Book Reviews

Rajesh Basrur, Anit Mukherjee, and inclined to perceive India as the defen- T.V. Paul (eds.). India-China Maritime sive state in Indo-China competition, Competition: The Security Dilemma at and China as the aggressor, perhaps Sea. Cass Series in Naval Policy and even anarchic, state. The distinction History (ed. Geoffrey Till). London and between the aggressor and defensive New York: Routledge, www.routledge. nations is left unstated viz. China and com, 2019. xiii+192 pp., illustrations, the United States, but the implication tables, charts, index. US $155.00, cloth; that China is an unpredictable, anarchic ISBN 1-978-03670-0154-4.^pp state actor remains tacit. India-China Maritime Competition A compilation of the work of eleven offers two distinct analytical approach- scholars, Basrur, Mukherjee, and Paul es. First, the topics the contributors cov- (henceforth Basrur, et al.) present a rich er span the geographic region between volume focusing on the Indian-Ocean Pakistan and, eventually, the United Region (IOR), the archipelagos of States. Distinct focus is placed on the Southeast Asia, and the Asia Pacific Re- IOR, on China, and on the states affect- gion. They draw attention to the mari- ed by China’s swelling and increasing- time security dilemma existing between ly modern navy (People’s Liberation India and China, which is defined as Army Navy [PLAN]) and aggressive any situation where either state actor foreign policy in the form of the bur- makes a strategic decision that the other geoning Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). actor perceives as a threat. This results The second area of focus is the effect of in a corresponding action whereby the the United States on Sino-Indian securi- first state actor chooses to respond in ty relations, and policy implementation kind. In effect, neither player wins or vis-à-vis the two Asiatic nations. loses, but for them and anyone else in Drawing the connection between the region, “stepping up” to the inferred each nation on a geopolitical scale is threat increases tension rather than very useful, although perhaps not in as calming it. The book’s contributors are obvious a manner as one would think:

The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord, XXIX, No. 4 (Winter 2019), 375-422 376 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord Pakistan, India, Vietnam and China, of readers will likely prefer to access for instance, are major players in the the e-book version, for it is a third of region, but a gap in policy coverage the price of the hardbound edition—by was identified by the editors and con- far the most economical option. At this tributors in the form of the archipelagic lower price point, the book is worth- zones adjacent to the Southern Indian while purchasing. Given the book’s Ocean. As a result, chapters six and hefty price tag of $155.00 (USD) it is seven address the state of defence of the rather obvious that Routledge is pursu- Maldives, of Mauritius, the Seychelles, ing an environmentally friendly agenda and other small states in the region. Ig- with the premium it has placed on the noring these smaller states’ place and hardcopy. It would be a great disservice roles within the regional security di- to the contributors if Routledge were to lemma would be akin to ignoring Can- put a low price on a hardcopy, however, ada’s claim on the Arctic’s extended so this reduces the choice of format to a continental shelf: events and discourses reader’s personal preference. which may otherwise be dismissed as Functionally, India-China Mari- insignificant or spurious effect the pol- time Competition provides readers with icies of even the most powerful nations a veritable goldmine of resources, rang- nonetheless. ing from primary policy documents to The contributors acknowledge the media releases and op-eds. For scholars United States’ support of India, howev- seeking to dip into the realm of Asian er tacit or overt it may be, as a compli- maritime security studies, this volume cating factor in India’s security dilemma is an ideal starting point. Western pol- with China. The opposite is not neces- icy writers thrust suddenly into the sarily true. Andrew Winner argues that topic of transpacific security dilemmas any conflict between India and China will find these resources useful in and would not faze the United States over- of themselves. The analysis within is much, but as soon as China “steps out concise and well composed, its chap- of line” and annoys or inconveniences ter structure is logical and flows nice- the United States, tensions between the ly. India-China Maritime Competition two nations would mount immediate- is not recommended for undergraduate ly. Those tensions would spill over not students: it is a solid academic inves- only onto India, but to those island and tigation into Sino-Indian security rela- other regional states with which India tionships, and is utilized best by those has traditionally held mutually benefi- who have a strong background in secu- cial security agreements. Chapter five, rity studies, whether from a theoretical by Darshana Baruah and C. Raja Mo- or policy perspective, or from an opera- han entitled “The emergency dynamics tional perspective. of a Sino-Indian rivalry in the Bay of Bengal,” discusses how these tensions Ambjorn Adomeit can even bypass large sea lines of com- London, Ontario munications (SLOCs; in this case the SLOC routes through the South China George J. Billy. The USS Swordfish. Sea) and evolve overland and into In- The World War II Patrols of the First dia’s backyard. American Submarine to Sink a Japa- This reviewer was fortunate to re- nese Ship. Jefferson, NC: McFarland view a hardbound copy of India-China Publishing, www.mcfarlandbooks.com, Maritime Competition, but the majority 2019. xi+222 pp., illustrations, maps, Book Reviews 377 appendices, notes, bibliography, index. war period through the early years of US $35.00, paper; ISBN 978-1-4766- the war and the final patrol, as far as it 7774-3. (E-book available.) can be told. The book is augmented by four appendices which include techni- A ship’s history, like its land unit equiv- cal information about the boat, the crew alent, the regimental or unit history, is lists for the last patrol as well as sink- always an inherently personal thing. ing data and of diagrams of the subma- After all, it is a tale of people in the rine itself. This is all backed up with pressure cooker of combat and often, a glossary and extensive citations from there is a personal connection either extensive archival research, interviews, through the community and family, or and of course the literature available. it is built in the process of the writing. Reinforced with a solid bibliography, George Billy’s recent book on the USS the result is a strongly researched and Swordfish is no exception. In this par- written book. ticular case, his uncle, Michael Billy, The result is, thus, a well laid out made a lasting impression on a very history of the Swordfish, but with a young George, one that was reinforced strong feeling for the moment. Wheth- after the sub was lost with his uncle on er a simple description of the condition board. The result of this is a history of of the boat on return to harbour and the the USS Swordfish but also a labour of repairs needed or through a discussion love and respect for the men who went of the conditions on board, it places the to sea in her and especially those that reader within the experience extremely remain with her on eternal patrol. effectively. An excellent example is The Swordfish deserves this kind the very first attack conducted by the of effort. A Sargo-class submarine, she Swordfish. With an extremely green was laid down on 27 October 1937 and crew, this first attack was the real awak- commissioned on 22 July 1939. During ening of the crew regarding their war. her wartime career, she conducted 13 The author recounts the challenges of active war patrols, serving throughout the first attack with engines that made the war until she disappeared around 12 a lot of noise and the shockwaves of January 1945 while on her last patrol. closely detonating torpedoes into an ex- Her impressive record also includes perience that the reader can feel. Equal- eight battle stars, and a Naval Unit ly as telling are the accounts of the spe- Commendation for her first, second, cial missions conducted by Swordfish. and fourth patrols. Swordfish played For example, the rescue of President an important role in the critical early Manuel L. Quezon of the Philippines. stages of the war. She was responsi- Swordfish picked up the president, his ble for sinking the first Japanese ship family, and key members of his gov- by a submarine on 16 December 1941. ernment from Corregidor, carried them She also ran supplies to the Philippines through Japanese controlled waters to while helping to rescue people from the bring them to safety in Australia. In the fighting there. Telling the story of such process, the reader acquires a sense of a remarkable boat, crewed and com- the experience on board the boat, in- manded by remarkable men, presented cluding small daily activities and the a challenge but George Billy was cer- challenges everyone faced. In this case, tainly up to it. this included the loss of air condition- The story of the Swordfish is told ing, and the corresponding humidity and across seven chapters spanning the pre- potential health issues this produced for 378 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord the President. Interestingly, the health of his work, and I am sure, this back- implications of the air in the boat ap- ground research is why his book reso- pear to have been an issue throughout nates so loudly. Sadly, it is also a story most of the early war and helped lead to that cannot have a happy ending. The a temporary change of command in July thirteenth patrol has, of course, never 42 when Captain Chester Smith asked ended for the Swordfish and her officers to be relieved for the next patrol due to and the men are technically still miss- health/breathing issues that he attribut- ing, unless someone is able to discover ed to the air in the boat. the location of the boat. Considering Accounts such as these make this the emotional connection of the author history of one submarine the histo- to the crew and boat, the ending of the ry of virtually all of them. These are book had to have been difficult to write experiences that are repeated often but he did an excellent job. over the course of the war and I dare I strongly recommend this book say every submariner experienced to anyone interested in the American such conditions at one point or anoth- submarine efforts against the Japanese. er. It helped bond them together as a While dealing with only one subma- crew and invariably, never made it into rine, the account delves into many of most histories. It just is not exciting to the issues like torpedoes, conditions, point out the impact on damp humid etc. which make it valuable to the read- air conditions laced with fuel oil, sweat er whether starting out in the subject or and smoke. But it is a must in order to not. Anyone who enjoys a good rivet- understand the experience of the crew. ing sea tale will get right into the text. Being a boat that was constructed be- I most highly recommend it, to say the fore the war, and not one of the famed least. Gato-class submarines, this account is even more impressive and unique. As Robert Dienesch it relates the challenges faced by these Truro, Nova Scotia older boats in the everchanging condi- tions of the war. Certainly, the accounts J.D. Davies, Alan James, Gijs Rom- of mechanical issues faced by the crews melse (eds.). Ideologies of Western Na- and the difficulties encountered in try- val Power, c.1500-1815. New York, ing to correct them is an important part NY: Routledge (Taylor & Francis), of our understanding of the submarine www.routledge.com, 2019. 360 pp., fleet. The boats were never alone, they notes, index. US $149.95, cloth; ISBN were supported by a massive logisti- 978-0-36732-128-4. cal system which didn’t have to dodge depth charges and enemy escorts. But One of the joys of history is the good they did put the Swordfish and her sis- work that results when a group of ex- ters back into the fight time and again. cellent scholars come together to fo- Their work was as important as that of cus a number of different perspectives the men who went to sea. on a cutting edge topic. Ideologies of Overall, George Billy does an ex- Western Naval Power is one such col- cellent job in assembling the history lection, assembling 16 different authors of the Swordfish. His account is both to examine how European seapower riveting and entertaining. His passion states as corporate entities, institutions, and extensive research definitely served communities and groups of individuals him well. It elevates the overall quality considered, discussed, and performed Book Reviews 379 seapower and sea-mindedness. imagery and arguments to build the idea The collection is edited by three of Britain as a maritime nation, and fur- specialists who embody decades of ther how those myths grew beyond the experience in studying the English, control and use of the British state. French and Dutch navies of the seven- The third section is ‘Communities teenth century. Their joint activities be- of Violence’, and features four papers gan in 2015 when they formed a panel which actively disrupt the usual na- at the ‘Seapower and Statesmen’ Con- tion-centric narratives. Sadok Bou- ference at the National Museum of the baker’s comparison of the influence of Royal Navy. In the introduction, they religious and national laws on Tunisian compare maritime history to “Banquo’s corsairs and privateers is set alongside ghost.. unseen, uninvited, potentially David Trim’s discussion of “Transna- upsetting”. This collection of papers tional Calvinist Cooperation” which should definitely upset the status quo highlights the large community of prot- exclusion of maritime and naval history estant privateers in the North Sea during from greater historical discussions. the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The first group of papers - exam Claire Jowitt’s powerful discussion of ines “Navies and National Identities”. the use of the ‘ship of state’ in English Luciano Pezzolo’s discussion of the literature is a particularly fine counter- Venetian state is quite frankly better point to Davies’ earlier chapter. This than Andrew Lambert’s treatment of section concludes with Julia Leikin’s the same topic in his recent book Sea- particularly evocative discussion of power States. Gijs Rommelse follows Russian use, and consideration of pri- with a discussion of the importance vateers in the second half of the eigh- of flags to Dutch discussions of naval teenth century. It is almost opposite ideology. Catherine Scheybeler and to Trim’s chapter, in that she discusses Patrick Villier provide good, ground- how the Russian state struggled to ac- ed assessments of the Spanish and commodate foreign-born privateers into French navies that cast away old An- their legal, administrative and social hi- glo-centric evaluation frameworks. erarchies. The second section is “Monarchical The final section is ‘Constructing Projects”. Christopher Storr’s paper on Strategies’. Lars Ericson Wolke and Spain c.1500-1700, and Alan James’s Steve Murdoch provide two compli- discussion of the French navy in the mentary Scandinavian perspectives. time of Colbert provide a non-subtle Wolke discusses Sweden in particular, rebuke to the typical short, superficial and the shift of its naval policies as characterizations of the Spanish and Stockholm moved from the centre of French use of seapower. Particularly in- a Swedish maritime empire to a bor- teresting is Storr’s discussion of the sea der capital. Murdoch’s paper throws service as a route to social status, and a fascinating spotlight on the effects of its impact on available support. Like- diplomatic uncertainty, and how En- wise, James combats the French navy’s glish and Scottish privateers were un- “uneven record” by representing its leashed on neutral Swedish shipping, development as consistent with French leading to cooperation between Sweden imperial ambitions from Louis XIV to and Denmark-Norway in the 1690s. I Louis XVI and beyond. David Davies’ particularly enjoy his reference to hav- chapter on the Royal Navy examines ing to ‘aggressively assert neutrality’. how the Stuart monarchs used mythical Richard Harding’s paper ‘Naval Ideol- 380 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord ogy and its impact in Britain’ convinc- Eric Jay Dolin. A Furious Sky. New ingly emphasizes that naval power was York, NY: Liveright Publishing Cor- central to British diplomatic strategy, poration (Division of W.W. Norton & constantly grounded in a European con- Company), www.norton.com, 2020. text. John Hattendorf’s chapter on the xv+392 pp. illustrations, notes, bibliog- development of the U.S. Navy from raphy, index, US $29.95, cloth; ISBN 1775-1815 raises very interesting ques- 978-1-63149-527-4. tions about possible comparisons to Spanish and French naval development Eric Jay Dolin’s A Furious Sky focuses in the seventeenth and early-eighteenth on hurricanes, one of the most destruc- centuries, both in terms of regionality tive and repetitive events of weather and effort. The volume concludes with phenomena. Nameless severe storms Andrew Lambert’s afterword in which threatened Columbus’ New World voy- he masterfully and succinctly discusses ages and forced him to become the first how naval ideologies may be created, hurricane forecaster, for which he was but if they are accepted, they can be- later accused of sorcery. A 1559 hurri- come true nonetheless. cane crossed the Gulf of Mexico’s Coast This is really a very good book, and and struck Pensacola. The destruction provides one of the most complex and caused by this tempest stopped one of diverse sets of perspectives on an im- Spain’s early forays into North Ameri- portant cutting-edge aspect of not just ca. Fifty years later, another storm al- maritime history, but history in gen- most ruined the struggling English col- eral. The writing is clear and concise, ony at Jamestown, Virginia. Therefore, and approachable. Each of the authors these powerful massive weather dis- manages to provide the reader with con- turbances influenced some early North text and background, but non-experts American coastal settlement locations. can also understand and appreciate the The author then tells his readers arguments. One very minor criticism is fascinating stories about a weather phe- that slight changes in the order of the nomenon and how human resourceful- chapters could have produced some ness evolved to mitigate their effects. powerful synchronicity—but only at Dolin masterfully recounts the history the expense of those that are already of momentous nineteenth- and twenti- there. A more serious criticism is the eth-century scientific discoveries that price—£120.00 it is far too expensive led to a better understanding of the for most readers. This is an absolute physical nature of hurricanes and our shame, because this book should be at ability to monitor their paths. How and the centre of graduate level maritime where the storms form, their general history courses for the next decade or courses and finally their relationships to longer, and should be read and refer- the laws of physics launches the reader enced in historical work far beyond into an intellectual adventure—and, at that. Quite frankly, this is one of the times, a very wild ride. best maritime/naval history books of Like the blind men attempting to the last decade. describe an elephant, one cannot as- certain a complete picture of the storm Sam McLean from anecdotal accounts of the event, Toronto, Ontario especially with a reporting time-lag. Ships at sea and shore-based commu- nities could only relate what happened, Book Reviews 381 but Samuel Morse’s invention of the series of graphic descriptions of harrow- telegraph enabled real-time communi- ing loss of life and the accompanying cation and stimulated the development devastation, largely beginning in what of weather forecasting. Radio commu- he called “Death and Destruction in the nications from ships at sea, aircraft and Sunshine State.” Florida, located off more recent technological advances led the warm Gulfstream waters and adja- to satellites in space that gave the weath- cent to the Caribbean, was and is espe- er bureau more detailed and reliable cially susceptible to hurricane damage. tracking and prediction data. Along the As its population grew along its east and way, Dolin tells a few delightful tales west coasts, near Lake Okeechobee and that involve vignettes about Ernest later as a resort destination at the south- Hemingway, Katherine Hepburn, Ed- ern end of the peninsula, the state’s rel- ward R. Murrow, Dan