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Academic papers on the Royal Navy (Primarily of the First World War era) |
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Go to Genealogical Guide into British Merchant Mariners Careers of the 19th and 20th Centuries |
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The First three of the following essays formed part
of a Master’s degree course, in War Studies, at King’s College, University of
London. The opinions expressed below cannot however be regarded as those of the
college and are mine alone.
The fourth paper, on Valentine Joyce, is a
purely private venture.
Incidentally, these papers if not already
there, are due to be posted on the ‘Ocean Waves’ website as well.
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Education and training
in the Royal Navy 1756-1918
as an element of the impact of industrialisation
on war and
the military establishment
This essay was
an effort in going some way to disproving the college line on education, which
maintained that military establishments in the ‘civilised’ world were highly
active in promoting education for the masses in the 19th century,
because of the complexities that industrialised war brought. Thanks to N.A.M.
Rodger’s wonderful book The Wooden
World
I already knew of educational requirements in the R.N. during the Seven Years
War and my own studies into merchant mariners of the 19th century
made me realise that the situation was far more complex than portrayed at
college. Whilst not written to support my activities as a genealogical
researcher, this paper can be used as an aid to social history.
As originally
written the first version was no more than an introduction to this intriguing
character, delivered at a seminar for fellow students with no previous knowledge
of the subject. A short paper and relatively lightweight, in order to put over
salient points I deliberately mixed analysis with narration. The severe
limitations imposed did not allow for research from primary sources and would
not have served any useful purpose. In regards to Fisher, I read a number of
biographies, but have judged Ruddock F. Mackay’s to be the only one that has
properly sought to explain the inconsistencies in his actions.
- The Royal Navy and Mine Countermeasures 1904-1914
This is a
slightly expanded and reworked version of my dissertation for M.A. I chose this
subject for two main reasons. In my private work I had dealt with mines in
relation to merchantmen during 1914 and from reading operational records had
wondered precisely why the R.N.’s performance in mine-countermeasures had been
less than excellent in the early stages of the war. An under researched
subject, this was an opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. Secondly, I had
attended a lecture by two well-known British naval historians. The subject
matter supposedly was a major reassessment of the Royal Navy’s performance at
the Dardanelles in 1915. Whilst I was not fully competent to judge the analysis
on gunnery, I was far from convinced in one of these historians’ statements on
dealing with the Turkish/German mine defences in the narrows. This historian
associated himself with Rear Admiral Keyes and the deployment of mine-sweeping
destroyers. From the operational records I had already seen, dealing with the
North Sea in 1914, it was obvious that destroyers were simply not suited to
sweeping. I brought this point up, but was sent away with a flea in my ear.
Apparently Roger Keyes knew a lot more about the subject than I. Having now
done the requisite research on the pre-war trials, I am now even more of the
opinion that sending fast destroyers rigged with sweep-gear up the Dardanelles
would have been suicidal for the crews involved and pointless tactically.
How successfully did Britain respond to German Unrestricted U-boat warfare in 1917 & 1918?
This essay was
written at a time when I was more than slightly disenchanted with my degree
course. Overwhelmingly, war was treated purely as a military matter, without
outside concerns ‘relegated to the footnotes’ if even mentioned. Highly
critical of this, I decided to draw on my own studies and answer this question
in a far wider manner than anticipated. I was rather surprised to receive a
good response to this!
Having later
posted this on an American university’s website dealing with the First World
War, it has been used twice in Strategic Studies Group seminars at the United
States Navy’s War College, Newport, Rhode Island. Disagreeing inherently with
US foreign policy, I have, however, requested that the USN does not use my
paper further.
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Valentine Joyce - Spithead Mutineer of 1797
This paper
grew out of a piece of commissioned research. Originally tasked to research
this mariner as my client had been told that he was a forebear of her husband,
this proved not to be the case. However, I became interested in finding out
more about the mutineer and his family. The result is but a ‘work in progress’.
In time I hope to find out more about how the young Valentine was educated,
probably at a church school in what is now called ‘Old Portsmouth’, but was
then the heart of Portsmouth in the 18th century. I would also like
to learn more about his family. There are also other questions I wish to
answer, such as where he was lent when onboard the Royal George and what previous links can be found to
the other principal mutineers. As and when I get answers to these questions, I shall
update the online paper.
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For details on self published booklets primarily on maritime subjects
relating to the First World War |
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