battles, using both torpedoes and guns, especially with enemy vessels of the same kind. This book recounts some of the most significant, spectacular or unusual actions in the history of destroyer warfare, from the first employment of torpedo craft during the Russo-Japanese War to the recent terrorist attack on USS Cole. With individual chapters devoted to each incident, the book may be read as a series of dramatic narratives, but each reflects a development in the tactics or technology, so taken as a whole the book amounts to a complete history of the destroyer from an unusual and previously neglected angle.

B-25 Mitchell Vs Japanese Destroyer

Author : Mark Lardas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 81 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2021-12-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472845177

Get Book

B-25 Mitchell Vs Japanese Destroyer by Mark Lardas Pdf

The Battle of the Bismarck Sea was one of the most decisive naval battles of World War II and this highly illustrated study details the three-day fight which shaped the outcome of the war. Throughout the first year of the war in the Pacific during World War II the USAAF was relatively ineffective against ships. Indeed, warships in particular proved to be too elusive for conventional medium-level bombing. High-level attacks wasted bombs, and torpedo attacks required extensive training. But as 1942 closed, the Fifth Air Force developed new weapons and new tactics that were not just effective, they were deadly. A maintenance officer assigned to a B-25 unit found a way to fill the bombardier's position with four 0.50-cal machine guns and strap an additional four 0.50s to the sides of the bomber, firing forward. Additionally, skip-bombing was developed. This called for mast-top height approaches flying the length of the target ship. If the bombs missed the target, they exploded in the water close enough to crush the sides. The technique worked perfectly when paired with “strafe” B-25s. Over the first two months of 1943, squadrons perfected these tactics. Then, in early March, Japan tried to reinforce their garrison in Lae, New Guinea, with a 16-ship convoy – eight transports guarded by eight destroyers. The Fifth Air Force pounced on the convoy in the Bismarck Sea. By March 5 all eight transports and four destroyers had been sunk. This volume examines the mechanics of skip-bombing combined with a strafing B-25, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the combatants (B-25 versus destroyer), and revealing the results of the attacks and the reasons why these USAAF tactics were so successful.

Destroyer Battles

Author : Robert Cecil Stern
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : Destroyers (Warships)
ISBN : OCLC:939605811

Get Book

Destroyer Battles by Robert Cecil Stern Pdf

This book recounts some of the most significant, spectacular or unusual actions in the history of destroyer warfare, from the first employment of torpedo craft during the Russo-Japanese War to the recent terrorist attack on USS Cole. With individual chapters devoted to each incident, each reflects a development in the tactics or technology, so taken as a whole the book amounts to an outline history of the destroyer.

Big Gun Battles

Author : Robert C. Stern
Publisher : Seaforth Publishing
Page : 535 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2015-01-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473849358

Get Book

Big Gun Battles by Robert C. Stern Pdf

This naval history of WWII explores the advancing technology and tactics of battleships through a fascinating survey of ship-to-ship duels. While many naval battles of the Second World War were decided by the torpedo or the aerial bomb, there was a surprising number of traditional ship-to-ship engagements involving the big guns of battleships and cruisers. Big Gun Battles recounts some of the most significant and technically fascinating of these gunfire duels in a narrative that combines lively storytelling with an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing victory or defeat. Covering all theatres of the naval war from 1939 until the Japanese surrender, the selected incidents demonstrate the changing face of surface warfare under the influence of rapidly improving fire-control systems, radar, and other technologies. By 1945, battleships achieved the pinnacle of gunnery excellence.

South Pacific Destroyer

Author : Estate of R S Crenshaw
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2009-09-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781612515502

Get Book

South Pacific Destroyer by Estate of R S Crenshaw Pdf

Today only a select few know firsthand what it is like to feel their ship shudder from the blast of their own guns, watch enemy guns flash back, and see friendly ships erupt in flames. Russell Crenshaw is one of those few. His riveting account of the savage night battle for the Solomon Islands in early 1943 offers readers a unique insider’s perspective from the decks of one of the destroyers that bore the brunt of the struggle. Russell Crenshaw was a gunnery officer on the USS Maury. His vivid, balanced, and detailed narrative includes the Battle of Tassafarounga in November 1942 and Vella Gulf in August 1943, actions that earned his warship a Presidential Unit Citation and sixteen battle stars. Crenshaw also discusses the impact of radar and voice radio, the shortcomings of U.S. torpedoes and gunfire, and the devastating effectiveness of Japan’s super torpedo.