Rather, and Ste- atively flat terrain was vulnerable to the ven Spielberg. “wrath of the storm gods.” It is the site Dolin also spotlights some less- of more storm landfalls than any other er-known and humble “Hurricane Hunt- place in the United States, causing loss ers” and weathermen. Perhaps the most of life and costly damage. The most illuminating part of the book is the histo- destructive was the infamous “Great ry of the creation of the Weather Bureau Hurricane of 1938.” Dolin narrates nu- and the interesting scientific people who merous horrific heart-rending dramas refined complexity into accuracy. These nearly compelling one to seek shelter include the current Weather Channel while turning what figuratively seem anchor, James Cantore, but also pio- like waterlogged and windblown pages. neers like William M. Gray, Edward In another chapter, the author de- Lorenz, Charles Mitchell, Grady Nor- scribes in some detail other well-known ton, Charles H. Pierce, Vaugh Rockney hurricanes that reached North Ameri- and finally, Robert H. Simpson, who ca including Andrew, Camille, Carol, devised the widely used “Saffir-Simp- Connie, Dorian, Edna, Hazel, Iniki (in son Hurricane Wind Scale.” Their tools Hawaii), Irma and Sandy; stories of included storm-chasing aircraft, polar devastation foreshadowing imminent and stationary satellites and sophisti- environmental disasters. A Furious cated but disparate computer programs Sky, however, is also a tale that educates that track and forecast. Some are typ- reader about the damage these monster ical outrageous stories of bureaucracy, storms are capable of producing. He while others are just amusing, especial- also explains the physical processes that ly the surge of activism following the result in the tendency for hurricanes to decision to name hurricanes after wom- frequently affect the east and gulf coasts en in 1953, later to add men’s names of North America, as typhoons invade and then retire all names of storms that the Indian subcontinent and East Asia, were particularly damaging. One is and cyclones do the same in the North- tempted adopt Robert Brault’s sugges- western Pacific. Hurricanes rarely oc- tion of “[naming] the first hurricane cur in Hawaii, Alaska and Europe. Zelda and fool Mother Nature into call- Every time a hurricane is forecast, ing it a year.” the meteorologists refer to collected There are many accounts of early data from various sources, and after hurricanes that appeared in news re- reading A Furious Sky, readers will now ports especially during the 1800’s. The be better prepared to interpret the infor- author alludes to them, then launches a mation about the warm ocean currents 382 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord off the African coast that affect atmo- small Baltic states of Latvia and Esto- spheric conditions, the heated air evap- nia. Into this ever-changing vortex of orating huge quantities of water that forces with widely divergent political produce the dynamic climatic event we and ideological goals, Winston Chur- call hurricanes. Finally, Dolin projects chill decided to throw a small group of the effects of climate change on hurri- Royal Navy warships to eliminate the canes and other weather phenomena threat of Communism in this region. from past scientific data and the trends Their mission is the subject of Dunn’s that they foretell, globally and locally. latest work and he is more than quali- Eric Jay Dolin has written many fied to tell it, as he has published several first-rate maritime-focused books and works on the Royal Navy in the era of has received several well-deserved lit- the Great War. erary awards for his efforts. A Furious The story of this mostly-forgotten Sky is among his best, an excellent re- Royal Navy campaign unfolds in 22 source for any layman who wonders well-documented and focused chapters about the weather and the future of our with accompanying appendices, tables, planet. illustrations and maps. In addition to eight appendices, Dunn has included Louis Arthur Norton a table of place names, comparing the West Simsbury, Connecticut names used by the Royal Navy during this intervention with their modern Steve R. Dunn. Battle in the Baltic: ones. Most of the illustrations stem The Royal Navy and the Fight to Save from either archives or the author’s Estonia & Latvia 1918-20. Barnsley, private collection and all both buttress S. Yorks: Seaforth Publishing, www. and compliment his text. Dunn covers seaforthpublishing.com, 2020. 304 pp., the story from outbreak of the Russian illustrations, tables, appendices, bibli- revolution to the treaties that ended the ography. UK £25.00, cloth; ISBN 978- immediate Soviet threat to the Baltic 1-52674-273-5. (E-book and paperback states. Aside from the military actions, available.) essential elements of this story encom- pass mutiny and even espionage. In Unfortunately, the Armistice of 11 No- addition to the German units, the forces vember 1918, which officially signaled involved in this struggle included White the end of the First World War, did not Russian counter-revolutionaries, the mean that peace was restored through- native forces of Latvia and Estonia that out Europe. In fact, several conflicts were trying to stake their claim to na- still lingered and some new ones erupt- tionhood in the face of the Soviet threat ed due to the power vacuum left by the to their homeland, troops from other defeat of the Central Powers. Among Baltic states and volunteers from other the most forgotten of these are the var- nations. All of these forces had diver- ious struggles that occurred in Eastern gent goals, and their motives were often Europe as the now communist state of not altruistic, in particular those of the Russia fought to both protect its hold on German military units. Russia from counter-revolutionaries— The author maintains that the Roy- or “White Russians” —and its desire al Navy was arbitrarily thrown into this to bring the revolution to neighbouring mix without a clear-cut objective, and states. One of the bitterest conflicts in- hampered by inadequate planning, forc- volved the struggle for control of the es and supplies. Little, if any, attention Book Reviews 383 was paid to the nature of the Baltic Sea, Overall, Dunn’s text is well-pre- especially during the winter months, sented and most readers will not get and the known hazard of many unchart- “lost” in the tangled web that highlights ed German and Russian minefields was the story of this intervention. While downplayed. Fears that this small force most people in the West have forgotten could encounter the dreadnaughts of the about this particular Royal Navy ac- much larger Soviet Navy were also sup- tion, it is fitting that both of these Baltic pressed. Nor was much consideration countries have not. Thanks to Dunn, we given to how the men who manned have now also been reminded of this these ships felt about adding another, endeavour. non-voluntary, war zone tour of duty to their service after peace had been Peter K. H. Mispelkamp declared. The decision to intervene in Pointe Claire, Quebec the Baltic was made by Churchill, in his new capacity as Secretary of State Helen Edwards (ed.). Dutchy’s Diaries. for War and Air at the end of Novem- Life as a Canadian Naval Officer in His ber 1918, largely because of his intense Own Words: 1916-1929. Victoria, BC: dislike of Bolshevism. At best, he only Edwards Heritage Consulting, heritage- had lukewarm support for this interven- [email protected], 2020. xxi+306 pp; tion within the British cabinet. illustrations, appendices, index; CDN As the commander of this small $30.00, paper; available from the au- British force, Rear Admiral Walter thor. Cowan struggled to meet even his most limited objectives in the face of politi- John Crispo Edwards (1896-1978) be- cal support for his mission at home and gan his naval career in 1912 and re- abroad that oscillated greatly. The Roy- tired 38 years later in 1950. Dutchy’s al Navy knew that without political and Diaries covers his service starting as a military support from Britain’s allies, Midshipman and ending in 1929 with this mission would most likely fail. But his command of HMCS Champlain, the allies were reluctant because they one of Canada’s only two destroyers. had little taste for involving their forces His diary entries were terse summaries in any intervention in the Russian civil of the day’s highlights. They have been war or any attempt to limit Soviet ex- transcribed verbatim by his daughter- pansion. Against all odds, Cowan and in-law, Helen Edwards, who with J.C. his brave crews managed to achieve Edwards’ son have together been tire- their limited aim of helping Estonia and less and effective heritage advocates in Latvia protect their independence. That Victoria. Dutchy’s Diaries have been they succeeded in the face of the Ger- attractively self-published with contem- man forces that had designs of their own porary photographs, maps and detailed in this area was no small feat. Nonethe- information about ships cited in the text. less, this minor victory came at a severe Occasional minimalist footnotes clarify cost, and few of the men under Cowan’s abbreviations or add details about per- command would look back on their ser- sonalities. vice with fondness. That their limited There are few first-person accounts success would be undone less than 20 about the early decades of the RCN in years later is perhaps the greatest irony print. Random Memories by Roger Bid- of them all, but it does not lesson this will (1961), H. Nelson Lay’s Memoires achievement. of a Mariner (1982) and Alongside the 384 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord Navy 1910-1950 (1999) by the wife of sure to the RN, still the world’s largest a near-contemporary of Edwards, Jean navy, would become for the Canadian Gow, are all retrospective records of Navy in the tenuous interwar years. Ed- events written years later. What makes wards spent 8 of the 15 years covered in Dutchy’s Diaries different is that they the Diaries with the Royal Navy: four have the immediacy of events just ex- mostly in destroyers in the Mediterra- perienced. Having said this, it is only nean, Baltic and UK waters in the Great fair to note that the diaries are not intro- War and after; two in Portsmouth doing spective or analytical. Their value is in his specialist qualifying (Physical Rec- what they tell us about a typical Cana- reation and Training) “long course;” dian naval officer’s life in the Great War and two more back in the Mediterra- and the decade that followed. nean in battleships in the mid-twenties. In early 1922 Edwards, then a Lieu- Service with the RN broadened the tenant on the staff of the Royal Canadi- professionalism of the miniature RCN. an Naval College in Esquimalt (RCNC), When the Second World War massively and his colleagues received disturbing expanded the Canadian Navy, its career news about the future. Three entries are officers were able to draw on experi- a sample of how the Diaries combine ence in a far larger force. In Edwards’ highlights of the day’s activities with case, his time in the mid-1920s orga- snippets of other information: “March nizing sports activities in a large fleet, 31st. Group soccer. Dinner at the Mat- while also watchkeeping in a capital son’s. Dance at the Pemberton’s. The ship in exercises would have stood him Comm. Received a telegram from the in good stead in 1939-45 when he was Naval Dept. It is very possible that the put in charge of training establishments college may be closed down. Gloom.” and in command of a Canadian Armed (164) ……. May 13th Arrived (in train- Merchant cruiser. In 1943, he opened ing schooner Naden with cadets) Esqui- HMCS Cornwallis in Nova Scotia’s malt 11:30 AM. In the morning’s paper, Annapolis Valley which, according to news about the closing up of the Cana- a wartime claim, became “the largest dian Navy & only keeping 233 officers naval training establishment in the Em- & men. Laying up of Aurora, Patriot, pire”. The Diaries also show how fre- Patrician & two submarines. Fed up. quently John Edwards (while with the Tennis & went to the Matson’s in the RN) socialized with Canadian contem- evening (166) …. June 4th. [ Edwards poraries serving in other British war- and three RNCC colleagues had spent ships ships and ashore. three days in Qualicum on Vancouver Like many of the cadets in the first Island] Golf in AM. Left Qualicum3:00 classes at the naval college in Halifax, PM. I drove as far as Nanaimo. Arrived Edwards came from a middle-class Victoria 8 PM. Malahat roads not V.G. family in the Maritimes. This was at Very pretty drive down… Stephens a time when vibrant small towns were heard from Jones that the R.C.N is to more prominent in Canada than in lat- keep its officers, 26 appointments in er years. He grew up in Londonderry, Canada & the remainder abroad….” Nova Scotia, and was sent off to Brock- (169). ville, Ontario, to finish his schooling. The figure of 26 officers who would His father was first a businessman, then have billets in Canada may not be accu- later, a senior bureaucrat and amateur rate, but the reference to “the remain- historian. Both of Edwards’ grand- der” underscores how important expo- parents had immigrated from Britain. Book Reviews 385 Family ties across the Atlantic were ob- cal and Recreational Training speciality viously still close and the Diaries show in a large organization. The RN’s Medi- that “Dutchy” was welcomed by a web terranean Fleet buzzed with professional of cousins and other kin in the UK. and social activity. Its calendar includ- Dutchy’s Diaries reveal Edwards’ ed two extended cruises each summer busy social life. They are peppered that featured exercises and port visits. with the names of young people of both Both cruises culminated in an inter-ship sexes met when his ship was in harbour competition in boat pulling, sailing and and when he served ashore. Dancing other sports that were conducted in an was obviously a popular evening activ- anchorage over several days and made ity. When he passed through London, use of playing fields ashore. Edwards he took in the latest stage shows, even was responsible for organizing these though a naval officer’s salary was rela- events. The Diaries gives us snapshots tively modest. According to the author, of the exercises and the scope of the Edwards earned his nickname “Dutchy” competitions from the perspective of a because he had a reputation for sharing battleship watchkeeping officer. Dor- expenses with others or “going Dutch.” othy “packed and followed” the fleet The Diaries for 1920-22, when he along with other naval wives when it was on the staff of the RCNCC have an spent several days in Alexandria one increasing number of entries concerning summer. She frequently appears in the sporting events. (there are also several Diaries as a tennis partner. Edwards entries about jaunts in local waters with obviously enjoyed matches all over the cadets in the schooner Naden attached Mediterranean, even playing the King to the college. At Easter 1921, Ed- of Sweden in Monte Carlo. wards marched the cadets from where When the couple returned to Hali- Naden was moored, on a 6.5-mile hike fax in May 1928, Edwards took com- to church. After the college was closed mand of the destroyer HMCS Cham- in mid-1923, “Dutchy” contemplated plain, newly arrived on loan from the leaving the Service. He had original- RN. The Diaries for the following ly applied for the navigation specialist months record summer visits up the course but was told the RCN had more Saint Lawrence River and to various than enough officers with this qualifica- ports in the Maritimes. In January 1929, tion. He stopped off in Ottawa while Champlain sailed south to join two RN travelling east to see Captain Hose, Di- cruisers in Bermuda. The next three rector of the Naval Service. Hose said months were a round of torpedo firings, that he would advise any officer who gun firings and other exercises -inter had a good civilian job offer to take it spersed with port visits with three dif- up. He told also Edwards that he could ferent cruisers in the West Indies. That probably specialize in Physical Train- summer Champlain again went up the ing and Recreation—which he did. Saint Lawrence and exercised with one John C. Edwards became particu- of the RN cruisers that was in the area. larly accomplished at tennis. It was on The Diaries end in September 1929 a tennis court on Cape Breton Island before Edwards moved on to his next that he met his wife Dorothy while he posting on the west coast. They tell in was commanding the minesweeper their usual terse pattern of various ship Festubert. They married in April 1926, handling and navigational challenges months before sailing for Malta to start shouldered, busy port visits, and again John’s two years of applying his Physi- underline how operating closely with 386 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord the RN gave the officers and men of the interviews, and family stories, Gelzhei- interwar RCN valuable experience. ser examines the wartime service of his The couple’s first child, a daughter, father and his fellow PT Boat sailors was tragically delivered still-born in from deployment to the end of the war, February 1929 while Edwards was at and what effect his naval service had on sea in the Caribbean. The laconic entry him in the post-war period. This work is characteristic: “Feb 7th Rejoined Co- is laid out in a largely chorological or- lombo and Capetown at Old Harbour der, with some introspective paragraphs [Jamaica] at 0815. We did not land a inserted at relevant points. An After- party but Cruisers landed the Argyle & word “on killing” and two appendices Sutherlands who were supposed to be are included, covering Squadron 16’s making a raid on Kingston. Rec’d a ca- awards and honours and the text of the ble from Marjorie re the baby.”(251) denied commendation for Squadron 16. Dutchy’s Diaries are jottings about Gelzheiser’s introduction is a tone everyday events and experiences. Al- setter for this hybrid work, a self-reflec- ways curt, the daily entries are most in- tion on the Second World War veter- formative when Edwards was serving at ans who were present in his life while sea. Social contacts and shared events growing up and whose stories he did were obviously important for the writ- not know until much later. One could er. The Diaries show how he and his argue that this work is not just a histo- fellow naval officers, along with their ry of Squadron 16 and of Electrician’s girlfriends and wives, formed a close- Mate Gelzheiser, but how the slowly knit group. Dutchy’s Diaries portray developing knowledge of a father’s an ordinary and gregarious young man wartime experiences effected his son. not given to introspection maturing be- The early work serves as a biography tween 1916 and 1929, enjoying oppor- of Francis Gelzheiser’s pre-war life, tunities as they came along while taking growing up poor, spending years in an on greater responsibilities. orphanage with his sister, enlisting in the Navy, and volunteering for torpedo Jan Drent boat service. The design and features Victoria, British Columbia of PT Boats are then discussed, citing their early use at Pearl Harbor and their Robert P. Gelzheiser. PT Boat Odyssey: key role in the evacuation of General In the Pacific War with Motor Torpedo MacArthur from the Philippines. The Boat Squadron 16, 1943-1945. Jeffer- differences between Elco and Higgins son, NC: McFarland, www.mcfarland- designs are covered, as is the later war pub.com, 2019. x+293 pp., illustrations, evolution from torpedo boat to coastal appendices, notes, bibliography, index. gunboat. From this point, Gelzheiser US $45.00, paper; ISBN 978-1-4766- dives into his father’s wartime service. 