Two Navies Divided. The British and United States Navies in the Second World War

Книга на английском языке
The title of this book is derived from a common misquotation of George Bernard Shaw’s supposed comment that ‘England and America are two countries divided by a common language.’ It is not meant to imply that the British and American navies were seriously at odds with one another (though occasionally that might have seemed to be the case), but to suggest, as in the case of language, that common roots and usages might vary significantly and sometimes seriously in detail.
My interest in the US Navy was inspired by two books, both by coincidence bought in the Scottish town of Helensburgh. One was E В Potter’s The Great Sea War of 1960, which I bought as a schoolboy many years ago. It introduced me to the name of Chester Nimitz, one of the greatest commanders of the war. Unlike Eisenhower, MacArthur and Patton, his name was almost unknown in Britain outside the circle of naval historians, and so was the course of the Pacific War and the scale of American effort - Potter enlightened me on both. The second book was Naval Orientation of 1945, a guide to the American navy which is far more comprehensive than anything the Royal Navy produced at the time, and reflected the pattern for other American manuals of various types. It has its faults, including an undue emphasis on saluting, but it inspired me to write Nelsons Navy a third of a century ago. I started off imagining what a manual for Royal Naval officers on that level might be like around 1800. I hope to have the same comprehensive approach in the present work, though naturally there is far less detail. I have to cover two navies instead of one, and both are far more complex than Nelson’s force, with specialised ships and sailors to interact with the air and land and to operate under the sea.

Содержание
Foreword
Preface
1. The Structure of Naval Power
2. Naval Society and Culture
3. Officers
4. Ratings and Enlisted men
5. Non-combatants
6. Marines
7. Bases and Logistics
8. The Ships
9. Weapons
10. Intelligence and Electronics
11. The Battle Fleet
12. Naval Aviation
13. Submarines
14. Anti-Submarine Warfare
15. Coastal Navies
16. Amphibious Warfare
17. Enemies
18. Allies
19. Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Picture Credits
General Index
Ship Index