Dictionary of British Naval Battles

John D. Grainger

John D. Grainger has presented readers with a thorough and accessible reference source on British naval encounters in his book, Dictionary of British Naval Battles. Focusing on British naval encounters from the Middle Ages through modern day, Grainger offers a new resource for naval historians and those with a casual interest in naval warfare alike. Addressing not only on the major battles of British naval history but on small naval encounters as well, Grainger offers an interpretation of Britain’s naval prowess rarely covered in other accounts. In doing so, Grainger presents the development of a diverse and influential naval force that became the dominant power on the sea throughout much of history.

Grainger’s central objective is to demonstrate the breadth and multiplicity of British naval power throughout British history. Highlighting the widespread influence of Britain across the globe and its use of naval power to obtain this supremacy, Grainger aptly portrays the British navy as an active and disseminated entity almost continuously utilized. Using largely secondary sources, Grainger discusses each naval encounter in a clear and concise manor, detailing the vessels involved and their outfits, in addition to discussing the details of each event.

 Grainger organizes his work by naval vessel and individual battle, allowing him to discuss even small naval encounters largely overlooked in many British naval histories. Grainger begins his work discussing the meaning of the expressions “British”, “naval” and “dictionary”, effectively describing his definitions for the words as they pertain to the topics included in his work. Maintaining that “British” must include any navy under British rule, in one volume, Grainger effectively is able to discuss naval encounters ranging from the northern Irish attack on the Hebrides in 580 AD to Britain’s naval endeavors in the Persian Gulf. Focusing on each naval battle in turn, Grainger maintains a level of detail in each entry that surpasses many other works of the same nature.

 Grainger has produced detailed and well-crafted entries on a wide range of British naval topics, spanning from the medieval period to modern day. While his research is comprehensive, his scope remains very large, which at times can seem overwhelming. Though his general outline takes a logical and systematic approach, the wide range of topics covered has the potential to lose a reader. At times, the chronology of events is lost due to the alphabetical organization of the work, taking away from a more liminal understanding of Britain’s naval history.

Despite this, Grainger clearly addresses his organizational technique in his introduction, and provides readers with additional references at the end of each entry for those interested in learning more about specific topics. Overall, Grainger has produced a well-researched and skillfully written addition to the canon of British naval history. Grainger has developed a valuable source of knowledge on British naval events, effectively producing an important reference source on British vessels, battles, and naval warfare.

Reviewed by Caitlin Zant, East Carolina University

America’s Black Sea Fleet: The U.S. Navy Amidst War and Revolution, 1919-1921

Robert Shenk

America’s Black Sea Fleet: The U.S. Navy Amidst War and Revolution, 1919- 1923, by Robert Shenk, offers a rare glimpse of the American naval presence in post- World War I Europe and Western Asia. His holistic representation of the events surrounding the fleet’s activities, from relief work to back-door diplomacy, allows readers to immerse themselves fully in this often-overlooked segment of world history. In particular, Shenk succeeds in his goal of presenting an overarching, non-biased view of American-Turkish relations during this time, particularly concerning the Armenian genocides. In such a heated debate, it is a breath of fresh air to see Admiral Bristol represented, not as a singular ideal, but as a man, capable of good deeds even with his shortcomings.

Shenk has certainly proven himself as an historical researcher. In writing this book, he utilized a variety of public and private source material in his attempt to present a well-rounded interpretation, including diaries, ship logs, correspondence, archival collections, photographs, and more. This enterprising appetite for published and unpublished source material is impressive. In particular, his extensive use of the Mark L. Bristol papers for the good of the overall scholarly argument, rather than as propaganda for a one-sided attack, is certainly commendable. His endnotes allow ease for both the casual reader and the serious historian, as the background information and sources are present, but do not interfere with the general flow of the work.

 Shenk’s organizational scheme, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. Though most social histories are thematic, this one tends to jump across years, continents, and ships, with little to no respect for the reader. Additionally, Shenk discusses individual naval movements without giving them an appropriate context in the history of the area, though he states this as one of his goals in the preface. This is true for the end of World War I as well as the immediate after-effects in Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, and particularly post-revolutionary Russia. A more detailed account of the situation, as well as maps to orient the reader, would have been extremely helpful. Both casual readers and naval historians alike might suffer from the lack of historical context. Additionally, the writing was awkward and disjointed in many places. Decisions in word choice, phrasing, and punctuation, should have worked for the storyline, rather than against it. The overuse of parenthetic remarks was particularly frustrating. If the purpose of the endnotes was to allow for readability, Shenk could have also avoided the prolific use of parentheses, most of which he could have worked into the text or relegated to the notes section.