6240-0. (E-book available.) The bulk of PT Boat Odyssey natu- rally covers the deployment of Squad- Author Robert P. Gelzheiser, the son of ron 16 from New Orleans, Louisiana, PT Boat Squadron 16 member Francis through to the demobilization of the L. Gelzheiser, has written a combina- crews at the end of the war. Gelzheiser tion war diary, biography, and intro- makes common use of anecdotes and spective reflection on PT Boat service stories throughout, offering names for in the Pacific during the Second World some crewmen and leaving other, more War. Drawing from published sources, embarrassing or incriminating stories Book Reviews 387 with anonymous participants. The de- ing actions around the island as well. It tailing of PT-221’s voyage from New is not often that one finds an account of Orleans through the Panama Canal this engagement involving so much of highlights the colourful and often un- the perspective of the smaller PT Boats, disciplined nature of the PT Boat crews, making this a good research tool for backed up with personal and archi- those studying the Philippine Campaign val photographs. The work is slowed for this reason alone. Francis Gelzhe- slightly by a 10-page ‘background’ iser’s encounter with three Japanese delving into the Battle of Midway and soldiers in a bunker and his subsequent the invasion of the Aleutian Islands pri- killing of these men in a firefight is well or to covering Squadron 16’s Alaskan described, and ties in with earlier and service, the latter of which follows the later retrospective sections of the work same format as the earlier voyage sec- (159-160). The infamous typhoon that tion. A large number of paragraph-sized struck Task Force 38 is described, as the stories about service in Attu present the men affected were those who had ear- men of Squadron 16 ‘capturing’ Japa- lier aided the PT squadrons, and first- nese survivors of the Aleutian Islands hand information regarding the men’s Campaign after the starving soldiers experiences on the island is laid out in wandered onto the base and joined a a well-organized and flowing nature. chow line (80). Kamikaze attacks, guerilla supply mis- The work finds a solid rhythm with sions, prisoner encounters, and the final Chapter Six’s accounting of Squadron demobilization of the men and the Na- 16’s refit, deployment to New Guinea, vy’s burning of the PT fleet are all de- and early actions in the Philippines. tailed in good order, providing a ground As the author points out, this period level insight into a part of the war so of the war is where PT Boats proved often lost in the public eye. most effective, and his descriptions of The final two chapters are intro- barge-busting missions offer a good ac- spective in nature, examining how the count of Motor Torpedo Boat activities war effected Francis Gelzheiser later in not commonly thought of by the general life and the impact this had on his son. public. Base constructions, conditions, The brief chapter on Manila details the and locals are all illustrated via stan- overall battle for the city, and recount’s dard text and from first-hand accounts, Gelzheiser’s encounter with the impov- which are blended together nicely. This erished civilians and the traumatizing is followed by a chapter comparing the nature of war on them. The last section industrial capacities of the United States focuses on the man in his later life, and to the warrior ethos of Japan, which is how he spoke of the war in his later a bit of a jarring transition before Gelz- years prior to his passing. The recount- heiser delves into the heart of his work, ing of his talk to his son’s history class Squadron 16’s service on the Philippine is clearly a moving memory, and helps island of Mindoro. drive home the human aspects of war, Involving 92 out of the book’s 260 and the long term memories it creates primary pages, the accounting of Min- (250-252). doro is the core of Gelzheiser’s work. In terms of possible improvements, Subdivided into chronological sections, a few come to mind. The first is that a it details not only the time period tra- few of the images in the work are pix- ditionally associated with the Battle of elated or ‘washed-out’ to one degree Mindoro, but the aftermath and continu- or another. This is less noticeable on 388 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord some images, but on others, such as the Michael Green. Images Of War. Unit- photograph of four PT Boats moored ed States Navy Submarines 1900-2019. together in New Guinea, much detail Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen & Sword Mari- is obscured, especially when compared time, www.pen-and-sword.uk.co. 2019. to a high resolution version of the same 2134 pp., illustrations, bibliography. image found online (98). This could be U.K. £16.99, U.S. $22.95, paper; ISBN corrected via rescans of the originals, 978-1-52674-206-3. which would help with their visual im- pact. The second suggestion would be This modest volume is essentially the inclusion of more maps beyond just for those who have at least a general one topographical depiction of New knowledge of submarines or just enjoy Guinea, so as to illustrate the movement reading and looking at pictures of U.S. of Squadron 16 and PT-221 throughout Navy submarines. Over the years, from the war or offer a view of relative ship about 1900 until recently, the American positions during engagements, such as navy has operated some 400 subma- the loss of PT-300 off Mindoro in the rines (based on various ‘Jane’s Fighting Philippines. The intermittent use of Ships’). For what is really a reasonably “warrior” to describe American and brief reference book, this volume con- Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen tains photographs, drawings and copies is also a bit odd, and its replacement of paintings, each supplemented by use- with the aforementioned standardized ful descriptive paragraphs. Despite the descriptors would be appreciated. Fi- book’s soft-covered format, the illustra- nally, on a technical point, Gelzheiser tions are all of unusually excellent qual- identifies the aircraft that destroyedPT- ity, many in colour. Two or three per 300 via kamikaze as a Japanese Navy double page encompass material from D3A Val (p. 167). According to surviv- Holland’s V1 in 1900 to the latest nu- ing Japanese records and photographs, clear boats of the Virginia Class attack the aircraft in question was more likely submarines. a Japanese Army Ki-51 Sonia, which There are a few of the customary was commonly mistaken for a Val in the “submarine at sea” photos (or coming late-war period. alongside) but not tiresomely so. There PT Boat Odyssey serves as a good are also examples of almost every class addition to the historiography of PT of boat, from the first true operation- Boats as a whole and Squadron 16 in al boats of the A and S classes to the particular, providing a well written plethora of Second War submarines al- chronicle of one father’s wartime ex- most all named after fish, to the mon- periences as told through the voice of ster current ‘nuke’ boats. For at least his son. Though not without flaws, this each arbitrarily allocated class, there work covers several often-overlooked are only selections of boats but close- aspects of PT Boat service during the up photographs of the development of Second World War, and offers an excel- conning towers, deck guns, periscopes lent ground level view into one man’s and schnorkles, bridge, deck and in- experiences in the Aleutians, New ternal layouts. A good selection of Guinea, and on Mindoro. internal views shows both technical design and how things looked in-use Charles Ross Patterson II by crews. Both layout cut-aways and Yorktown, Virginia technical drawings are sufficiently large to be readable—not always the case in Book Reviews 389 many such books. The paintings repro- ups of snorkle heads, engines, retract- duced are of first-rate quality—a few able hydrophones, even the collision sea scenes, such as “Torpedo coming of one of their post-Second World War on board in early Gato-class” (108) or Guppy boats by a U.S. destroyer, and a “Impression of a SUBROC launching” practice torpedo embedded in the ‘sail’ (203), either entertaining or education- of USS Volador in 1960. The develop- al. All these will be a model-maker’s ment of their conning towers, or in their dream, serving as examples of, at least, terms, sails, gets considerable attention, class detail. with the accompanying captions ex- To open, there is a 15-page intro- plaining the photos. duction to the United States’ initial ven- There is not a lot of critical use-as- ture into submarine service, with only sessment of American naval subma- a couple of paragraphs referring to the rines and their general employment as experimental boats of the Civil War an arm in war, except when a develop- and after, the development of the mo- ment proved successful or a weapon, tor torpedo and electric battery. There like their early Second World War tor- are earlier books that cover those top- pedoes, was a failure. It is a volume to ics sufficiently. Green then moves on be enjoyed by those with an interest in with a summary of the immediate pre- submarines, their equipment and capa- First World War boats. The paragraphs bilities. I enjoyed it, and as an indica- here and in the introductory pages for tion have picked it up and been through the other major sections each have clear it several times, re-reading paragraphs headings, with occasional ‘boxes’ of or cut-lines I skipped over before. Well well-defined explanations—”Subma- worth its shelf space. rine or submersible,” “Visual Identifi- cation Markings,” “End of the Line— Fraser McKee decommissioning” and such. Toronto, Ontario The book is divided into five time periods: The Early Years, Second World John Grehan. Images of War. Battle of War, Cold War Diesel-Electric Sub- Midway. America’s Decisive Strike in marines, Cold War Nuclear-Powered the Pacific in WWII.Barnsley, S. Yorks: Submarines, and Post-Cold War Sub- Pen & Sword, www.frontlinebooks. marines. Each chapter opens with a com, 2019. xxviii+164 pp., illustrations, 9-10-page narrative to add context and maps, notes, bibliography. UK £14.99, generally describe the submarine types paper; ISBN 978-1-52675-834-7. to be covered. Green’s brief 10-book bibliography is pretty modest, consider- The Battle of Midway is widely consid- ing the wealth of publications out there. ered a turning point in the war against I have about 30 titles on my shelves and Japan. Defeat in the four-day battle, the USN is not one of my major inter- launched by Admiral Isoroku Yama- ests! moto on 4 June 1942, put the Imperi- Each photograph, painting or cut- al Japanese Navy on the defensive and away diagram is accompanied by a use- marked the beginning of the US Navy’s ful description of what is seen, and usu- successful offensive drive for control in ally why—its importance for the day. the Pacific. John Grehan’s Midway is The breadth of Green’s photo selection the latest, and a worthy addition, to the is remarkable, ranging from the usual fine Pen & Sword series on Images of broadside view of some boats, close- War. As the series title suggests, it is 390 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord the extensive photographic record that Much of this history is well known, makes these volumes so notable and but Grehan handles the complex and Midway is no exception. multifaceted story in succinct and lucid In his introduction, Grehan ex- prose. He describes the contributions plains the background to the battle and of the US Marines ashore and in the its significance. The Pearl Harbor at- air; the nature and quality of the aircraft tack in December 1941was Yamamo- and vessels engaged; the roles of the to’s brainchild, intended to cripple the naval personnel —enlisted and officers, US Pacific Fleet and bring America to the planners and the fighters; and the the negotiating table. Since the Amer- thinking behind each action. Scattered ican aircraft carriers were at sea at the throughout are quotes from those who time of the attack, however, they were participated directly, putting a human spared to fight another day. The op- face on the battle. Nor does Grehan posing naval forces—carriers v carri- neglect the Japanese side, which he ers—met five months later at the Battle also covers clearly and well. The real of the Coral Sea. The US lost the car- strength of this volume, however, and rier Lexington while another, Yorktown, what gives it a memorable clarity and was damaged. The Japanese suffered immediacy, is the illustrations. less significant losses but were forced Grehan has done prolific research to withdraw, abandoning their push on into graphic sources to make the Bat- Port Moresby in Papua, New Guinea. tle of Midway come alive on the page. Still, this left Japan with an advantage He marshals images from the US Naval of two to one in aircraft carriers in an History and Heritage Command, the US area where airpower had proved to be National Museum of Naval Aviation, decisive. Determined to seize this fa- the US National Archives and Records vourable moment, Yamamoto devised Administration, the National Museum a plan to lure the US fleet into a final of the US Air Force, the United States engagement, allowing him to complete Air Force, the US Navy, the US Library the conclusive victory that Pearl Harbor of Congress, the US Army, the US Air had failed to deliver. Force Historical Support Division, the Grehan describes in detail Yama- Kure Maritime Museum and the Mar- moto’s complex plan, how Admiral itime History and Science Museum, Chester Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief, Kure. Mostly, these images are con- Pacific Ocean Areas, was alerted to it temporary photographs, but there are by naval intelligence, and how Nimitz also representations of dioramas and arranged to parry the blow. The Japa- paintings by the well-known industrial nese main strike was to be an attack on designer Norman Bel Geddes. Many Midway Atoll in the Hawaiian Islands, of the illustrations are of the vessels en- which they believed the understrength gaged in the battle, some taken before US Navy would be forced to sally to the action, some during, and some after, defend. Having set the scene, Grehan showing damage. Some of the photos describes the leaders and the forces ar- were taken at a distance while others are rayed by each side and explains their detailed close-ups. The same is true of movements up to the point of contact. the photographs of aircraft. In addition, The rest of the book covers the action the captions are invaluable in describ- from the first engagement on 3 June ing the time and place the photos were through the end of the battle on 6 June taken and the technical details visible, and the aftermath and results. adding significantly to an understand- Book Reviews 391 ing of each image. current J.C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Included also are a great number of Strategic Strategy at the U.S. Naval War photographs of the men involved, both College takes his reader on a carefully American and Japanese. Some shots structured journey through maritime, are of individuals, some of groups, naval and military history. He presents some showing them in action or at a strategic philosophical perspective work while others are formal portraits. using an intellectual exercise in which Clearly, the author went to a great deal tactics are largely excluded. Much of of trouble to find images of the people the material that Holmes presents may he mentions in the text and in some cas- seem intuitive by contemporary stan- es, the pictures were taken before the dards; but the historical context and war when the men were still civilians. logical manner in which the array of Here, again, the captions are clear and strategies are presented makes it seem insightful and are often enhanced in the like great discoveries to carefully cata- text by thumbnail sketches of those por- logue and, if forgotten, could jeopardize trayed. Photographs of Midway Atoll the national and world order. and its buildings before and after the The main historical sources or Japanese attack, as well as photographs bricks used are the works of Alfred of actions at sea and in the air give Thayer Mahan and Julian Corbett, but the viewer a panoramic sense of what Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu and Nic- participants were engaged in and what colò Machiavelli round off some of they saw. The several maps also help the corners and place the background to make clear the scope and course of in counter-arguments. For more mod- the battle. ern times, Theodore Roosevelt, Wolf- For anyone interested in the Sec- gang Wegener, Mao Zedong and Henry ond World War in the Pacific, John Gre- Kissinger serve the function of putting han’s graphic account of the Battle of Holmes’s reasoning into the architec- Midway makes worthwhile reading. tural context of more recent times. Even those already familiar with the de- The author opens his book by de- tails of the battle itself, and with its sig- fining the sea as a maritime common, nificance to the course of the war, will similar to the land common of colonial find the extraordinary number of stun- America, belonging to everyone and no ning photographs and the excellent cap- one—but to be used by all. Hugo Gro- tions make the battle come alive anew. tius and John Selden debated the latter point in the early part of the seven- Kathleen Broome Williams teenth century. Grotius thought that no Oakland, California state had dominion over the maritime common, but Selden countered that James R. Holmes. A Brief Guide to a sovereign, public or private, should Maritime Strategy. Annapolis, MD: Na- be able to hold title to a portion of the val Institute Press, www.usni.org, 2019. sea just as they do on land. Therefore, xxii+183 pp., notes, index. US $24.95, a competition for domination over the paper; ISBN 978-1-68247-381-8. ocean’s reaches would follow. Holmes then defines the nature of “the deep” in A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy is more basic terms; a medium for human a three-chapter compact compendium, interactions; a unifier of time and space but one that is wonderfully written and in three dimensions; an expansive plain very instructive. James Holmes, the broken by terrain; and finally, an envi- 392 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord ronment that shapes the seafaring pro- formulating a grand maritime strategy, fession. but the advances of modern technolo- To dominate the oceans, one must gy that have taken place since the days define the nature of sea power and the of Mahan and Corbett require major author largely makes use of Mahan’s consideration. There are swift surface arguments: controlling commerce, di- ships, difficult to detect by radar, that plomacy and military access. The el- are armed with sophisticated long-range ements that in turn govern these are accurate weapons, aircraft carriers and favourable geographic positions for their supply vessels in support roles. support, good seaports, demographics Above the sea, there are reconnaissance or a major population close to a shore- aircraft that give commanders real-time line with government policy attuned to data concerning any threat. This gives growth and healthy industries that are a commander the ability to monitor a geared to prosper by way of control of wide variety of operational scenarios the seas. and gather, process and analyze intelli- Holmes’s second chapter titled gence. These same implements, manned “How to Keep the Virtuous Cycle Turn- and unmanned planes, are able to deliv- ing,” focuses on several themes. He is er lethal blows to an enemy situated far largely concerned with commerce, what away. Finally, there are several class- makes either good and bad ports, the es of stealthy submarines, some armed important roles of the merchant marine, with torpedoes, plus some of the most the navy, and the ships that each need devasting missile weapons devised by to support their missions. He is con- man. Deploying this extremely diverse cerned about “situation,” potential hubs armada to have greatest effect with a of geographic strategic positional val- minimum of devastation is a challenge. ue as well as their defensibility. Also, The study of strategy from an historical they must have access to resources to prospective provides one the basic tools support the fleet with food, fuel and of logic to develop cogent plans when other provisions. In order to assemble the need arises, but with one overriding these complex and seemingly disparate caveat—a knowledge of history and use pieces into a cogent plan, one needs a of technology alone fails to reveal what strategic blueprint followed by the mo- is in the minds of adversaries and stra- tivation needed to accomplish national tegic rivals. goals with regard to the sea. A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy The fairly long third chapter centers is obviously not designed as a manual on how maritime nations use their na- for those who aspire to become an ad- vies. First, Holmes outlines the diplo- miral, secretary of the navy, or a mem- matic constraints that must be imposed ber of an armed service committee, but and then displayed, military power that it is an excellent primer for laymen who could be designed to intimidate and co- want to be aware of the historical build- erce rather than to provoke and open ing blocks that are used in designing hostilities. The major role of a navy may maritime strategy. There is much to be policing one’s coast and areas under be learned in this well-presented com- their protection, often with the help pendium by one of the most respected of allied forces. After examining the scholars in the field. many classical strategies discussed in the previous chapters, Holmes cautions Louis Arthur Norton that one should consider them all before West Simsbury, Connecticut Book Reviews 393 John Jordan and Philippe Caresse. jective of surpassing Great Britain that French Armoured Cruisers, 1887-1932. this calculus changed. The last decades Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen & Sword, www. of the nineteenth century, therefore, pen-and-sword.co.uk, 2019. (Distribut- witnessed considerable British unease ed by Naval Institute Press.) 