Winston Churchill had a longer and closer relationship with the Royal Navy than any British statesman in modern times, but his record as a naval strategist and custodian of the nation's sea power has been mired in controversy since the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign in 1915. Today, Churchill is regarded by many as an inept strategist who interfered in naval operations and often overrode his professional advisers - with inevitably disastrous results. Churchill and Seapower is the first major study of Winston Churchill's record as a naval strategist and his impact as the most prominent guardian of Britain's sea power in the modern era. Based on extensive archival research, the book debunks many popular and well-entrenched myths surrounding controversial episodes in both World Wars, including the Dardanelles disaster, the Norwegian Campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic, and the devastating loss of the Prince of Wales and Repulse in 1941. It shows that many common criticisms of Churchill have been exaggerated, but also that some of his mistakes have been largely overlooked - such as his willingness to prolong the Battle of the Atlantic in order to concentrate resources on the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany. The book also examines Churchill's evolution as a maritime strategist over the course of his career, and documents his critical part in managing Britain's naval decline during the first half of the twentieth century. Churchill's genuine affection for the Royal Navy has often distracted attention from the fact that his views on sea power were pragmatic and unsentimental. For, as Christopher M. Bell shows, in a period dominated by declining resources, global threats, and rapid technological change, it was increasingly air rather than sea power that Churchill looked to as the foundation of Britain's security.

Product Description: In 1911, Winston S. Churchill and Robert L. Borden became companions in an attempt to provide naval security for the British Empire as a naval crisis loomed with Germany. Their scheme for Canada to provide battleships for the Royal Navy as part of an Imperial squadron was rejected by the Senate with great implications for the future...read more

Product Description: Exploring British naval policy during the first two governments of Harold Wilson (1964-70), this book analyses how the Navy Department of the Ministry of Defence and the Navy's professional leadership dealt with six years of defence reviews, retrenchment and strategic re-orientation...read more

Product Description: Today, the First World War is remembered chiefly for the carnage of the Western Front, but at the time the Royal Navy's blockade of Germany was a more frequent source of debate. For, even at a time of war, there were influential voices in Britain who baulked at a concept of economic warfare that hindered the free passage of goods on the high seas, and brought German society to the brink of famine...read more

This new collection of essays by a panel of established international scholars sheds new light on what some of those influences were and what actions were taken as a result of Britain's Far Eastern commitments. Not only are new evidence and approaches to those issues addressed presented, but new avenues for further research are clearly outlined. This new study shows how the use of the sea as a means of projecting power and influence beyond national borders holds a unique place in the history of Great Britain. Directly linked to the concepts of empire, great power and strategic over-stretch, Britain's strategic position east of Suez in the twentieth century was a dominant area of interest and had an enormous impact in the overall construction of Great Britain's naval strategic posture. Britain's global naval position was in fact predominantly formed by Far Eastern strategic influences from 1900 to 1945. After that, even in the face of the Cold War and emphasis on planning for a third European war, strategic influences east of Suez continued to play a major role in the creation of Britain's naval force structure and in its global strategic foreign policy formulation process.

Product Description: This is the first study to show how the Royal Navy’s ideas about the meaning and application of seapower shaped its policies in the interwar period. Drawing on a wide range of unpublished sources, the author challenges the accepted view that the intellectual shortcomings of Britain’s naval leaders resulted in poor strategic planning and an inability to meet the challenges of the Second World War...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Murfett explains why the British government, after embarking on an unprecedented period of naval disarmament during 1945-8 in order to help pay the cost of domestic reforms, reversed this trend in the years thereafter.

Product Description: Book annotation not available for this title.Title: British Seapower and Procurement Between the WarsAuthor: Gordon, G. A. H.Publisher: Naval Inst PrPublication Date: 1988/03/01Number of Pages: Binding Type: HARDCOVERLibrary of Congress: 87061278