This book is certainly more than a naval history. While it examines naval officers, operations, and vessels, it also gives a brief insight into the society of post-World War I Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Shenk focuses on individual ships, but also on the basic human condition during this tumultuous era. This work perhaps would have benefitted from more time in the editing process. It stands, however, as a good example of primary source research and is an excellent addition to the subject literature.

Reviewed by Chelsea Freeland, East Carolina University

Passage to the World: The Emigrant Experience 1807-1940

Kevin Brown

Man’s history is one of travel and exploration. In Passage to the World: The Emigrant Experience 1807-1940, author Kevin Brown emphasizes that everyone is a migrant. This book focuses on emigration via ocean liners. Brown presents an informative account that successfully demonstrates that the journey was not without peril by reflecting on the firsthand experiences of emigrants. The trip across the ocean was more than just a planned voyage; it was instead, a rite of passage that emigrants first needed to survive.

The history depicted is collective; it acts as an amalgamation of emigrant experiences by inspecting a broad spectrum of anecdotes from various travelers. This history draws on emigrants from Eastern and Western Europe and Asia; it tells of them venturing predominately to America and Australia. The book’s time span is meant to show the highest influx of emigrants in the modern world. Emigration boomed when the slave trade ceased and continued until travel by sky became predominate in post war years. Brown’s broad interpretation may leave some readers desiring more specifics about an experience, yet readers are not neglected as the author offers comprehensive endnotes. Brown efficiently relies on primary sources, such as parliamentary and congressional papers, to support firsthand experiences on the perilous ocean voyage.

To develop the argument that crossing the ocean was a rite of passage for emigrants, Brown organized his book with themes; they are the facets of the journey, which include: parting the homeland, becoming human freight, the life of convicts on a voyage, the risks at sea, which occasionally met with death, and feeling like a stranger in the emigrants’ new home. Brown interweaves colorful descriptions of many of Charles Dickens’ popular contemporary fictions when describing conditions in steerage, utilizing literary and cinematic references to illustrate emigrants’ ocean journeys.

The author takes his readers from port of departure through port of entry. This includes the significant reasons for leaving a homeland where one is comfortable with the language and customs; it also encompasses the towns where booming emigration ports first appeared. Development is seen on vessels as conditions improve. Passage to the World touches his audiences’ empathy to convey the humility emigrants faced relegated to the status of human freight. Food preparation and hygiene are not taken lightly, and Brown smartly draws on his specialty in medicine to outline that while ocean liners fully stratified social classes, viruses and infections indiscriminately struck all people.

This history successfully molds the conglomeration of emigrant histories into a streamlined explanation that highlights the perils and livelihoods of steerage to first- class cabin passengers on ocean liners. Passage to the World cleverly shines as a welcomed addition to the general public for the collective experiences and trials faced on ocean liners. Brown’s interpretation represents the current stance on emigration; it offers a well-researched look into the risks at sea while offering a comprehensive biography for those looking to delve deeper in the studies of ocean travel.

Reviewed by Sara C. Kerfoot, East Carolina University

Britain and Colonial Maritime War in the Early Eighteenth Century: Silver, Seapower and the Atlantic

Shinsuke Satsuma

Britain and Colonial Maritime War in the Early Eighteenth Century is adapted from the author's PhD research at the University of Exeter. Satsuma identifies an argument used in Britain to promote the idea of war at sea (particularly in the new world) during the War of Spanish Succession and traces its origin, its deployment, and its evolution. Satsuma claims that this argument affected policy and helps explain some of the decisions made by various political factions, but that it is distinct from actual or ideal government policy as explored by other historians, such as Daniel Baugh's 'blue water policy'. The text relies on early eighteenth-century political writing, including letters, pamphlets and government documents, to trace the argument and understand the political attitudes towards colonial maritime war in the early eighteenth century.