272 pag- over the French adoption of the guerre es, illustrations, index. UK £40,cloth; de course strategy of the Jeune Ecole. ISBN 978-1-52674-118-9. This French approach to maritime war involved attacking British merchant John Jordan has a lengthy publish- trade with fast, well-armed cruisers in ing resumé in the field of French war- all global shipping lanes. It was a strat- ships from the late- nineteenth to the egy necessitated by the weakness of the mid-twentieth century. These books French battlefleet vis-à-vis Britain’s. have involved a partnership with French The French argued that the British experts (Robert Dumas and Jean Mou- could not be everywhere guarding their lin) on differing classes of warships. merchant marine, so a powerful force He was also editor of Warship, contrib- of cruisers could strangle British trade uting a number of articles there over the and hence, the source of its economic years prior to assuming that role. This strength. The cruisers intended for this impressive volume compliments nice- task are the subject of this fine book. ly his earlier book co-authored with Jordan and Caresse have explored Philippe Caresse of French Battleships the archives to secure the details for all of World War One, published in 2017. the cruisers built for the French navy Both are well worth acquiring if inter- over the 50-year period covered by the ested in naval affairs in the Great War book. The early decades of this era era. The role and performance of the were characterized by both the gener- ‘secondary’ fleets of the other powers al technological ferment in naval ar- in the Great War are, perhaps inevita- chitecture affecting all navies, as well bly, overshadowed by the titanic strug- as indecision and prevarication by the gle between Britain’s Royal Navy and French Ministry of Marine and its de- its German challenger, the High Seas sign board (Conseil des Travaux). As Fleet. That this is only part of the story a consequence, there were a number of is certainly not news to historians of the trials of single units, or small classes, of period, but the eclipse of the ‘second cruiser, which were, to put it charitably, eleven’ by these two dominant navies disappointing. Indeed, to modern eyes, is most unfortunate and significantly a number of these warships were posi- obscures their vital role in the war and tively bizarre in shape and structure— the influence they bore in the decades the Dupuy-de-Lôme was noteworthy in leading up to the conflict that forever this regard. Performance was in conse- changed our world. quence extremely uneven, effectiveness Of the secondary navies that were difficult to prove, and even fundamen- involved in the run-up to the First tal stability questionable. All true but World War, the most significant was for one significant point. These ves- that of France, followed by Russia. In- sels served their purpose in providing a deed, these two nations were consid- credible threat to the dominance of the ered the chief rivals to Great Britain Royal Navy on the globe’s sea lanes, into the first years of the twentieth cen- and so required a response. The fact tury. It was only with the advent of the that numbers of French designs were German navy and its self-evident ob- seemingly ineffectual was a subjective 394 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord conclusion as RN officials well knew cruisers were built during or after the and consequently an expensive and First World War—indeed, the last com- comprehensive response was required pleted, Waldeck-Rousseau, was built in and provided. 1912. Undaunted, the French Ministry of Jordan and Caresse have produced Marine persevered into the early years a wonderful companion to their ear- of the twentieth century, producing lier work on French battleships and increasingly better designs and larg- as such, it certainly deserves a place er classes of warship in comparison on the bookshelf of any who acquired with the period’s early years. Jordan this first volume of their fruitful part- and Caresse have provided outstand- nership. More generally, French Ar- ing analysis of these warships, noting moured Cruisers provides an important their weaknesses and strengths, and insight to one of the major influences on provide a comprehensive overview of the thinking as to how to conduct mar- their fitness for purpose. Once past the itime war in the closing decades of the first years of the new century, the geo- nineteenth century into the early years political situation had dramatically al- of the twentieth. It was the example of tered and the new friendship with Great cruisers such as those built by France Britain rendered this guerre de course that animated thinkers such as Mah- strategy of less immediate value. The an, Corbett and Laughton and so had cruiser force, as built, was shifted to a powerful affect on how other navies, other functions, notably assisting in not the least of those of Germany, Great the control of the Mediterranean and Britain, Russia, Japan and the United Channel in co-operation with the RN States, set about their own construction and aiding more generally in any future programmes. I can unhesitatingly rec- global conflict. The authors provide a ommend this volume to all interested in short, useful, operational history of the the naval history of this era. Great War and the performance of these cruisers, illustrating a largely unknown Ian Yeates French contribution to the war at sea. Regina, Saskatchewan The book is richly illustrated with period photographs, many from the col- John Jordan (ed.). Warship 2019. Ox- lection of Caresse, that are evocative of ford, UK and New York, NY: Osprey a past long gone, as well as numerous Publishing, www.ospreypublishing. well executed drawings of the ships com, 2019. 224 pp., illustrations, di- involved—including side and aerial agrams, tables. CDN $79.00, cloth; views, as well as diagrams of turrets, ISBN 978-1-4728-3595-6. (E-book machinery layouts, and cross-sections available.) at appropriate points—most drawn from original plans by Jordan. A com- This Warship annual has its usual mix prehensive overview is also provided of articles that appeal to a wide selec- of gunnery, armour, machinery, crew- tion of naval historians, professional ing and other details that round out and amateur, who are interested chief- the analysis of these fascinating war- ly in the later nineteenth. century and ships. One minor note is that the end on through the last hundred year to the date given in the book’s title relates to present. These are written by a range when the surviving ships finally were of experts, both established and upcom- decommissioned. No French armoured ing, but all reveal new information and Book Reviews 395 surprising facts that have, in some cas- launched in 1891, completed in 1893 es, escaped previous writers. but found to be so top heavy that much The earliest events discussed in of her superstructure had to be removed, the 2019 volume by David Boursnell meaning she did not enter service until concern the manufacture and testing of 1896. With a twin 34 cm turret forward early British iron armour, as the Royal and a single one aft, Brennus was total- Navy reacted to the challenge of the first ly unlike her four predecessors and the French ironclad, the Gloire. The next, five subsequentMarine National battle- if we are going to be chronological, is ships, all of which had their main arma- an article by Hans Lengerer, a well- ment distributed on the lozenge princi- known expert on the Japanese Navy, on ple. Sources like Brasseys continued to the policies and construction of the fleet criticize her for inadequate stability but, that was triumphant in the Russo-Japa- surprisingly, she seemed to have been nese War 1904-1906. Then we have the much liked in the French Navy and story of the development of the Brown was always a flagship, first of the main Curtis turbine by Ian Johnston. Al- Mediterranean squadron and then of the though the reaction turbine invented by Second Division. She went into reserve Charles Parsons (first used for electrical in 1912 and in 1914 became an accom- generation ashore) had been adapted for modation ship. Other ships described marine use in British ships in the early are the Imperial Russian Navy’s Diana years to the century, the impulse tur- class cruisers by Stephen McLaughlin, bine designed by the American Charles who specialises in that era, and Austra- Gordon Curtis soon followed, and the lia’s first destroyers by Mark Briggs: six rights to build it were acquired by John ships that served in the First World War. Brown and company, Clydebank, Scot- There is an account by Peter Can- land. The General Electric company’s non of the Admiralty’s plans between engineer, Stephen Pigott, worked at the wars for the conversion of medi- Brown’s for one year to assist them with um-sized passenger ships to Armed the Curtis system, but stayed for the rest Merchant Cruisers (AMCs), which of his working life, taking over from Sir had been successful in the First World Thomas Bell as their top engineer and War. Finally, the actual conversion of director (and being knighted himself). the Australian coastal passenger motor An allied article to this is a piece of de- vessel Kanimbla is described in detail. tective work by Brian Newman about This ship had a distinguished war re- the engines of the battlecruiser Tiger, cord both as an AMC and from 1943 as built by John Brown, which was the an Infantry Landing Ship. Also in this first British capital ship with Curtis tur- category, by A. D. Baker III, is the his- bines. The author maintains that a lot tory of a USN auxiliary vessel; the USS of erroneous information has been ac- Lebanon, a small merchant ship taken cepted on this subject, and he has used up in 1898 for the Spanish American photographs taken at the assembly shed War that served until 1922. Other arti- before being installed in the ship to sort cles are: an account by Katherin Mila- out these errors. novitch of the significant Japanese ship Descriptions of ships and analy- losses by magazine explosion in the ear- sis of their design have always been a ly-twentieth century; the post-1918 fate feature of Warship annuals. This year, of former German destroyers by Aidan Phillipe Caresse deals with the French Dodson, who has previously dealt with battleship Brennus, laid down in 1889, the light cruisers, and a description by 396 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord the editor of the Toulon coastal defens- Vanguard no. 274 focusing on Royal es at Cape Cepel, which utilized guns Navy escort carriers during the Second and turrets from uncompleted battle- World War is a companion to another ships. Moving to a more modern era, earlier volume, New Vanguard no. 251, Jon Wise describes Anglo-Dutch naval that dealt with U.S. escort carriers over co-operation during the Cold War and the war years. Some crossover is inev- Michel Cosentino describes an unsuc- itable, since many of the escort carriers cessful Italian project to acquire a nu- were built in the United States to an clear- powered submarine. American design and transferred to the As usual there are Warship note British for operational use. and book reviews. The book is print- As intended, the book provides a ba- ed and bound in India and the produc- sic primer on the subject of this extem- tion quality is excellent. A product of porized innovation that met the urgency prodigious research by the various au- of time and operational need as air pow- thors, every Warship edition is bound to er revolutionized naval warfare. The contain information that any reader, no number of available, purpose-built fleet matter how expert, didn’t know before. aircraft carriers in navies like Britain’s Royal Navy was limited due to treaty C. Douglas Maginley limitations, cost, and losses. Construc- Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia tion of new ones was acknowledged to take some time, probably longer than Angus Konstam and Paul Wright (il- desired as losses mounted against Ger- lust.). British Escort Carriers 1941-45. man U-boats. The idea of taking hulls New York: Osprey Publishing, www. from the mercantile trade and adding a ospreypublishing.com, 2019. 48 pp., il- flight deck and other arrangements was lustrations, tables, bibliography, index. credited to Winston Churchill, though UK £11.99; US $19.00, CDN $25.00, the actual design and development ac- paper; ISBN 978-1-4728-3625-0. tually dated from the First World War and interwar period. The most pressing This illustrated book is another addition requirement was to provide air cover- to Osprey’s numbered New Vanguard age to convoys in the mid-Atlantic air series that focuses on the machines and gap outside the range of land-based equipment of warfare across history, patrol aircraft. The British converted popular with scale modelling enthusi- several merchant ships, HMS Audacity asts, persons interested in military and (the captured former German cargo lin- naval history, and customers in museum er Hannover) being the first, into ‘baby gift shops. It follows a tried and true for- flattops’. Early one-off and grouped mat that incorporates informative read- class conversions described in the book able text, period photographs, technical mention the inherent limitations of details in tables, as well as reproduced changing existing ships. The Merchant and original commissioned artwork. Aircraft Carrier (MAC) concept put Angus Konstam, a former naval officer, flight decks on working grain carriers underwater archeologist, and museum and tankers, manned by merchant navy curator, and Paul Wright, an artist fo- crews and carrying commodity cargoes cusing on modern warships, are among for the British populace. The Royal the most prolific of Osprey’s stable of Navy was given access to conversions contributors to the growing catalogue of and serial production of escort carriers titles, especially on the naval side. New in the United States through the auspic- Book Reviews 397 es of Lend-Lease and benefited direct- American manufacturers and assigned ly from the North American miracle of to the Royal Navy in Washington. The volume wartime shipbuilding. The At- U.S. Navy predominantly deployed tacker and Ruler classes delivered the escort carriers for transporting aircraft majority of escort carriers to the British across oceans into theatres of opera- from standardized U.S. Maritime Com- tions. The British used escort carriers mission C3 hulls. Side profiles and a in a variety of roles beyond trade pro- cut-away drawn by Wright show the tection in later years in support of am- differences in ships and aircraft carried, phibious landings in South East Asia as well as known paint and camouflage Command and working within the East schemes. Konstam also provides brief Indies and Pacific fleets, going so far to operational details for each escort car- group them under the assault carrier no- rier in British service and some con- menclature with dedicated strike wings. cluding observations about life onboard Text boxes and colour art cover the these warships for sailors, including the torpedoing and loss of HMS Avenger novelty of soda fountains, ice cream and write-off of the Canadian-manned makers, and centralized cafeteria-style HMCS Nabob after limping back to port messing. American material assistance, with a big hole and heavy list courtesy well represented by the escort carrier, of U-354 during operations off Norway. effectively kept the Royal Navy in the The current Osprey offering builds game and gave access to the latest tech- upon the work of Kenneth Poolman on nology in armaments, radar, and naval escort carriers, a similar illustrated book aircraft, including the allied answers to published by Arms and Amour Press superior Japanese aircraft, the Grum- in 1989 as part of the Warships Foto- man Hellcat and Avenger. fax series, and more recent books by While essential, dependence on David Hobbs. Neither the text nor the American supply also came with draw- photographs are referenced, though the backs. After investigation into the ex- main narrative stands up quite well for plosion and loss of HMS Dasher in the those familiar with the archival sources Clyde estuary, the British Admiralty in the United States and United King- concluded changes were required for dom. Konstam has done his research better fuel storage and safety in the es- and the colour illustrations provided by cort carriers being delivered to them. Wright add a significant improvement The bibliography does not include the to standard black-and-white ship line memorial book by John and Noreen drawings. Ship model makers will find Steele, They Were Never Told, that the combination quite appealing and in- deals with that tragic incident. The U.S. spirational. For such a small book, the Navy, however, refused to interrupt the index is remarkably utilitarian and im- existing production line schedule at Se- proves upon Poolman’s book which did attle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation not come with one. in Puget Sound to make the necessary For the price, Osprey books are changes, which meant the Royal Navy known for their high quality, accessibil- brought the allocated escort carriers for ity, and range of esoteric topics in the refit in nearby Vancouver, British Co- area of warfare. British Escort Carriers lumbia, or upon arrival in British des- 1941-45 satisfies that market in many tinations. Opportunity was also taken regards and compares favourably to of- to lengthen flight decks to handle high- ferings in the New Vanguard and other er power aircraft made available from series. Conveniently, many of those 398 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord titles are shown inside the front and mensional design issues. In this respect, back covers of the book for purchase plating models of the iron and steel era and enjoyment. This illustrated book are a particularly interesting catego- is recommended for a general audience ry in which the riveted plating layout interested in naval warfare during the was inked on the model by draftsmen. Second World War and warship mod- Models were built to a common scale elers. of 1/4 inch = 1 foot (1:48 scale), and by tradition, modelled the starboard side Chris Madsen (although there are exceptions). They North Vancouver, British Columbia were made from yellow pine with the grain running in alternate directions, Emily Malcolm and Michael R. Harri- producing a striking herringbone effect son. Glasgow Museums. The Ship Mod- (examples are depicted on the cover and els. A History and Complete Illustrated page 23). Generally, half hulls were Catalogue. Barnsley, S. Yorks: Seaforth glued and screwed and not constructed Publishing, www.seaforthpublishing. to be separated in lifts. Drawn plans com, 2019. xi+374 pp., illustrations. were then prepared from the model. UK £35.