Neither Admirals Rodney or Howe were paragons of virtue. But they were both personally brave, adept tacticians, and, despite their flaws, effective leaders. With their victories, both men made a major contribution to the development of the Navy, and helped their country achieve global supremacy on the seas.
Naval Warfare
Back to the Drawing Board: Vasa
Although Vasa was designed and built by an experienced Dutch shipbuilder, Henrik Hybertsson, she was larger than any vessel he had previously worked on.
Wreck off Norwegian coast confirmed as long-lost German warship
Karlsruhe led the German attack on Kristiansand during Operation Weserübung on 9 April 1940, as part of the Nazi invasion of Norway.
The Immortal Hawke
In 1759, Britain faced an invasion threat from France, but two remarkable victories – the Battle of Lagos and later the Battle of Quiberon Bay – put paid to the plan. It was Admiral Sir Edward Hawke who delivered victory at the latter battle. So what kind of man was he, and what was his contribution to the history of the Royal Navy?
War of Words – ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’
Ordinarily, a gunboat was a lesser craft, mounting just a few guns. They were particularly useful in shallow waters that larger warships could not navigate.
The Courageous Class ‘Large Light Cruisers’
David Porter takes a look at everything that went wrong with the Large Light Cruiser.
MHM September 2019
The September issue of Military History Matters, the British military history magazine, is now on sale. To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here. In this issue: Special: The Seven Days, 1862 The course of the American Civil War could have been entirely different. In a series of bloody battles fought from […]
The Novgorod: ‘Circular Ironclad’
The Novgorod’s design originated in 1868, when the Scottish shipbuilder John Elder proposed widening the beam of a warship to reduce the area to be protected. This would allow it to carry thicker armour and heavier guns than a conventional ship, and to have a shallower draught.
Yi Sun-sin: history’s greatest admiral
When we think of great naval commanders, Nelson immediately comes to mind. He fought 13 battles, winning 8. Admiral Yi Sun-sin fought 23 battles against Japan between 1592 and 1598, and won every one of them without losing a single ship. In 14 of these battles, moreover, not a single Japanese ship survived. How did he accomplish so much, and why was Japan unable to defeat him?
MHM January 2019
The January issue of MHM, the British military history magazine, is now on sale. To subscribe to the magazine, click here. To subscribe to the digital archive, click here. In this issue: The Long World War In our cover feature, Neil Faulkner argues that the First World War never really ended, and that the seeds of Nazism and the […]
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