The pro-maritime war argument that Satsuma identifies was historical grounded in the English experience of conflict, especially privateering, in the West Indies in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It promoted war with Spain as economically advantageous: profits from the capture of Spanish prizes, especially the Flota ships, could pay for other operations, limiting the financial burden on the nation. Additionally, war could provide an opportunity to create new trading opportunities with Spanish colonies, either through treaty or by establishing new British colonies in Spanish territory. Proponents of the argument were not unified in their approach or in their broader political ideologies, but only in their support of the idea.

 During the War of Spanish Succession, successful deployment of the pro- maritime war argument resulted in some expeditions, including to Quebec in 1710, and plans for expeditions to the West Indies and the South Seas (particularly the Pacific American coast) that were ultimately mired in political and bureaucratic issues and never carried out. Satsuma argues that the political negotiations at the end of the war appeared to offer alternative routes to securing goals similar to those advanced by supported of the pro-maritime war argument, such as the government's control of the Spanish Asiento trade, and that war began to appear less attractive. During the War of the Quadruple Alliance and Anglo Spanish Conflict of 1726-1729 the pro-maritime war argument resurfaced in a slightly different form, and by the end of the period of conflict it had changed from a tool of the government to a tool of the opposition.

 Satsuma uses the discourse surrounding war at sea to explain the decisions and actions of the government and people in power. The pro-maritime war argument examined is defined very broadly, and as such it is not surprising to find that it persists. Satsuma's more interesting contribution is revealing how the promotion of this argument persistently affected actual policy, legislation, and, in some cases, practice in terms of Britain's maritime warfare and international relations in the period.

Reviewed by Heather Hatch, Texas A&M University

Ireland and the War at Sea 1641-1653

Elaine Murphy

Elaine Murphy’s book examines maritime conflicts that occurred in the waters surrounding Ireland from 1641 to 1653. Throughout much of the seventeenth century, privateering and piracy off of the Irish coast were obstacles for the English navy.

 Ireland’s maritime activities changed significantly in the 1640s and 1650s because naval activities and privateering operations in the area escalated and became more complicated with the eruption of rebellion in Ireland and then England’s civil war.

England subsequently not only faced somewhat isolated cases of piracy, but also an expanding and organized privateering organization operating out of some of Ireland’s main port towns.

Murphy’s book is aesthetically well produced, and it has a convenient and generally easy-to-follow layout that is divided into two main parts and a series of appendices. The first part includes four chapters that progress chronologically from the beginning of the rebellion; they provide a history of the wars. She discusses the manner in which the rebellion changed naval concerns as the events at sea gained importance. Murphy then addresses the resilience of the parliamentary navy and the maritime benefits that the Cessation of 1643 provided the royalists and confederates in Ireland.

Irish privateers managed to economically destabilize the parliamentary navy as they gained prizes between 1646 and 1649, but they did not succeed in threatening parliament’s financial foundation. She also claims that the navy proved to be invaluable to Oliver Cromwell in his conquest of Ireland as it facilitated parliamentary armies in combating the royalist coalition. Details such as these emphasize the importance of sea power in warfare and provide an interesting historic perspective.

Within the three chapters of the second part of the book, Murphy analyzes aspects concerning both the parliamentary and confederate naval efforts. She discusses the various ships that were utilized during the time and the significance of maritime activity and prize taking to those involved. The author also examines the war off of the coast of Ireland using archival sources to investigate the conduct of   the   opposing forces. For example, she notes that the captain of a confederate privateer, Joseph Content, claimed to have taken around thirty-six ships, but there is no clear account of the method he used to succeed. Her use of archival material to address questions such as these in the absence of readily available narratives is extremely intriguing, and she provides information that otherwise could have been lost to antiquity.

The book has a few weaknesses despite its many strengths. Although not essential to the primary objective of the work, it would have been interesting if Murphy had provided additional details concerning the manner in which warfare involving privateers and armed merchantmen fit into a more extensive economic context of Europe around that time. Also, even though the author displays three maps in the beginning of the book, she does not integrate them into the relevant chapters or clearly illustrate the locations of naval conflicts. Nevertheless, several figures, maps, and tables included serve to visually convey information. Murphy also provides six helpful appendices that contain various details, and she incorporates her works cited in the form of endnotes along with a bibliography. The included general index, glossary, abbreviations page, and index of ships are all very useful.