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1- 5267- Clyde models have a distinctive ‘an- 5752-4. (E-book available.) gled carved return’ (effectively a bowed back) to allow accurate lifting of mea- Museum catalogues may, in the past, surements (12). This process would be have tended to the dry and factual, more similar to lifting lines from full-sized an inventory tool for specialists than a ships and would be similar in accuracy treat for enthusiasts. This magnificent to lifting tables offsets from 1:48 scale new volume from Seaforth Publishing drawings. Thus, models were an essen- sets a gold standard for what such cat- tial tool in the design process; only later alogues can be. The objective of the would the marketing purpose dominate. volume, as stated in the Director’s for- The A&J Inglis Drawing Office Record ward and the authors’ introduction, is Book records that of 200 vessels built to place the models in both the cultural between 1871 and 1910, each one was and functional context of shipbuilding, modelled. viewing them as intrinsic articles of his- Initially the naval architect was the torical interest themselves, rather than model builder. It is recorded that Alex- just representations of the ships. This ander Stephen built with his own hands perspective is particularly relevant giv- 19 models of the 25 ships he built be- en the rich shipbuilding history of the tween 1860-64. The chapter on Profes- Clyde and the evolving role of ship sional Model Making traces the evolu- models. Five chapters of text (pages tion of the model-making task from the 1-147) cover such topics as; Models in hands of the designer to those of crafts- Shipbuilding, Professional Model Mak- men hired for that dedicated purpose, ing, Amateur Models, Ship Models and developing models from drawings. Exhibitions, and Building the Collec- This coincided with the shift by the tion. 1890s to drawings as the primary archi- Models were originally built in val mode (with the associated disposal shipyards as part of the design process, of many models) and the evolution of both for the purposes of communicating purpose from technical models to dis- ship forms to clients, as well as a medi- play models. At first, the model makers um for working out complex three-di- were direct employees of the shipyards Book Reviews 399 and some shipyards had sizable model ers, pattern-makers, opticians, brass shops—in 1909, Fairfield’s employed a turners, jewellers, etc. The versatility foreman plus 7 model makers. of such a collection of craftsmen is seen The late 1800s change in the pur- in the fact that Kelso’s also produced pose of models also coincided with the instrumentation for model experimental age of exhibitions, where “highly de- tanks. tailed models acted as surrogates for The combination of outsourced real ships, their quality signifying that model making and the interplay between of the actual vessels ...” (101). At these intense public interest and increasing exhibitions, not only were the ship de- shipbuilder participation in exhibitions signs represented awarded prizes, but indirectly led to a growth of amateur increasingly, the quality of the model model building. This was aided and making was also judged and award- abetted by firms (such as Kelso’s) pro- ed medals. It is an interesting insight ducing scale model components, and a into the culture of the day that (with a fortuitous collaboration of authors such few exceptions) the professional mod- as the famed Harold Underhill with the el makers were anonymous and, even Glasgow publishing house Brown Son when named, the model prize was con- & Ferguson. Underhill’s classic ref- sidered as an award to the shipbuilder erence was the two-volume Plank on concerned; the Bronze medal awarded Frame Ship Models (1958/1960), and in 1897 to Alexander Clark (foreman he espoused a modelling approach in model maker to Clydebank Shipbuild- the pursuit of perfection. ing) was retained in the company ar- The final chapter, Building the chives until the Museum acquired it Collection, contains many interesting 1970 (37). The models of this era were insights into the interplay of curatorial wonderfully detailed and could take up connections and the growth of the col- to six months to build. Two models lection. It is particularly notable that were sold to the French Musée Navale the museum’s collection arose as a nat- in 1878 for £500, then the equivalent ural evolution of the Exhibitions’ stated of five years’ wages for a skilled model purpose to “... amuse and instruct the maker (53). working classes...” (125). The first cat- Inevitably, as the design and display alogue of the collection was published purpose of models continued to diverge, in 1956 with 321 models listed. The the job of model making shifted outside 1971 catalogue listed 522 models. The the shipyards and the period from about growth of the collection was facilitated 1875 onwards saw the growth of com- by the appointment of naval architects, mercial firms, the foremost being Kelso Philip Tanner in 1951 and Tony Brown- & Company. Matthew Kelso started in ing in 1955, to curate the collection. 1872 as an optician specializing in This direct connection with industry the “manufacture of optical, mathemati- came at a most opportune (if unfortu- cal and philosophical instruments”, and nate) time when, with the shipbuilding the firm grew from five men and four industry in decline, a number of models boys in 1881 to employing 60 workers were acquired which might otherwise by 1900. It is of interest that commer- have been lost. cial model making is characterized by The catalogue portion itself (pages the authors as “an accidental profes- 147-359) comprises 210 pages of pic- sion” as the skilled workers came from tures showing all 676 models of the col- the ranks of cabinetmakers, clockmak- lection. These are well presented with 400 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord broadside views of each model (eight of 910900-21-5. them featured as a full two-page spread) and an additional 20 full-page detailed Most of us tend to envision nation states shots. Each picture is labelled with in terms of land mass and contiguous details of the model itself (type, scale, territories, but such has not always been dimensions, model maker, ownership the case. To the Norsemen of old, the and use, provenance, exhibition history, land holds were dry portions of king- and conservation work) and of the ship doms extending across seas and tied represented (type, tonnage, year built, together by sailing vessels. The Sea shipbuilder and location, working life, Kings: The Late Norse Kingdoms of and fate). Man and the Isles c. 1066-1275 is an There are too many notable mod- in-depth study of one such kingdom. els to mention, and any such mentions This kingdom was headquartered would betray my biases (the plating on the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea and model of Aquitania (490), 5.75 metres extended over the waters of the North long and weighing almost 1/4 ton being Atlantic to include island and coastal a case in point). The breadth and variety areas of western Scotland, such as Skye, (and, in some cases, plain weirdness) of Lewis, North and South Uist, Iona and Clyde shipbuilding is fully revealed. A others. It was a kingdom that expanded few minor errors (e.g., the inexplicable and contracted with the tides of power notation of a Grand Banks Schooner and influence before being absorbed (model 372) as being “ship-rigged”) do into other kingdoms with which we are not detract from the tremendous brows- more familiar. ing value of this book. Works such as this guide the read- The production values of this vol- er’s mind into new paradigms. Images ume are exceptional, from the quality of modern-day Ireland, Scotland and and colour reproduction of the photo- England are replaced by a seascape that graphs, to the outstanding layout that washes the shores of Man, Dublin, set- shows each model to advantage. The tlements in Ulster and Galloway with only quibble is that this is a heavy book Norway, Normandy, England and Scot- (2.75 kg) and, while it is solidly bound land and Church authorities in Rome in signatures, I have some fear that the and elsewhere being foreign pow- hinges might not be up to the repeated ers with whom the Manx Kings dealt handling that it is sure to get. This is a as equals, relatives, rivals, allies and beautiful volume that deserves a place co-religionists. in the library of anyone interested in the The key word in this title is use of models as essential functional “Kings”. McDonald focuses intent- elements in the history of shipbuilding. ly on the kings, their names, families, years of lives and reigns, and the events Richard W. Greenwood that they influenced and that contribut- Victoria, British Columbia ed to their successes and failures. The narrative about the Isles themselves is R. Andrew McDonald. The Sea Kings. primarily supportive of the sagas of The Late Norse Kingdoms of Man and the kings. A key word in the subtitle is the Isles, c. 1066-1275. Edinburgh, “Norse”. Almost all of the names are of UK. Birlinn Publishing, www.birlinn. obvious Nordic origin with occasional co.uk, 2019. xii+426 pp., illustrations, Celtic or native English words making maps, genealogies, notes, bibliography, an appearance. index. US $85.00, cloth; ISBN 978-1- Book Reviews 401 One advantage of reading biog- the Irish Sea and the changes as nations raphy is the introduction it provides as local nobles gave way to the expand- to the stage on which the subject per- ing modern kingdoms of Scotland and formed. McDonald’s work introduces England. I always wondered where us to the lands and seas of Man and the one discovers facts about such long Isles along with the Northern Europe ago times and found the references to of which they were a part. He follows the thirteenth-century Chronicles of the the histories of the kings and kingdoms Kings of Man and the Isles and other chronologically and by subject matter, manuscripts along with archeological dedicating chapters to the nature of finds to be fascinating. It has whetted Manx kingship, which was an accom- my appetite to delve into these tomes plishment in that many lands were ruled (in translation) to walk among the titans by lower lords such as dukes or earls, as of ages past. well as the economy and the religion of The pictures of documents, graffiti, the isles. ecclesiastical ruins, abbeys and castles Northern Mariner readers may take help anchor the text to the visual world. particular interest in the chapter entitled The maps are indispensable to an envi- “Men of the Speckled Ships: Ships, Sea sioning of the part of the world in which Power and Fighting Men”. Here are the action is set and where the charac- described the ships, their types, sizes, ters have played their parts. In addition numbers of ships, the oars on which to an exhaustive bibliography, the book they relied for propulsion, the battles directs readers to books and sites to in which they fought and the men who visit on Man and the Isles. The family crewed them. The one representative of trees of the various kings and the index Manx Norse vessels is found in a carv- aid in keeping the names straight. ing in a memorial stone at Maughold, I recommend The Sea Kings for on the eastern side of the Isle of Man. readers already familiar with the histo- The ships are depicted as “clinker-built, ry of the Isle of Man or the Norse world high stemmed, propelled by oars and of the Irish Sea between 1066 and 1275 sails…potent symbols of power, wealth who want to learn more. Many readers, and prestige”. (224) Their ability to myself included, will have to glean the project power came not only from the wheat of understanding from amongst ships themselves, but also from the land the details that, while of value to the ex- troops they transported, much like mod- pert, may be chaff to the generalist. ern troop and aircraft carriers. Manx fleets are compared to those of other James M. Gallen kingdoms, such as Norway, whose ves- St. Louis, Missouri sels plied the same waters and who con- tested the Manx kings for mastery. Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh Ph.D. Mari- This book is extraordinarily de- time Political Geography: The Persian tailed in its narratives, explanations and Gulf Islands of Tunbs and Abu Musa. documentation. Being unfamiliar with Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, Manx history I became lost amidst the www.universal-publishers.com, 241 names of kings and nobles who are the pp., illustrations, maps, notes, bibliog- dramatis personae, but there are other raphy. US $44.00, paper; ISBN 978-1- ways to enjoy this book. From these 61233-295-6. (E-book available.) lines one can appreciate the interrela- tionships between medieval powers of Maritime Political Geography: The Persian Gulf Islands of Tunbs and Abu 402 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord Musa dated 2015, deals with the un- text and, together with the low-quality resolved dispute between the United reproductions of documents, maps and Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran over images, hint at careless or rushed re- several islands in the Persian Gulf that view of an important volume. each claim. Mojtahed-Zadeh provides Yet, read on. Dr. Mojtahed-Zadeh, historical background to the various a long-established expert on the issue, claims, reaching back to the early nine- compiles his history of the dispute well teenth century and continuing until the using a variety of sources and he has withdrawal of the British protector- clearly invested considerable profes- ate and the establishment of the UAE sional and personal effort in the negoti- in 1971. He reprises his personal role ations on behalf of Iran and on the topic acting on behalf of Iran in negotiations in general. If not by anything else, this between the two states since then and personal investment is evidenced by the presents letters and documents relating remarkable tit-for-tat exchange with a to the separate claims. reviewer of one of Mojtahed-Zadeh’s The book is arranged as an intro- previous works in which he appears to duction, eight chapters and concluding take umbrage at an accusation of par- remarks. Chapters review the geogra- tiality in the dispute, and fires the same phy and history of the dispute, includ- claim back at his reviewer (171–178). ing British ‘colonial’ arrangements and The conceptual discussion of maritime the bases of claims of the UAE and Iran. political geography in the Persian Gulf The first seven chapters comprise 140 in the introductory chapter immediately pages and include the discussion and betrays a sympathy for the Iranian view presentation of documents and maps as and, notwithstanding the risk of riposte evidence, while the eighth chapter of for the present review, the author’s 60 pages presents a collection of letters claims of academic impartiality are un- from the author on the subject of the convincing. The frequent use of the fa- Persian Gulf islands dispute. miliar pronoun ‘her’ in relation to Iran’s In the opening paragraph, mari- claims, and particularly immediately time political geography is defined as after referring to the UAE’s claims to the “study of implementation of state ‘alleged ownership’ throughout chap- sovereignty at sea” or, less elegantly, ter four, suggests otherwise. Perhaps it is “the art of determining extension responsibility for this oversight may be of sovereignty exercise of a state in excused as the author is clearly writing the maritime areas surrounding its ter- in a second language, but precise and ritories” (17). The awkward English dispassionate language are markers of usage is an occasional theme and Mo- impartiality. jtahed-Zadeh appears in this instance to Although published in 2015, the have been inadequately served by the latest source in the bibliography is standard of proof-reading in general. 2011, one of ten of the author’s own cit- Changes from third to first person in ed, and of the remaining 60 documents the same paragraph (147) serve to con- cited, only two are later than 2000. Al- fuse. The shortened form ‘UAE’ is ren- though this is clearly influenced by the dered alternatively ‘UAB’, ‘U AB’ and use of historical sources, the majority of ‘DAB’ on the same page (172), perhaps recent citations are media reports rather indicating faults of optical character than peer-reviewed articles or books. A recognition. These avoidable errors Google Scholar search reveals numer- inevitably detract from the flow of the ous peer-reviewed or scholarly sources Book Reviews 403 published in the first decade or so of R. O. Neish. Leith-built Ships, Vol. 1. this century that might have been used (1850-1919). They Once Were Ship- to enrich the discussion presented in builders. Dunbeath, Scotland: Whittles this work. Perhaps alternate opinions Publishing, www.whittlespublishing. have been addressed thoroughly in the com, 2019. xvi+144 pp., illustrations, author’s previous works, and the sepa- tables, glossary. UK £16.99, US $22.95, rate list of these provided impressively paper; ISBN 978-1-84995-443-3. covers nearly five pages, but the ab- sence of recent peer-reviewed literature Author Ron Neish is a former shipbuild- from anyone else should be noted. er who had worked at the Henry Robb Similarly, the eighth chapter listing Victoria Shipyard at Leith and later as a letters to “world leaders” (157) only consultant. Leith, of course, is the port cites outgoing correspondence, with the for Edinburgh and ships had been built exception of that relating to the dispute there from medieval times. It was in with a reviewer of one of the author’s the early days of the industrial revolu- previous works. The author summaris- tion in first part of the nineteenth cen- es the responses to these letters in one tury, however, that Leith developed as sentence by claiming the ‘controver- a shipbuilding centre, pioneering in the sies’ that elicited the correspondence transition from sailing ships to steamers were “never repeated” (158). This pau- and from wood to iron and then steel. city of alternate views, together with As in any industrial area, companies the photographs presented as evidence evolved, merged and changed names of the author’s meetings with import- and owners over the years. This vol- ant personages, creates the impression ume is focussed on the years 1850 to that the book is really about the author’s 1919, which include what Neish calls role in the negotiations rather than an the “golden years”, the ‘80s and ‘90s, impartial review of the dispute. though the first decades of the twen- As a case of maritime political ge- tieth century seemed almost as pros- ography, this book makes an important perous. Nevertheless, there were ups contribution to studies of the Persian and downs. Demand for shipping and Gulf islands dispute. Given the implicit employment for shipyards has always lean towards the Iranian view, the dis- fluctuated between urgent need and tracting minor errors, and thin reference oversupply resulting in periods of full to recent literature, this book would bet- employment followed by lay-offs for ter serve as a sourcebook for the ded- the workers in a time when the modern icated student of the issue rather than social safety net did not exist. The au- as a primer for the uninitiated. There thor, while describing the shipyards and is great value in Mojtahed-Zadeh’s their output, never forgets his predeces- personal insights to the negotiations sors, the skilled workmen who built the surrounding the dispute over the Per- ships and the often-difficult conditions sian Gulf islands and this is the work’s in which they lived and worked. greatest strength. For the price though, The early shipyards of what was to I suggest that readers of this Journal become an impressive industry grew with a general interest in maritime stud- up on the banks of the Water of Leith, ies might prefer to access other sources a small river that runs through the heart on the topic. of Edinburgh. In 1818, Leith shipbuild- er Thomas Morton invented the slipway Mick de Ruyter on which a vessel can be hauled out of Adelaide, South Australia 404 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord the water on a cradle, a cheaper alterna- the five-mast barqueKobenhavn (1921) tive to a drydock and the first one was the largest sailing ship constructed in installed beside the river. By 1850, the Great Britain and a training ship for the S & H Morton company was a promi- Danish East Asiatic Company. In 1928, nent builder at their Victoria Shipyard with 75 men on board, she disappeared which would later be taken over by without trace on a voyage from Buenos Henry Robb for whom Neish worked. Ayres to Melbourne; an unsolved mys- The other large-scale yard was R & F tery of the sea. Shipbuilders, later Ramage & Fergu- Neish devotes a chapter to activities son, established in 1877 and absorbed during 1914-1918 which involved con- by Robb in 1934, while a third was J. struction of anti-submarine trawlers and Cran & Co. which specialized in build- X -Lighters (landing craft), but chiefly ing tugs and some fishing vessels. The cargo ships, attempting to offset the others built sailing ships, cargo steam- enormous losses to U-boats that nearly ers, paddle ferries and excursion vessels brought victory to Germany. The sta- and many beautifully finished steam tistical account is staggering. Between yachts. When prosperous Victorians February and May nearly two million wanted to display their wealth, a steam tons of shipping was lost to submarines, yacht was the ideal showcase, and Leith 25% of all ships heading to Britain. was the place to order one. The care- Even after the introduction of convoys, ful finishing of these yachts must have losses remained high as there was no ef- employed many skilled craftsmen and fective sonar or weapon. Another chap- would have been a marked contrast to ter describes the adventures and fates of the simple cargo steamers of the day Leith-built ships in wartime. building on adjacent slipways. The au- There must be many places around thor was lucky to obtain a complete list the United Kingdom and, indeed, the of the ships by yard number built by R & entire industrialized world, where great F/Ramage and Ferguson between 1878 ingenuity and physical endeavour were and 1931. This shows not only the va- invested in creating the mechanical riety of ships but also that, on average, culture that for over 150 years we took the largest were sailing ships: the big for granted as the dominant feature of steel full-riggers and four-mast barques our civilisation. Such regions are now which were the pre-First World War known as “the rust belt”. Neish was bulk carriers. Leith did not build really determined that the industrial history of large ships: in Scotland, these were con- his area and the profession in which he structed by the major shipyards of the worked would not be forgotten. This is Clyde. Many of the Leith ships were only Volume 1. The period 1918-1939 built for companies based at that port will be covered in Volume 2. trading into the Baltic and Northern Incidentally, one maritime feature Europe. They also included the famous of the Port of Leith today is the former whaling company, Christian Salvesen. Royal Yacht Britannia, which can be Nevertheless, some notable and famous visited and where occasional banquets vessels were built at the port: the Siri- are held. us, in 1838 the first steamship to cross the Atlantic from East to West, just C. Douglas Maginley beating Brunel’s Great Western by a Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia day; the Maha Chakri (1892) an armed yacht built for the King of Siam; and Simon Parkin. A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Ingenious Young Wom- Book Reviews 405 en whose Secret Board Game Helped individual U-boat “Aces” and their at- Win Word War II: New York, NY: Lit- tacks. The vicissitudes of a young RN tle, Brown and Co., www.littlebrown. officer, who courted a Wren who had com, 2020. 