B-25 Mitchell vs Japanese Destroyer

Author : Mark Lardas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 81 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2021-12-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472845207

Get Book

B-25 Mitchell vs Japanese Destroyer by Mark Lardas Pdf

Throughout the first year of the war in the Pacific during World War II the USAAF was relatively ineffective against ships. Indeed, warships in particular proved to be too elusive for conventional medium-level bombing. High-level attacks wasted bombs, and torpedo attacks required extensive training. But as 1942 closed, the Fifth Air Force developed new weapons and new tactics that were not just effective, they were deadly. A maintenance officer assigned to a B-25 unit found a way to fill the bombardier's position with four 0.50-cal machine guns and strap an additional four 0.50s to the sides of the bomber, firing forward. Additionally, skip-bombing was developed. This called for mast-top height approaches flying the length of the target ship. If the bombs missed the target, they exploded in the water close enough to crush the sides. The technique worked perfectly when paired with “strafe” B-25s. Over the first two months of 1943, squadrons perfected these tactics. Then, in early March, Japan tried to reinforce their garrison in Lae, New Guinea, with a 16-ship convoy – eight transports guarded by eight destroyers. The Fifth Air Force pounced on the convoy in the Bismarck Sea. By March 5 all eight transports and four destroyers had been sunk This volume examines the mechanics of skip-bombing combined with a strafing B-25, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the combatants (B-25 versus destroyer), and revealing the results of the attacks and the reasons why these USAAF tactics were so successful.

Battle Class Destroyers

Author : Patrick Boniface
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Battle Class (Destroyers)
ISBN : 1904459285

Get Book

Battle Class Destroyers by Patrick Boniface Pdf

A history of royal navy battle class destroyers.

USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer

Author : Mark Stille
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2012-11-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781780961194

Get Book

USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer by Mark Stille Pdf

This book covers the fierce night naval battles fought between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during late 1943 as the Allies advanced slowly up the Solomons Islands toward the major Japanese naval base at Rabaul. During this period, several vicious actions were fought featuring the most modern destroyers of both navies. Throughout most of 1942, the Imperial Navy had held a marked edge and a key ingredient of these successes was their destroyer force, which combined superior training and tactics with the most capable torpedo in the world. Even into 1943 mixed Allied light cruiser/destroyer forces were roughly handled by Japanese destroyers. After these battles, the Americans decided to stop chasing Japanese destroyers with cruisers so the remainder of the battles in 1943 (with one exception) were classic destroyer duels. The Americans still enjoyed the technical edge provided to them by radar, and now added new, more aggressive tactics. The final result was the defeat of the Imperial Navy's finely trained destroyer force and the demonstration that the Japanese were unable to stop the Allies' advance.

USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer

Author : Mark Stille
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 82 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2012-11-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781849086240

Get Book

USN Destroyer vs IJN Destroyer by Mark Stille Pdf

This book covers the fierce night naval battles fought between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during late 1943 as the Allies advanced slowly up the Solomons Islands toward the major Japanese naval base at Rabaul. During this period, several vicious actions were fought featuring the most modern destroyers of both navies. Throughout most of 1942, the Imperial Navy had held a marked edge and a key ingredient of these successes was their destroyer force, which combined superior training and tactics with the most capable torpedo in the world. Even into 1943 mixed Allied light cruiser/destroyer forces were roughly handled by Japanese destroyers. After these battles, the Americans decided to stop chasing Japanese destroyers with cruisers so the remainder of the battles in 1943 (with one exception) were classic destroyer duels. The Americans still enjoyed the technical edge provided to them by radar, and now added new, more aggressive tactics. The final result was the defeat of the Imperial Navy's finely trained destroyer force and the demonstration that the Japanese were unable to stop the Allies' advance.

Tribals, Battles & Darings

Author : Alexander Clarke
Publisher : Seaforth Publishing
Page : 424 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2020-10-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781526772916

Get Book

Tribals, Battles & Darings by Alexander Clarke Pdf

The conception and evolution—through inter-war tensions, global war, and years of Cold War hostility—of the Royal Navy’s large fleet destroyers. The Tribal class destroyers are heroes of the Altmark incident, of the battle of Narvik, and countless actions across all theatres of operation. Yet there has been surprisingly little written about these critical ships, still less about their wartime successors, the Battle class, or their postwar incarnations, the Daring class. This book seeks to rectify this by describing the three classes, each designed under different circumstances along destroyer lines but to general-purpose light cruiser form, from the interwar period through to the 1950s, and the author explains the procurement process for each class in the context of the needs and technology of the times. Taken together these classes represent the genesis of the modern general-purpose destroyer, breaking from the torpedo boat destroyer form into a self-reliant, multi-purpose combatant capable of stepping up to the cruiser’s traditional peacetime patrol missions whilst also fulfilling the picket and fighting duties of the wartime light cruiser or heavy destroyer. This is the first work to analyze these three classes side by side, to examine their conception, their creation and their operational stories, many heroic, and provide an insight into ship design, operation and culture. In doing so, the book aims to contribute a better understanding of one of the most significant periods in the Royal Navy’s history. In its clear description of the genesis of the modern destroyer, this book will give the reader a clearer picture of its future as well. Historians, professionals and enthusiasts will all enjoy this wide-ranging and detailed study.