Although Murphy is of the opinion that military campaigns on land often receive more attention than those at sea, she successfully utilizes her work to emphasize the importance of maritime operations around Ireland during the mid-seventeenth century. This book would be particularly useful to those interested in the politics, economics, and logistics of maritime conflict in mid-seventeenth century Ireland. Murphy’s scholarly contribution, though, can be appreciated by anyone with an interest in maritime history.

Reviewed by Alyssa Reisner, East Carolina University

Naval Leadership and Management 1650-1950: Essays in Honour of Michael Duffy

Edited by Helen Doe and Richard Harding Woodbridge

Until recently, studies of naval leadership and management have focused on the contributions of strident individuals, such as Nelson and Drake, but studies of individuals and sweeping war narratives offer a limited view of “…how naval leadership worked in the context of a large, complex, globally capable institution,” like the Royal Navy. Helen Doe and Richard Harding’s Naval Leadership and Management, 1650- 1950 is an excellent overview of the points of entry scholars may take in order to develop a wider view of the evolution of leadership and management in the Royal Navy in the 300 years leading up to World War II. The book is a collection of papers presented at a conference held in honor of Michael Duffy, a scholar who has contributed much to developing this wider view of British naval leadership.

The papers included in this anthology explore various aspects of four main themes. The first section deals with the place of the hero in the navy. The main assertion of this section is that the Royal Navy was not effective simply because of one or two heroic individuals. Instead, the navy’s efficient organization, paired with strong leaders who were able to deal not only with battle strategy, but with mundane logistical matters, were the lifeblood of an effective navy. The second section explores organizational friction in command matters, such as the confusion over the chain of command with Marine officers between 1755 and 1797. The third section is concerned with the role of management capability in the exercise of naval power. One example of this is the licensing and incentivisation of privateering vessels between 1702 and 1815. The final section deals with the evolution of management and training in the Royal Navy, especially for officers.

Papers in each of these four strains offer analysis on a variety of topics, mining source material from the British National Maritime Museum, British National Archives, the British Library, and a variety of other naval document collections. Despite the variety of topics presented in the papers, Richard Harding ably presents the overarching themes and intent of the work in the introduction. This helps to tie all the contributions together and helps the reader discern the common thread that runs through each.

Ample footnotes throughout offer clarification and expansion of ideas, and identify sources for further research.

There are a few small aspects of this work that are unfortunate. Overall, the editing of the work is weak and grammatical and style errors are common throughout. Perhaps the most disappointing facet of this work is that the subjects discussed focus heavily on the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, leaving the twentieth century somewhat neglected. It would have been nice to see more works that focus on the years around the two World Wars, as this was a transitional time in which the Royal Navy had to overhaul its leadership and management approaches. That said, however, Naval Leadership and Management is an excellent starting point for expanding understandings of leadership and organization in the Royal Navy, and offers an exciting glimpse of what is to come.

Reviewed by Stephanie S. Croatt, East Carolina University

The Battle of the Denmark Strait: A Critical Analysis of the Bismarck’s Singular Triumph

Robert J. Winklareth

The Battle of the Denmark Strait is considered one of the most famous and defining naval battles of World War II. Fought in May of 1941 in the waters between Greenland and Iceland and between the forces of the British navy, with the battlecruiser HMS Hood and battleship HMS Prince of Wales, against the German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen, the battle of Bismark Strait pitched the mighty vessels of the German raiding operations against the pride of allied shipping in the North Atlantic.

Despite being one of the most documented events in world naval history through photographs, war diaries, and official reports, controversy abounds as to the actual mechanisms of the battle and the details of how the battle was fought are confused due to conflicting photographs and battle diagrams. In an attempt to remedy the lasting historical confusion, Robert Winklareth, in The Battle of the Denmark Strait: A Critical Analysis of the Bismarck’s Singular Triumph, provides an extremely detailed look at not only the specific maneuvers of the battle itself, but also the definitive events leading up to the battle--contributing to its outcome, as well as the aftermath and the battle's lasting effects on the remainder of the War.