301 pp., illustrations, notes, served at WATU, and then went off to bibliography, index, US $29.00, CDN one of the great convoy battles in 1943 $37.00, cloth; ISBN 978-0-316-49209- in a destroyer personify how escort 6. (E-book available.) vessels experienced the long Atlantic campaign. At times, the book strays Marc Milner noted in 2003 that “The beyond WATU and the struggle to de- development of tactics and doctrines fend convoys; for example, by relating within Western Approaches Command the harrowing loss to a torpedo attack of has never been looked at by modern a contingent of Wrens bound for Gibral- scholars” (Battle of the Atlantic, 2003, tar or the sybaritic interlude enjoyed by 20). Western Approaches was respon- the officers of a British cruiser refitting sible for controlling Atlantic convoys; in New York in 1942. Overall, this is its Western Approaches Tactical Unit popular history at its best. (WATU) was created in early 1942 to The story of WATU’s creation is analyze ongoing convoy operations interesting is one about good decisions. and to improve anti-U-boat tactics. Its In November 1941, retired Vice Ad- story was told in 2017 by Paul Edward miral Cecil Usborne was appointed as Strong in Wargaming the Atlantic War: Churchill’s Naval Advisor on Anti-Sub- Captain Gilbert Roberts and the Wrens marine Warfare. One of his first actions of the Western Approaches Tactical was to sponsor the creation of a tactical Unit, a paper for a wargaming forum. unit at Western Approaches Command (It is available online under that title). in Liverpool in January 1942 under Gil- Simon Parkin, an accomplished Brit- bert Roberts. The selection of Roberts ish journalist, who has written for The (who had been invalided out of the RN New Yorker and The Guardian, has now due to tuberculosis in 1938) proved to produced A Game of Birds and Wolves, be inspired. He had commanded a de- a creative and riveting account about stroyer and had been on the staff of the the Tactical Unit that greatly expands Tactical Course in Portsmouth in the Strong’s account (he and a colleague at mid-thirties that analysed tactical prob- Britain’s Defence Science and Technol- lems and taught doctrine through war ogy Laboratory were consultant readers gaming; of this experience he wrote for the book). Parkin tells how WATU “What an astonishing two years! I loved Unit was created and run by the creative it absolutely” in his unpublished The Captain Gilbert Roberts, but he also em- Life and Letters of Gilbert Roberts held phasizes the role of the members of the by the Imperial War Museum. Usborne Women’s’ Royal Navy Service (WRNS, had commanded the Tactical Course known as Wrens) who played important several years earlier. roles not only in the Tactical Unit but After a being briefed by Usborne, more widely in the wartime RN. the Second Sea Lord and a short session Simon Parkin is a great storytell- with the Prime Minister who told him er. He relates events as experienced by “Find out what is happening and sink Gilbert Roberts, several Wrens and na- the U-boats,” (122) Roberts headed for val officers to carry his narrative. For Liverpool. example, descriptions of how U-boat There he started analyzing convoy tactics evolved are conveyed through battles using after-action reports and in- 406 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord terviews with escort officers. He creat- of Western Approaches, who could then ed a tactical floor where he and his staff, more intelligently direct his escort ships largely of young Wrens, could wargame in the Atlantic….” (119). past convoy actions and work out new Simon Parkin and his researchers tactics. He then started teaching week- have drawn on Gilbert Roberts’ lively long courses about anti-U-boat tac- but unaccountably unpublished Life and tics, built around realistic games that Letters, and audio and paper accounts demonstrated standard procedures and by other contemporaries. The author exercised attendees in their applica- has a flair for conveying atmosphere tion. The courses were eventually at- and bringing individual stories to life. tended by almost 5,000 escort officers. The descriptions of individuals are de- In running the games Gilbert Roberts tailed and well-rounded; it is notewor- made excellent use of his small team of thy that observations by contemporaries bright Wrens who were astonishingly about Roberts’ difficult personality are young—his first core group were 18 to included. One of the fascinating as- 21 years old. The process became a sort pects of the Gilbert Roberts story is that of feedback loop with Roberts adroitly he, a German speaker, was sent to Ger- incorporating reports from sea and in- many shortly after V-E Day to interview telligence reports into WATU’s under- U-boat veterans. His brief encounter standing of problems. He was able to with Admiral Dönitz and his sessions quickly respond with a defensive tactic with Admiral Godt, who had been in when the Germans introduced anti-es- tactical command of the U-boat force, cort homing torpedoes in mid-1943. and others are dramatically related. In Roberts was an accomplished com- retirement, Gilbert Roberts settled in municator. Simon Parkin relates how, Devon and married a second time. Par- because he was mindful of the need to kin writes that he “continued to feel hold the attention of his students and to underappreciated” (275). Twenty years keep his presentations from becoming after the end of the war he received a stale, Gilbert Roberts consulted a lead- letter saying that he was to receive a ing radio entertainer. In reviewing this knighthood. The following day there book in The Guardian on 14 December was a telephone call explaining that the 2919, historian Richard Overy aptly notification had been set in error, there wrote “Roberts was an accomplished was to be no new honour. Incredible. impresario of the game.”. Parkin and his industrious team are At its peak in 1944, the WRNS occasionally careless about peripheral was 75,000 strong. Its wartime im- details: to cite three, Vyacheslav Mo- portance is a leitmotif in A Game of lotov was the Soviet foreign minister, Birds and Wolves which argues that not premier (106), a degaussing range Wrens received inadequate recognition was where ships fitted with antimagnet- for a variety of reasons. Their part in ic wire coils were tested for how well signals intelligence alone was pivot- they functioned rather than where the al: “(U-boat) Messages intercepted by degaussing systems were fitted (110), Wrens in Scarborough were passed to and Operation Torch, the Allied land- Bletchley Park. There a staff of Wrens ings in North Africa did not take ships led by the genius cryptographer Alan to the South Atlantic (198). The over- Turing would decipher U-boatmen’s all discussion of the complex Battle of messages. Once translated, information the Atlantic lacks depth. For example, was passed to the commander-in-chief when discussing the issues about insuf- Book Reviews 407 ficient patrol aircraft it talks about too illustrations, glossary, appendix, notes, few bombers. The long-range aircraft bibliography, index. UK £30.00, cloth; in question were, in fact, specially mod- ISBN 978-1-52674-002-1. ified bombers but describing them this way misstates how they were employed The exploits of the German Luftwaffe against U-boats. (Air Force, hereafter, LW) in the Sec- The WATU was one of many fac- ond World War have been heavily doc- tors that contributed to Allied success umented for 70 years—with one excep- in the Battle of the Atlantic. A Game tion—the efforts of the LW in maritime of Birds and Wolves tells its story well roles: reconnaissance, anti-shipping but underplays the other factors. In its missions, coordination with the Krieg- own way, the book echoes how Gilbert smarine (World War Two German Navy, Roberts was seen by Commander Frank hereafter, KM,) search and rescue, and Layard, RN, an escort group command- other maritime-related aviation roles. er and very experienced destroyer cap- In Eagles over the Sea 1935-42, Pater- tain who took the tactical course twice. son provides a comprehensive history In September 1943 he observed: “…. of LW maritime operations during the Capt. Roberts….is a v. good lecturer first seven years of the LW’s existence but v. theatrical and, of course, would and the first three years of the Second like you to know that he was 75% re- World War. sponsible for the recent defeat of the Over the years, much has been writ- U-boat in the N. Atlantic.” (Michael ten about the Second World War LW Whitby, ed. Commanding Canadians: fighter pilots, especially its ace pilots, The Second Word War Diaries of A.F.C. and there have been many books about Layard, 2005, 33). the LW bomber units. But the near-ob- A Game of Birds and Wolves is a scurity of LW maritime operations writ- terrific read that presents a series of ep- ings is traceable to one man: Hermann isodes as experienced by participants to Goering, the commander of the LW tell the story of the Western Approaches from its inception to almost the end of Tactical Unit, its driving force, Captain the war and the number two man in the Gilbert Roberts and the role of young Nazi hierarchy. Goering, a German war Wrens in its success. The text is sup- ace in the First World War, declared ported by well-chosen photographs. when put in charge of the LW, “Every- The book has received popular acclaim thing that flies belongs to me!” Unlike in the UK. Film rights have apparent- the United States Navy, the Imperial ly been purchased by Steven Spielberg. Japanese Navy, and the British Royal Recommended as an engaging and re- Navy (after 24 May 1939), this meant warding new popular study of one as- the KM was denied an independent air pect behind Allied success in the Battle arm of its own. Throughout the war, of Atlantic. the German Navy had to negotiate with the LW for use of its assets when the Jan Drent navy needed air support. This fact has Victoria, British Columbia obscured LW operations in support of the KM, or independent LW maritime Lawrence Paterson. Eagles over the Sea operations in favour of the more prom- 1935-42. A History of Luftwaffe Mari- inent fighter pilots and bomber pilots time Operations. Barnsley, S. Yorks: and their units. Seaforth Publishing, www.seaforth- Paterson wisely starts his narrative publishing.com, 2019. xvi+464 pp., 408 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord with a chapter on the history of German rely on the LW throughout the war. The naval aviation prior to the Nazi seizure power struggle between the KM and the of power. Prior to the First World War, LW was recurrent throughout the war. the Imperial German Navy (IGN) es- Fortunately for the KM, many LW offi- tablished both airship and aircraft units. cers had served in the interwar German With outbreak of hostilities in 1914, the Navy and thus, were familiar with naval IGN expanded its airship and aircraft operations. This permitted a degree of combat units. The airship units—zep- cooperation between the two services at pelins, which bombed England—are an operational level. famous. Overshadowed by its Imperial Paterson relates all of this and thor- German Air Force comrades, the IGN oughly describes the maritime activities pilots fought a private war along the of the LW, as well as the power strug- Flanders coast. At least 20 IGN pilots gles. He carefully describes the LW ac- became ace pilots. tivities starting in the Spanish Civil war, The Treaty of Versailles imposed the early Second World War period, and harsh restrictions on defeated Germa- all fronts where the LW operated— ny, especially its armed forces. The from the English Channel, to Norway, German Navy was drastically reduced to the Mediterranean, and the Russian in size and was allowed to keep only a Front. While the LW did not develop a small number of aircraft with associat- truly dedicated maritime attack aircraft, ed pilots and ground crew. Although it successfully adapted its existing air- German Naval Aviation was officially craft to maritime operations. disbanded in 1920, the German Navy The narrative is supported by many kept six aircraft for minesweeping pur- excellent illustrations whose relevance poses into the 1930s. Although small, is of great aid to the reader. At the be- this unit provided a nucleus for a future ginning of the book, a glossary contains German naval air arm. definitions, rank and organizational ta- Paterson’s next chapter relates bles and notes, definitions of the vari- previously little-known information. ous LW unit names, and a guide to LW Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, aircraft identification codes. This last is Germany secretly began to rebuild its valuable, as Paterson includes the air- air services. The story of the clandes- craft identification code for many- air tine training of future LW personnel is craft mentioned. The reader unfamiliar well-known; what Paterson relates in with the LW system of aircraft identi- his book’s second chapter is the parallel fication would find the inclusion of an efforts of the German Navy to establish aircraft’s identification code confusing a future naval air arm. without the glossary’s assistance. An When Hitler came to power in Ger- appendix to the narrative details the many in 1933, he quickly abrogated the many aircraft used in LW maritime op- Treaty of Versailles and began a pro- erations while end notes provide valu- gram of substantial rearmament. It was able reference material and information then that the struggle for an indepen- that supplements the narrative. The dent naval air arm began. Erich Raed- bibliography lists a host of references er, commander of the KM, pushed for a for further reading. return to the First World War model— This is a most impressive work. an independent German Naval Air Arm. It has earned the title, “Definitive,” Goering stepped in and took control of and may well remain the best in-depth all military air assets, forcing the KM to treatment of LW maritime operations. Book Reviews 409 Paterson plans a second volume on a private crew for a humanitarian mis- LW maritime operations from 1942 to sion in time of war was not lightly tak- 1945—a prospect this reviewer greatly en. Besides Mars’ demands on avail- relishes. able resources, the question of whether government aid to another country was Robert L. Shoop constitutional was hotly debated at the Colorado Springs, Colorado time. Meanwhile, the British govern- ment balanced the survival of the Irish Stephen Puleo. Voyage of Mercy. The against the stability of grain markets USS Jamestown, the Irish Famine, and and the utility of saving the Irish from the Remarkable Story of America’s First dependence on others. Humanitarian Mission. New York, NY: Much of the book focuses on two St. Martin’s Press, www.usmacmillan. main characters: Fr. Theobald Mathew, com, 2020. 336 pp., bibliography, in- the Apostle of Temperance, and Captain dex. US $28.99, cloth; ISBN 978-1- Robert Bennet Forbes, who guided the 25020-047-1. (E-book available.) Jamestown on its historic mission. It was Fr. Mathew who devoted his life Great shifts in public policy and nation- to his people and piqued the conscience al behaviour sometimes arise, not out of of the world by his repeated reports and clash of arms or revolutionary swings pleas. Forbes was an accomplished on election day, but in the generous re- seaman, who had spent much time sponse to a cri de coeur that that will away from home as his wife managed never let the world stay as it always had their family, mourned as their children been. Voyage of Mercy is the story of grew and died and their fortunes were one such response. made and lost. In 1847, Ireland was in the midst The voyage was rare, if not unique. of an Gorta Mor, the Great Hunger, in Stripped of most of its guns, with a which half of a country literally starved makeshift, and not particularly profi- to death or fled. The United States was cient volunteer crew, the Jamestown committed to a war with Mexico that was loaded, beginning on St. Patrick’s claimed its attention and resources. Day, with 8,000 barrels of food along It was out of this murky milieu that a with clothing. Leaving Boston on 28 precedent for international humanitari- March 1847, ship and inexperienced an aid flowed. crew endured snow, sleet, dense fog, The history of the United States, ice, howling gales, rain and variable or even the world for that matter, had winds before arriving in Cork Harbour never known a circumstance in which on April 12. After being greeted by one nation extended uncompensated aid Fr. Mathew, Forbes and his ship were and relief to the subjects of another. As accorded the most lavish welcome of reports of the failure of the potato crop which Cork was capable. The trip to on which most Irish depended reached town was an education for Forbes. Im- America, committees formed across the pressed, first, by the humbleness of Fr. land to collect food for transportation to Mathew, he was shocked by the horror Ireland and Scotland, which also suf- he encountered during his walk through fered from the potato blight. The first the city. “I saw enough in five minutes voyage was made by the U.S.S. James- to horrify me…hovels crowded with town, a United States Navy vessel. The the sick and dying—some called for decision to turn the Jamestown over to water…and others for a dying bless- 410 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord ing.” (159) Forbes’ offer of silver coins dex and bibliographic essay at the end to starving beggars fomented a mob that are helpful. In times of challenge it is threated to crush him and Mathew. worth looking back on prior tragedies. Fortunately, the voyage of the This is an excellent read for anyone in- Jamestown was the start of a flood of terested in the history of humanitarian relief supplies flowing from America to relief, Ireland, the American experi- Ireland passing a surge of immigrants to ence, and “soft” sea power. the land of their benefactors. Even the well-meaning have their limits, and by James M. Gallen 1848, American interest in Ireland was St. Louis, Missouri ebbing, leaving the remaining Irish to fend for themselves and the principals Margaret Schotte. Sailing School: of the story moved on. Navigating Science and Skill, 1550- Forbes went back to commercial 1800. Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins shipping, supervised the building of University Press, www.press.jhu.edu, gunboats for the Union during the Civil 2019. xii+297 pp., illustrations, glos- War, rode on the first non-transfer trans- sary, notes, bibliography, index. US continental train trip from Boston to $59.95, cloth; ISBN 978-1-4214-2953- San Francisco and wrote his memoirs. 