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A fascinating look at the British naval intervention in the Baltic in 1918–20, and at the British, Soviet and Baltic nationalist fleets that fought it.Following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the Baltic states became a battleground between Russian Reds and Whites, German troops, and emerging Baltic independence forces. In November 1918 the British government decided to intervene, to protect British interests and to support the emerging Baltic states.This initial small force of cruisers and destroyers was eventually augmented by other British warships, including aircraft carriers, a monitor, as well as a handful of submarines and torpedo boats. Opposing them was the far more powerful Russian Baltic Fleet, now controlled by the Bolsheviks. The campaign that followed involved naval clashes between the two sides, the most spectacular of which was an attack on the Soviet naval base of Kronstadt in June 1919 by a force of small British torpedo boats. They torpedoed and sunk the Russ

A gripping study of the Battle of the Barents Sea, fought in the darkness and cold of the northern winter, in which the Kriegsmarine sought to sever the crucial Allied Arctic Convoy route.The Arctic convoys that passed through the cold, dangerous waters of the Barents Sea formed a vital lifeline – a strategic link in tanks, supplies and above all goodwill between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. In December 1942, under Operation Regenbogen (Rainbow), the German Kriegsmarine sought to strike a crippling blow on the Arctic convoys and finally sever this all-important sea route. In this fascinating work, renowned naval expert Angus Konstam documents the fate of the Allied Convoy JW 51B as it came under attack from some of the Kriegsmarine’s most powerful surface warships – a pocket battleship, a heavy cruiser and six destroyers. Illustrated with stunning battlescene artworks, maps, 3D diagrams and photographs, it explores the David and Goliath struggle between the Allied ships def

A beautifully illustrated history of the iconic ocean-going gunboats of British “gunboat diplomacy,” the hundreds of little warships that for 50 years demonstrated the power of Royal Navy.In recent years the phrase “gunboat diplomacy” has been used to describe the crude use of naval power to bully or coerce a weaker nation. During the reign of Queen Victoria, “gunboat diplomacy” was viewed very differently. It the use of a very limited naval force to encourage global stability, and to protect British overseas trade. This very subtle use of naval power was a vital cornerstone of the Pax Britannica. Between the Crimean War (1854-56) and 1904, when the gunboat era came to an abrupt end, the Royal Navy’s ocean-going gunboats underpinned Britain’s position as a global power and fulfilled the country’s role as a “global policeman.”First created during the Crimean War, these gunboats first saw action in China. However, these small ships were also used to hunt down pirates in the coasts and ri