Based on a technical analysis of documentary and photographic evidence including salvo-by-salvo descriptions and first-hand accounts, Winklareth examines the scenarios of the Battle of Denmark Strait with an eye for clarification and consolidation into a cohesive account. To provide new evidence for the account, Winklareth reconstructs the factors of naval gunnery including shell to target flight time, reactions and correction time, and recycle times affecting the course if the battle and the ultimate victory of the German force.

Although the expansive detail provided in the account through salvo descriptions, minute by minute maneuvers and photographic changes add increased evidence for the clarification of the battle, the real highlight of Winklareth's account is that is goes beyond the minute details of the battle, and attempts to understand how the battle fit into the larger picture of global relations, extending years into the past to the resurrection of HMS Hood and the eventual sinking of the notorious Bismarck, and the uncertain future of both German and British warships.

Whether inadvertently or intentionally, Winklareth provides an excellent account of naval development, expansion, and decline from the era before World War I to after World War II, and pf the fates of vessels Prinz Eugen and Rodney, and lasting interest in Bismarck and the battle, as underwater explorers uncover the remnants of the battle thousands of meters below the surface, showing how Battle of Denmark strait affected world events and continues to affect historical memory.

 Philadelphia: Casemate Publishing

2012 6-1/4” x 9-1/4”, hardcover, 336 pages

Photographs, maps, appendices, bibliography, index. $32.95

Reviewed by Jennifer E. Jones, East Carolina University

Voices of the Confederate Navy: Articles, Letters, Reports and Reminiscences

Edited by R. Thomas Campbell

Since 1996, R. Thomas Campbell has authored or edited more than fifteen books on Confederate naval history. His books have always been written to appeal to a general, rather than an academic audience. While his earlier works were compilations of the most sensational stories from the Civil War, later works focused on particular topics, individuals, or theaters of the war. Voices of the Confederate Navy, his most recent  book returns to the compilation format, but in a much more comprehensive way than in earlier works. Campbell aims to use sources written by the participants themselves in order to allow their voices to be heard.

The breadth of this book is impressive. Campbell includes a chapter on every theater of the war, as well as chapters on special topics such as the Confederate States Marine Corps, the Naval School, blockade runners, cruisers, and the Torpedo Bureau. Most theaters receive equal treatment, but Campbell gives the most space to the chapters on Eastern North Carolina (32 pages), the Mississippi River (37 pages) and the Confederate cruisers (53 pages). The chapter on the Confederate Marine Corps is not surprisingly the shortest, at only 5 pages. Within each chapter the expected, familiar material is covered, but Campbell also includes information on little-known ships, battles, and people, which keeps things interesting.

 Within each chapter, Campbell includes selected documents. These documents come from various sources such as the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Southern Historical Society Papers, Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Confederate Veteran magazine, and memoirs written by Confederate naval officers after the war. Thomas J. Scharf’s History of the Confederate States Navy (1887) is also used quite extensively. Preceding each document is a brief overview, sometimes written by Campbell himself and sometimes lifted from another source. These introductory statements place the documents within context and familiarize the reader with the topic. For seasoned Civil War naval historians, much of this is common knowledge, but to the general reader the introductory statements are very helpful.

In the Preface, Campbell acknowledges that his sources are not perfect. Much of this material was written after the war, sometimes decades afterwards, and therefore might not be completely accurate. Memories fade or men consciously try to influence their own legacy when writing memoirs or reminiscences. Many of the Confederate Navy’s records, including all those pertaining to the Confederate States Marine Corps were destroyed during the evacuation of Richmond in April 1865. Therefore, researchers are left with what is available and must use their best judgment. Campbell is not trying to break new interpretive ground with this book, nor does he claim to do so. This is a compilation of documents with some brief explanation, no more and no less. It is a useful reference for general readers who want an overall history of the Confederate Navy, as well as more serious historians who want to easily lay their hands on the documents contained therein. As with all books published by MacFarland, the price of this book is rather steep. However, Campbell sells discounted copies through his personal website; type his name into any search engine to find his site.

Reviewed by Andrew Duppstadt, NC State Historic Sites

The British Navy, Economy and Society in the Seven Years War

Christian Buchet

Captain Bulloch: The Life of James Dunworthy Bulloch, Naval Agent of the Confederacy

Stephen Chapin Kinnaman