3 (E-book available). To his death in 1885, the Jamestown Mission remained “the most prominent Anyone who has enjoyed the challenge event of my life.” of celestial navigation will find Mar- Fr. Mathew continued to expend garet Schotte’s book fascinating as it himself for his people to the extent of describes the history of techniques in- exhaustion and a paralytic stroke. His volved, as well as the international as- long-sought trip to America in the caus- pects of improving on those techniques es of temperance and thanksgiving en- over the two and a half centuries she gendered controversy unknown in Ire- covers. This reviewer certainly recalls land. He was accorded a hero’s funeral staring disconsolately at a worksheet in Cork in 1856. with observations taken, on an anything Quite a story. After the voyage of but stable deck, with no skill using his the Jamestown, natural and man-made sextant, on stars with dodgy identifi- disasters spurred relief efforts far and cations and breaking them down with wide. The Famine ignited a burning Norie’s Nautical Tables in hand, pro- resentment in Irish hearts toward the ducing a cocked hat on the chart that English whom they fault for abandon- would take a day’s sailing to traverse. ment in their hour of crisis and a lasting All only requiring an hour to calculate. affection for the United States, the land Ah, such were the joys… Like my fel- that provided for their needs and ac- low sufferers, I certainly pondered the cepted, although not always welcomed, evil nature of those mariner forebearers their emigrants. Author Stephen Puleo who had dreamt this stuff up and had has woven the tale of a tragedy, callous passed on these techniques to torture and generous responses, heroes and vil- the dreams of their successors. Now- lains and earth-changing events into a adays, of course, it is a mere matter of captivating tapestry of history, biogra- punching a button on the GPS and you phy and reflection. The seven parts of have your position instantly and with an this work alternate the scene between accuracy impossible to meet using ce- the United States and Ireland. The in- lestial bodies and a sextant. Book Reviews 411 The art of navigation is generally nationalities and time demonstrates this one of those aspects of maritime life reality exceptionally well. that is taken for granted, much like The book is broken down into victualling, stores, finance and other chapters that assess the state of the art quotidian and mundane background in varying time periods and in varying matters. Yes, everyone knows that such locations. She pulls together the links activities have to be managed, but most between both dimensions masterfully skip over them into more compelling throughout her narrative – essentially narratives of exploration, war or trade. via the route of printed manuals and Yet, without navigational skills and books of instruction. After an intro- techniques, Europe’s dominance of the ductory chapter that lays the founda- world’s oceans, generally dating from tions for her analysis, Schotte explores the late Fifteenth Century’s Portuguese navigational training chronologically voyages down the African West Coast (for the most part) starting with the and into the Atlantic, could not have Spanish experience (Seville – 1552). occurred. Without minimising the very She moves then to Amsterdam (1600), real ocean navigation capabilities of the Dieppe (1675), London (1683), Nether- Polynesians, the dominance of Europe lands (1710), and summed up the state in global history terms has amongst of the art with the epic navigation of its roots the navigational skills of its HMS Guardian under the command of sailors and their capacity of transmit- a Lieutenant Riou, RN in 1789. Riou’s ting the knowledge gained from expe- ship was holed by an iceberg south of rience to their successors in the trade. the Cape of Good Hope, and only his Schotte’s story is therefore an important impressive celestial navigational skills and foundational examination of one of (combined with his equally impressive the key drivers of European and global leadership, ship handling and damage maritime history. control attributes) was he able to save Schotte has presented us with a his ship and crew from certain loss in the marvellous account of the development trackless wastes of the Southern Ocean. of celestial navigation, displaying truly The fruits of the previous centuries de- impressive and outstanding scholarship velopments of navigational techniques in no less than six languages. Her mod- were well represented by this relatively el was to explore the textbooks used young captain facing extraordinary cir- to train navigators from the Sixteenth cumstances. This vignette makes for a Century to the late Eighteenth Century fine example demonstrating Schotte’s from across maritime Europe. As has points regarding navigation and how been the case up to, at least, the very re- knowledge was transmitted across time cent past, navigation training involved and geographies to telling effect. a combination of shore-based education The book is wonderfully illustrat- and ship-based practical experience. As ed throughout with black and white is the case with most aspects of mari- engravings from the navigation books time life, experience is critical in the used as sources for the narrative. There development of competence. “Book is also a small collection of colour learning” by itself simply won’t do, plates that have been well selected and yet without it progress is haphazard at well produced. Schotte has also provid- best and the transmission of knowledge ed copious and useful endnotes; an ex- across years and geographies impossi- tensive bibliography, notably of prima- ble. The story Schotte presents across ry sources, but a comprehensive survey 412 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord of secondary sources is quite evident. open door to invade the key island of A useful glossary has also been provid- Java. ed – in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Soon after the Japanese attacks French and Dutch. on Pearl Harbor, Hong Kong, Malaya, Schotte’s book is an important con- and the Philippines, the Americans, tribution to maritime history and abso- British, Dutch and Australian military lutely should be on the shelf of all inter- formed the ABDA command to face ested in the details of seafaring life in the Japanese onslaught. The Ameri- the age of sail, as well as those studying cans had suffered a major defeat in the Europe’s centuries of expansion and Pearl Harbor attack, lost possession of conquest. I strongly recommend this Wake Island and Guam, and faced the book accordingly. Japanese in the Philippines. The Brit- As a final note, to return to my own ish had combat forces in North Africa navigational experiences, Norie’s Nau- and had to defend the Indian Subcon- tical Tables was first produced in 1803 tinent. Australia had its combat troops and so is itself the product of the cen- in North Africa. But the Dutch also turies of navigational development that faced significant obstacles to defending Schotte has so ably presented in this its colony: the German Army invaded book. Norie’s remains available to this the Netherlands in 1940 and the Dutch day notwithstanding the advent of GPS. Government-in-Exile was based in London. The Royal Netherlands East Ian Yeates, Indies Army was small, moderately Regina, Saskatchewan equipped, and composed largely of na- tive soldiers. Moreover, the Dutch East Mark Stille. Osprey Campaign #144: Indies (now Indonesia) consists of hun- Java Sea 1942. Japan’s Conquest of the dreds of islands throughout the Pacific. Netherlands East Indies. Oxford, UK; Many of the native islanders were nat- Osprey Publishing, www.ospreypub- urally hostile to the Dutch. Moreover, lishing.com, 2019. 96 pp., illustrations, the underlying strategies of the ABDA charts, bibliography, index. UK £14.99, governments differed: the Americans US $24.00, CDN $32.00, paper; ISBN wanted to save the Philippines; the Brit- 978-1-4728-3164-4. ish wanted to save Malaya/Singapore; Australians naturally wanted to prevent When the Japanese military attacked the a Japanese takeover of their continent; Western possessions in Asia and the Pa- and the Dutch wanted to save their col- cific in December, 1941, they did so to ony. While ABDA command seemed enable a conquest of the resource-rich unified and coherent, the reality was Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Af- much different. ter conquering British Hong Kong and The Japanese force that faced this Malaya/Singapore, while also pinning combined opposition was well-trained down American forces in the Philip- and better-equipped than its adversar- pines, the Japanese military focused ies; the A6M Zero fighter airplane of their attention on the Dutch East Indies. the Imperial Japanese Navy was the In Java Sea 1942. Japan’s Conquest best carrier fighter in the world at that of the Netherlands East Indies, Mark time, able to outperform any aircraft Stille relates the naval battles, including that the Americans, British, Dutch, and the climactic historic surface battle that Australians put up against it. The Im- resulted in the Japanese having a virtual perial Japanese Navy also had the Type Book Reviews 413 93 “Long Lance” torpedo, able to op- Bali. The result was a Japanese victo- erate at great distances by well-trained ry; one Dutch destroyer was sunk, the crews. The Japanese army had officers Dutch light cruiser Tromp was damaged and men that had seen combat in China and had to sail to Australia for repairs, during the period 1937-41 which meant and a USN destroyer damaged and sent that ABDA was up against a truly for- to dry dock. midable foe. The most famous battle of the Java The key to the Dutch East Indies campaign came next, the Battle of the was the island of Java—the centre of Java Sea on 27-28 February 1942. In Dutch administration. Starting in late this, a naval force of American, Brit- December, 1941, the Japanese system- ish, Dutch, and Australian ships faced a atically attacked and conquered Dutch Japanese invasion fleet headed for Java. islands—among them, Borneo, Su- The Dutch Admiral Karel Doorman matra, Timor, Bali, Ambon, and many commanded the fleet—a “no-win” as- others. By late February, 1942, Java signment. Units of four different navies was surrounded and the Japanese had (USN, Royal Navy, Royal Netherlands almost complete mastery of the air over Navy, and the Royal Australian Navy) the Dutch East Indies. It was only a speaking different languages (Dutch matter of time before the Japanese in- and three different English dialects, vaded Java. with different operational methods, set Stille’s book describes the naval out to face the Japanese invasion force. efforts to prevent the invasion of Java. It was no contest; Doorman did his best, Before narrating the sea battles, he ana- but the result was a loss of the Dutch lyzes the background to the East Indies light cruisers De Ruyter, Kortenaer, campaign, which is helpful for those and Java; significant damage to HMS unfamiliar with the history of them Exeter; and the loss of HMS Electra. 1941-41 Pacific War. He further relates Doorman, in keeping with classic naval biographies of the opposing command- tradition, died when De Ruyter sank. ers on both sides, their fleets and battle The ABDA agony was not finished; plans. the day following the Java Sea battle, He then analyzes the four naval the Japanese sank the heavy cruis- battles that made up the Java Sea cam- er USS Houston and the light cruiser paign. These were primarily heavy HMAS Perth and cleared the way for and light cruiser and destroyer battles, the Japanese invasion of Java. After with no battleships from either side in- some ground fighting, the Dutch Army volved. The first battle mentioned is commander surrendered Java on 8 the Battle of Balikpapan on 24 January March 1942. Some fighting continued 1942, when U.S. Navy (USN) destroy- for three weeks when the last Dutch ers sank four Japanese troop transports garrison on northern Sumatra surren- and a patrol boat. It was the sole ABDA dered on 28 March. The Japanese had naval victory of the Java campaign, but completed their conquests. did little to stem the Japanese advance. The Battle of the Java Sea, involv- The next battle occurred 19-20 Feb- ing as it did American, British, and Aus- ruary 1942, in the Badoeng Strait, when tralian ships, has been related in many a force of American and Dutch destroy- English-language books on the Pacific ers, together with the Dutch light cruis- War. So, does Stille’s book fill a need? ers De Ruyter, Java, and Tromp, tried The answer is yes. Java Sea 1942 is to prevent the invasion of the island of a coherent account of these early naval 414 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord battles. He includes many photographs story is an epic biography that comes to of the ships and commanders. The book light in the pages of Pirate Hunter. has several “in action” colour plates de- The reader will find the irony of the picting the agony of Second World War title shortly after diving into the work, naval combat. Most useful are the charts for Rogers before he became the bane included showing the ships’ movements of Caribbean pirates was himself not all during the battles. This adds clarity to too different from those he would lat- the narrative and enables the reader to er fight against. To be fair, the reviewer grasp what took place. Stille, a retired will admit that a privateer wasn’t exact- USN Commander is unsparing in his ly a pirate, but the Spanish colonies of evaluations. He shows that Vice-Admi- the Pacific nevertheless were raided by ral Conrad Helfrich, commander of the the man during a voyage emulating that Dutch naval forces, was not an effective of Sir Francis Drake. commander. History has painted Karel Rogers was born into a well-estab- Doorman, and Stille agrees with this, as lished seafaring merchant family and at a task force commander who was given age 18 had gone to sea. Following a sev- an impossible mission, did the best he en-year apprenticeship he had moved could, and died bravely. In short, Java to Bristol and married the daughter of Sea 1942 is a book worth purchasing. Royal Navy Rear Admiral Sir William In November, 2016, an article ap- Whetstone. It is from this man the au- peared stating that the wrecks of De thor writes that stories of the wealth of Ruyter and Java were missing from the Spanish empire melded and formed in sea bed—probably plundered by scrap Rogers’ mind to lead an expedition that metal hunters. As well, the wreck of would make him a rich man. Kortenaer showed damage. The wreck What follows is an adventure story of USS Houston may still be in good lasting from 1 August 1708 to 14 Oc- shape, but it is the final tragedy of the tober 1711. Starting out as two-ship Java Sea campaign that the ships that privateering expedition, Rogers and comprise the last resting place of so his fellow captains sailed from Bristol many valiant sailors may fall victim to into the Pacific--battling mutiny along scrap metal pirates. the way, sacked the Spanish town of Guayaquil, captured the treasure gal- Robert L. Shoop leon Encarnación, survived a horrific Colorado Springs, Colorado musket wound through the mouth, lost his brother who was killed in battle, and Graham A Thomas. Pirate Hunter. brought his two ships plus prize back to Barnsley, S. Yorks: Pen and Sword, England three years later. The voyage www.pen-and-sword.co.uk, 2019. is told in great detail by the author who xi+176 pp., illustrations, notes, bibliog- highlights that overall Rogers’ most raphy, index. UK £12.99, US $24.95, important personality trait was that of paper; ISBN 978-1-52676-077-7. perseverance. Despite having been the de-facto leader of the expedition it was The life of the man who was arguably however mainly funded by others and the most important figure in ending “the each had their representative on the golden age of piracy” is from that fact ‘council’ that was to make the deci- alone remarkable. To describe that said sions throughout. The largest investor person, Woodes Rogers, as such how- was also made chairman, a physician ever would be unfaithful. Rogers life by the name of Thomas Drover with Book Reviews 415 whom Rogers would constantly battle. governor, Rogers wrote letter after let- Nevertheless, Rogers accomplished the ter to the appropriate authorities in En- aim of expedition, brought his ships and gland, asking, and essentially pleading most of his original crew back home. for aid that were never answered. The The second half of the book is author notes that these were all received about the period where the book gets as they are accessible in the archives, its name. Although successful his pre- so they were read but himself asks the vious voyage was, financially the re- question “why did they not respond?” wards were small and after he had paid (128). As readers we never do get the amounted debts, been sued by his for- answer and that avenue of research on mer crew, and even written a famous the topic is left unexplored. book on the voyage-- the net balance Any reader will throughout the was bankruptcy. So Rogers hoped a work certainly begin to ‘feel’ for Wood- new expedition against the pirates in the es Rogers as the author does a fantastic Caribbean would get himself out of his job of bringing his struggles and ideals predicament. In the end Woodes Rogers to life for us. Graham Thomas even ad- served two terms as the Royal Gover- mits right in the Preface “Rogers was nor of the Bahamas from 1718-1721 a hero.” (xi) The only caution here is and again from 1728-1732. During this that as good historians we have a job period Rogers cleared the Islands of Pi- to do too. This reviewer can still hear rates, survived the threat of Spain, lost his former mentors reminding constant- his governorship and was imprisoned ly to consider the source and read ev- for debt before returning for a second erything with the most critical eye. An term before literally dying still trying to example being that Rogers raiding voy- build a successful colony. age around the world is presented in the It is evident that the narrative alone book of having been Rogers’ own idea. is already a great ‘story’ so there is a Other writers have pointed out though substantial amount of substance for that William Dampier, who would be the author to have wrestled with while Rogers’ pilot on the voyage (an already relating this man’s life to the reader. having completed two circumnaviga- This of course was used but what also tions), was the one who had suggested jumps out at the reader is the fastidious the idea as his own career was fading research in the archives and primary rapidly. Furthermore, within the book source work that was done. Rogers’ Rogers is constantly arguing and bick- journal appears to have been a key ering with people and at one point lit- source and we become convinced that erally beating people over the head to the man was forward thinking, had a get things done. One cannot wonder if plan, and was resourceful enough to get perhaps it was Rogers who the difficult it done one way or another. This is per- one? haps best demonstrated during his first Overall, one is captured by the sto- term as governor of the Bahamas where ry throughout. In line with the publish- he found the correct balance between er’s style there are few footnotes but harsh but fair rule. Hanging men when as mentioned about much work in the needed or a quick lashing and then re- primary sources was done to produce leased back into the populace. this work. One nagging comment is In a few places the reader is left that a detailed map of the voyage and with some unanswered questions. Prime one of the Caribbean would have been example being that during his tenure as nice, but we can make do without. The 416 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord details, the personal intrigues, and an images follows a standardized format, immersion into the period are just a few listing the photograph’s identification things Pirate Hunter offers and an in- number, ship’s name and class (if appli- credible biography of a man who was cable), and a one- or two-line caption deeply goal driven and died still work- containing the date and a short descrip- ing toward them. Anyone seeking a pe- tion. A collection of standardized ship riod biography or a fantastic sea story specifications follows the photographic should have a read. section, with a brief one- page summary of the Kure Maritime Museum closing Christopher Kretzschmar out the work. Rusagonis, NB The majority of photographs pre- sented naturally deal with aircraft car- Kazushige Todaka and the Kure Mari- riers and seaplane carriers of the Japa- time Museum (ed.), Robert D. Eldridge nese fleet, totaling 140 pages of images. (translation). Aircraft Carriers and Sea- Twenty-nine aircraft and eight seaplane plane Carriers: Selected Photos from carriers are represented, arranged with- the Archives of the Kure Maritime Mu- in their own sections in chronological seum. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute order for each vessel’s start of con- Press, www.usni.org, 2020. 