British Destroyers: J-C and Battle Classes

Author : Les Brown
Publisher : Pen and Sword
Page : 153 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2013-07-03
Category : History
ISBN : 9781473826687

Get Book

British Destroyers: J-C and Battle Classes by Les Brown Pdf

“A terrific author . . . invaluable to the modeler wishing to reproduce these classes of destroyers, and also to those interested in naval history.”—IPMS Magazine The ShipCraft series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeler through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sisterships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring color profiles and highly detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modeling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic survey of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references—books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites. A follow-up to ShipCraft 11 on inter-war destroyers, this new volume deals with the later classes which were the most modern British destroyers of the Second World War. Marked by a common single-funneled silhouette, they were actually very varied, ranging from the large and powerful J to N flotillas, via the austere “War Emergency” classes that were built in large numbers, to the radically different “Battle” class, designed with a powerful AA armament for service in the Pacific. “This book will be of interest to those who want an easy reference book that covers the British and Australian destroyers of this period, especially with regard to camouflage and overall appearance in service.”—Australian Naval Institute

Japanese Destroyer Captain

Author : Tameichi Hara
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2011-08-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781612513744

Get Book

Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara Pdf

This highly regarded war memoir was a best seller in both Japan and the United States during the 1960s and has long been treasured by historians for its insights into the Japanese side of the surface war in the Pacific. The author was a survivor of more than one hundred sorties against the Allies and was known throughout Japan as the "Unsinkable Captain." A hero to his countrymen, Capt. Hara exemplified the best in Japanese surface commanders: highly skilled (he wrote the manual on torpedo warfare), hard driving, and aggressive. Moreover, he maintained a code of honor worthy of his samurai grandfather, and, as readers of this book have come to appreciate, he was as free with praise for American courage and resourcefulness as he was critical of himself and his senior commanders.

Dark Waters, Starry Skies

Author : Jeffrey Cox
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 441 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2023-03-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472849885

Get Book

Dark Waters, Starry Skies by Jeffrey Cox Pdf

Esteemed Pacific War historian Jeffrey Cox has produced a fast-paced and absorbing read of the crucial New Georgia phase of the Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign during the Pacific War. Thousands of miles from friendly ports, the US Navy had finally managed to complete the capture of Guadalcanal from the Japanese in early 1943. Now the Allies sought to keep the offensive momentum won at such a high cost. This is the central plotline running through this page-turning history beginning with the Japanese Operation I-Go and the American ambush of Admiral Yamamoto and continuing on to the Allied invasion of New Georgia, northwest of Guadalcanal in the middle of the Solomon Islands and the location of a major Japanese base. Determined not to repeat their mistakes at Guadalcanal, the Allies nonetheless faltered in their continuing efforts to roll back the Japanese land, air and naval forces. Using first-hand accounts from both sides, this book vividly recreates all the terror and drama of the nighttime naval battles during this phase of the Solomons campaign and the ferocious firestorm many Marines faced as they disembarked from their landing craft. The reader is transported to the bridge to stand alongside Admiral Walden Ainsworth as he sails to stop another Japanese reinforcement convoy for New Georgia, and vividly feels the fear of an 18-year-old Marine as he fights for survival against a weakened but still determined enemy. Dark Waters, Starry Skies is an engrossing history which weaves together strategy and tactics with a blow-by-blow account of every battle at a vital point in the Pacific War that has not been analyzed in this level of detail before.

Tin Cans and Greyhounds

Author : Clint Johnson
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 320 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2019-02-12
Category : History
ISBN : 9781621577676

Get Book

Tin Cans and Greyhounds by Clint Johnson Pdf

For men on destroyer-class warships during World War I and World War II, battles were waged “against overwhelming odds from which survival could not be expected.” Those were the words Lieutenant Commander Robert Copeland calmly told his crew as their tiny, unarmored destroyer escort rushed toward giant, armored Japanese battleships at the Battle off Samar on October 25, 1944. This action-packed narrative history of destroyer-class ships brings readers inside the half-inch-thick hulls to meet the men who fired the ships' guns, torpedoes, hedgehogs, and depth charges. Nicknamed "tin cans" or "greyhounds," destroyers were fast escort and attack ships that proved indispensable to America's military victories. Beginning with destroyers' first incarnation as torpedo boats in 1874 and ending with World War II, author Clint Johnson shares the riveting stories of the Destroyer Men who fought from inside a "tin can"—risking death by cannons, bombs, torpedoes, fire, and drowning. The British invented destroyers, the Japanese improved them, and the Germans failed miserably with them. It was the Americans who perfected destroyers as the best fighting ship in two world wars. Tin Cans & Greyhounds compares the designs of these countries with focus on the old, modified World War I destroyers, and the new and numerous World War II destroyers of the United States. Tin Cans & Greyhounds details how destroyers fought submarines, escorted convoys, rescued sailors and airmen, downed aircraft, shelled beaches, and attacked armored battleships and cruisers with nothing more than a half-inch of steel separating their crews from the dark waves.