235 pp., struction. No distinction is made be- illustrations, tables. US $75.00, cloth; tween full, light, escort, conversion, or ISBN 978-1-68247-421-1. uncompleted vessels, and the Imperial Japanese Army’s half -dozen escort Part of a newly translated six-volume carriers/landing craft carriers are not series, this work is a photographic com- represented. The older carriers offer pendium of the Imperial Japanese Na- a good variety of prewar construction vy’s wartime aircraft carriers, seaplane and testing images, allowing one to see carriers, gunboats, and dispatch vessels construction images alongside defen- first released by the Kure Maritime Mu- sive armaments, exhaust systems, and seum of Japan in 2005. Translated into aircraft not present in their more icon- English through the efforts of Frank M. ic Second World War configurations. Gren and Robert D. Eldridge, this com- There is an odd gap of wartime pho- pilation is largely built around images tographs for some of these ships, such collected by former Imperial Japanese as the Kaga, Ryujo, Soryu, and Ho- Navy Commander Shizuo Fukui, se- sho, with the latter’s depictions jump- lected for “both their historical value ing from September 1924 to October and their artistic beauty” and depicting 1945 (16-17). Some wartime photos of all vessels of the above-mentioned ship these vessels do exist, but their absenc- types, to include examples not complet- es could be a result of the images not ed before Japan’s surrender (3). Given meeting the museums selection criteria. the widespread destruction of material An interesting collection of comparison during and after the Second World War, images rounds out this section, depict- the availability of some of these imag- ing the pre-war passenger liner configu- es is extremely rare, with some vessels rations of Nitta Maru, SS Scharnhorst, only having a few known images extant. and Aruzenchina Maru prior to their For the sake of image clarity, text in this wartime conversions into the carriers work is minimal, with a vast majority of Chuyo, Shinyo, and Kaiyo, respectively photographs rendered as either full pag- (116-121). The much smaller section on es or double pages. The labeling of all seaplane carriers that follows does offer Book Reviews 417 some impressive views dating back to or hull origin, builder, and major con- 1914. A large percentage of these im- struction milestones. Finally, a simpli- ages are pre-1941, with just six images fied timeline of primary events rounds dated 1941 or 1942. Of particular note out the section. Oddly, Second World are the profile and seaplane recovery War service is often highly simplified, images of IJN Wakamiya in 1914, 1917, such as IJN Shinyo’s entry of “1944 and 1935 versus those of IJN Akitsu- World War II: escorted convoys” or IJN shima in 1942, which together offer a Suma’s “1942-45 Patrolled the Yangtze solid visual comparison of the ship and River” (216, 231). seaplane evolutions undertaken by the In terms of possible improvements, Japanese between the two World Wars a few come to mind. The specification (125-127, 146-147). information, currently clustered togeth- Unmentioned in the title is the er after the photographic sections with second half of the work’s images con- no divisions, could be broken up and in- sisting of photographs of Japan’s gun- serted with the ship types or sub-class- boats and dispatch vessels. Covering es to better pair the information, offer 58 pages, these photographs are large- some analysis throughout, and create ly of older vessels than the earlier sec- more distinct divides between ship tions’ carriers, with the earliest images types, classes, and one-off designs. Ad- dating to the late 1870s. There is also ditionally, all vessel names are in their a high number of captured and re-pur- romanized Japanese. The additional in- posed ships in this section as well, in- clusion of exact translations; for exam- cluding Chinese gunboats taken in the ple, IJN Chitose means Thousand Years Sino-Japanese War, the scuttled HMS or IJN Zuikaku is the Auspicious Crane, Moth, former USS Wake and Luzon, would add a detail often lost in works Italian vessels scuttled in 1943, and on the Japanese fleet. Occasionally, Russian vessels captured or recovered some photograph dates appear to be during the Russo-Japanese War. The in error. This includes close mistakes, inherent variety in such designs is quite such as a 1938 photo of Hiryu marked noticeable, and one can follow design as 1939 (56). More glaring examples progressions from side-wheel steam- include a 1944 date on a photograph of ers and screw-sloops to modern steel- IJN Shoho, sunk May 7, 1942, and a hulled gunboats and converted cruisers. 1946 date listed for the gunboat Hosho, A few of the captured and re-purposed a vessel scrapped in 1907 (90, 150). An gunboat photos are of the smaller vari- editorial sweep could easily rectify this. ety, with two to three images on a page, Finally, the inclusion of an appendix of but this is in no way a detraction from colour plates would be much appreci- their representation. ated. Imperial Japanese hull and flight The final 29 pages constitute the deck camouflage patterns were unique bulk of the work’s textual information, during the war, and some of the detail containing technical specifications and and vibrancy is lost when they are only service timelines for the represented seen in black-and-white images. To ships. Three columns are allocated include colourized views of the Zui- per page, detailing name, type, length, ho’s black, green and brown decking, beam, draught, displacement, speed, ar- seaplane carrier Akitsushima’s unique mament, propulsion, boilers, and power spotted patterns, or the disruptive false in a block. This is followed by informa- hull outlines painted on the sides of tion regarding the ship’s planning date some carriers in the same book as these 418 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord photographs would add yet another di- cused. Waters aims to improve the his- mension to an already impressive work toriography with his in-depth research (97, 146). into class origin, construction, and ship Aircraft Carriers and Seaplane histories from keel-laying to final dis- Carriers is an impressive image reposi- position. Of the six Town cruisers to tory and a most welcome addition to the survive the Second World War, one, English language historiography of the HMS Belfast, was preserved in 1971 Imperial Japanese Navy. The rendered as a museum ship on the Thames Riv- size and clarity of a majority of the im- er, making the Town Class one of the ages is impressive, with the earlier glass most recognizable Royal Navy designs plate negative pictures offering incredi- in the minds of the general public. In bly sharp levels of detail. The inclusion order to fully examine these warships, of gunboats and dispatch vessels along- Waters utilizes original plans, period side the more well know carriers of the photographs, and schematic renderings IJN further illustrates the variety of ves- of battle damage throughout the work, sels built, seized, or converted by the offering class-wide examinations of de- Japanese Navy of 1868 to 1945, and the sign, construction, and modifications in chronological nature of the layout gives addition to vessel-specific wartime ser- a visual record of design changes and vice and postwar dispositions. A final evolutions across both vessel types and “Evaluation” of the Town Class acts as some individual vessels as well. For the conclusion, with three appendices those interested in carriers, gunboats, on ship camouflage and appearance, or dispatch vessels of the Imperial Jap- the Supermarine Walrus, and ship battle anese Navy, this is an excellent visual honours preceding the bibliography and source for a variety of rare construction, index. operation, and final disposition images. Waters’ work can be viewed as three acts, pre-war, wartime, and post-war. Charles Ross Patterson II The pre-war design and construction Yorktown, Virginia phase is an interesting study in itself, first tracing the development of British Conrad Waters. British Town Class cruisers in the lead-up to the Washing- Cruisers: Design, Development and ton Treaties, before closely following Performance Southampton and Belfast the evolution of design submissions Classes. Barnsley, South Yorks, UK: and changes that would eventually re- Seaforth Publishing, www.seaforth- sult in the Town Class. This includes publishing.com, 2019. 320 pp., illustra- the preliminary trade protection cruiser tions, tables, appendices, bibliography, ‘K’ sketches, whose modified ‘M’ class index. UK £40.00 RRP, cloth; ISBN design gave birth to HMS Southamp- 978-1-5267-1885-3. ton, utilizing tables, schematics, “as fit- ted” plans, and pre-war photographs to This work is a “technical history” of the further highlight the process. Footnotes Royal Navy’s ten Town Class Cruisers with additional research sources and in- from their initial inception to final dis- teresting notes are positioned through- positions (6). Most works regarding out the text. Waters includes a series of these vessels, Britain’s most modern tables that are helpful as well, to include light cruisers at the outbreak of the Sec- construction time tables, tender prices, ond World War, are either individual launch details, sea and incline trials, and ship studies or specifically wartime fo- squadron allocations for all four build- Book Reviews 419 ing programs from 1933 to 1936. The damage sustained on 14 October 1940, design description chapter is a robust which has a series of photographs not 43 pages, offering solid information only showing the section’s loss, but its on the standardized elements such as rebuild at Mare Island as well (178-179, layout, propulsion, command and con- 213-215). trol, and armament, to include outlining The two chapters on post-war re- variations between the four building quirements, refits, operations, and programs as well. A comparison sche- disposal follow similar lines to their matic of the bridge decks for Southamp- wartime counterparts, outlining in the ton, Manchester, and Edinburgh, for general actions taken with the six sur- example, exemplifies the debates over viving Town class ships as a whole design merits ongoing during construc- before summarizing each individual tion by showcasing the three different, vessel’s post-war career. The length of yet clearly related, layouts used by the this latter section depends largely on the Town designs (106). length of the vessel’s survival, with the The work hits its stride in the mid- preserved Belfast receiving the longest dle chapters, Wartime Improvements post-war analysis. A final three-page and Wartime Operations and Perfor- evaluation of the Town designs, exam- mance, which together constitute 115 ining the class’ performance in regard out of the main text’s 287 pages. War- to staff requirements, design flexibility, time improvements examines “the and operational performance concludes main technological enhancements” the main body of text, with Waters ar- and ship-specific upgrades applied in guing in favour of the success of the the early-, mid-, and late-war periods design. The appendices that follow (114). Once again, strong use of photo- are a nice addition, especially the one graphs, tables, and schematics enhanc- on camouflage and appearances, whose es reader understanding of the minutiae colour plates add a detail not otherwise documented by Waters, from radar and visible in the period photographs in the armament to protection and habitabil- main body of work and can be helpful ity. The Operations and Performance in dating photos or for modelers seek- chapter begins with an overview of the ing to recreate a specific view of the class as a whole, covering deployments, various Towns in service. surface actions, aerial attacks, and dam- In terms of possible improvements, ages incurred. Tables outlining damage few come to mind. Waters makes men- inflicted on enemy forces and damage tion in his preface that there are gaps in occurring on the Towns themselves are surviving records and even offers his also provided for quick reference. Each contact e-mail if one finds an error or ship is then examined in turn, chroni- new information for future editions, a cling their wartime service and dam- facet not commonly seen in published age. Naturally, the text devoted to each works. There are some spelling mis- ship varies, based on how much action takes in the text, such as ‘page’ spelled was seen in wartime. Major damage ‘pahe’ and ‘Programme’ typed ‘Pr- is rendered on profile schematics and 0gramme,’ which could be solved with paired with period photographs when an editor’s sweep (32, 107). An expan- available to further illustrate what Wa- sion of the Index might be possible to ters describes in the main text. Most allow for more detailed quick reference, impressive is the sections related to although the current one is functional. the loss of HMS Liverpool’s bow from The location and inclusion of addition- 420 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord al period colour photographs would be Russian-built submarines and frig- beneficial to aid the appendix on cam- ates, Bangladesh operates submarines, ouflage and colouration, however, such Myanmar has frigates, and the city state images are rather rare, so the presence of Singapore has submarines, frigates of only two in the work is understand- and a lot of missile-armed patrol ves- able and in no way a detraction (296). sels. British Town Class Cruisers is a Secondly, more countries, like fine addition to the historiography of Turkey and Indonesia, have become both Royal Navy cruiser design of the able to build effective warships and early- to mid-twentieth century and the even export them. Turkey is building service histories of each vessel. Giv- submarines and corvettes. Indonesia, en that the museum ship HMS Belfast with technical help, is building subma- is perhaps the most iconic survivor of rines to a South Korean design, and has the Second World War era Royal Navy, not only built amphibious transports Waters’ writings can aid the public in docks (LPDs) but supplied one to the understanding the life of the last Town Philippines. The larger navies with cruiser, and aid academics by providing established design and construction solid wartime and post-war information capability: South Korea and especially on her sister ships not previously com- China, are exporting warships as well piled in such a manner. With the heavy as enlarging their own navies, although action seen by the Town cruisers so Japan is not prominent in the export soon after their construction, it is fitting market. India is finding it difficult, that someone so clearly devoted to tell- mostly for financial reasons, to meet its ing their story as accurately as possible own requirements and continues to co- undertook this work, and it is doubtless operate closely with Russia, while Chi- that Waters’ scholarship will serve as na is assisting Thailand and Pakistan. a solid foundation for further research Nevertheless, Spain, France and Italy into the Royal Navy’s cruiser force in are still receiving orders from countries the Second World War and Korea. like Egypt and the Gulf States. There is less of a demand for older decommis- Charles Ross Patterson II sioned USN and European warships as Yorktown, Virginia everyone is seeking the latest in stealth, electronics and advanced weaponry. Conrad Waters (ed.) World Naval Re- Finally, there has been a prolif- view 2020. Barnsley, S. Yorks; Seaforth eration of surface warships under the Publishing, www.seaforthpublishing. rating of frigate. There are many in- com, 2019. [Distributed in the US by teresting photos in WNR 2020 illustrat- Naval Institute Press.] 192 pp., illus- ing their diversity. They may be called trations, tables, notes. UK £35.00, US small frigates, corvettes, littoral combat $55.95, cloth: ISBN 978-1-5267-6062- ships (USN), guard ships (Russia), mis- 3. (E-book available.) sile vessels or offshore patrol vessels (OPV), and vary from being heavily In examining World Naval Review armed to having principally fishery pro- editions over the last few years, one is tection or police duties. Our Canadian struck by three trends. First, many na- version is the AOPS—the Arctic/Off- vies once considered small are expand- shore Patrol Ship, which is quite a large ing both in terms of numbers and types ship, displacing more than our present of ships and their size. Viet Nam owns frigates. Six have been ordered for the Book Reviews 421 Navy, plus two for the Coast Guard. reviews focus on just one of the region- There have always been factors al sections—Europe. Richard Beedall’s which cause the size of warships of ev- survey of the Royal Navy provides an ery class to be enlarged over time. For admirable explanation of its bases, sta- example, frigates, which today can be tions, ships, weapons and tasks. With considered the most common gener- the new Queen Elizabeth class air- al-purpose surface fighting ships, start- craft-carriers, the RN is again capable ed in the Second World War at about of world-wide power projection, or at 1400 tons, displaced about 2500 tons in least that is its ambition, but other types the 1950s/60s, grew to 4500 tons in the of ship seem to continually reduce in 90s and future examples will be 6000 number and there are hardly enough tons. A heavily armed warship of 3000 sailors to crew those left. The German tons is now quite likely to be classed Navy, (article by Dieter Stockfisch) was as a corvette, a long way from the lit- greatly reduced in the 1990s as the Cold tle Sackville at her pier in front of the War ended, but continued to introduce Halifax Maritime Museum. But anoth- innovative technology. Germany has er trend, to drones or uncrewed vehicles been contributing to policing and an- (UAVs), leads in the opposite direction. ti-piracy patrols in the Indian Ocean but With no crew to accommodate, a lot attention is now returning to the Baltic can be packed into a smaller vehicle. It and North Sea. It has a special expertise should also be noted that some navies, in mine countermeasures and shallow notably the United States and Britain, water operations. The force, described are finding it difficult to recruit person- by Guy Toremans, is that of Finland, nel. The Royal Canadian Navy and our which is close to its neighbours but has Coast Guard are having a similar prob- an extremely complex coastline with lem. myriad islands and rocks and wisely To anyone with a sense of naval concentrates on coast defence including history these are fascinating develop- mine warfare. ments to follow. In the third section, Mrityunjoy This year’s World Naval Review Muzumdar describes the Indian Na- keeps the layout of its predecessors: an vy’s indigenously designed and built introductory overview followed by four anti-submarine corvettes, the Kamorta regional reviews, all by the editor, Con- class. Four of these have now been de- rad Waters. Each regional review: the livered. The ‘Tide’ class (article by the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Indian Ocean editor), is a group of five fleet tankers, and Africa, Europe and Russia, provides four built for the British Royal Fleet short descriptions of all navies that have Auxiliary and one for the Norwegian any pretence of effectiveness, support- Navy. They are able to provide some ed by informative tables, illustrations other stores and support helicopter op- and photographs. The Chinese People’s erations. They were designed by BMT Liberation Army Navy is not as much Defense Services but built by Daewoo featured in this issue as in the past, al- Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, though it is the second most powerful Okpo, South Korea, with equipment navy in the world and actually has more of a naval or classified nature being in- ships than the United States Navy. stalled later at Falmouth. All four RFA Within the regional reviews are ships should be in service by the time articles on specific navies by other ex- this review appears as well as HNoMS perts. One change this year is that all Maude. That article is by the editor. 422 The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord The US Navy’s Virginia class attack submarines are described by Norman Friedman, who also contributed the ar- ticle on future submarine technology in the fourth section. The Virginias are replacing the Los Angeles class. Two units per year have been authorised, a pace which will have to be stepped up in the future if goals are to be met. The increased possibility of uncrewed sub- marines is discussed in Dr. Friedman’s article on future trends. Section Four also includes the usu- al review of naval aviation by David Hobbs. This covers fleet aircraft -car riers, other classes with decks capable of operating aircraft and those limited to helicopters. Hobbs points out that a CVN (nuclear-powered carrier) would have cost the Royal Navy as much as three Queen Elizabeths. He also sur- veys the aircraft themselves, particular- ly the US Navy’s inventory and planned production. Finally, there is an article on Brazilian submarine development by Richard Scott. All these are well worth reading and give a good idea of why these ships and submarines are required by their respective navies, along with their characteristics and the difficulties encountered in construction and deliv- ery. The quality of the book is very high. It is lavishly illustrated with well chosen photographs, some quite dra- matic, mostly black and white but none the worse for that. It is printed in China!

C. Douglas Maginley Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia