Books Analyze WWII Navies,
Sea Power in the 20th Century
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor
ON SEAS CONTESTED: The
Seven Great Navies of the
Second World War
Edited by Vincent P. O’Hara, W.
David Dickson and Richard Worth,
Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute
Press, 2010. 352 pp. $39.95
ISBN: 978-1-59114-646-9
Three distinguished naval historians combined to feed the fascination with the naval aspects of World War II in a single
volume containing a series of chapters — each by a different author — analyzing the seven most prominent
navies of the war: France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy,
Japan, the United States and the Soviet Union.
The chapters are not narrative histories but concise
descriptions of each navy, its capabilities, ships,
weapons and aircraft. They also address such aspects
as their organization, bases, industrial base, logistics,
personnel, training and doctrine.
Other navies of the British Commonwealth — those
of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India — also
are covered.
Most importantly, the chapter authors present parallel analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of each
navy and the intangible factors that often define success and failure in naval warfare. This book, enhanced
by research of foreign-language sources, will prove
valuable not just to naval historians but to any reader
interested in war at sea.
BRITISH MOTOR GUN BOAT
1939-45
By Angus Konstam, Oxford, U.K.:
Osprey Publishing, 2010. 48 pp.
$17.95 ISBN: 978-1-84908-077-4
Unlike the U.S. Navy, which fielded
patrol torpedo boats in World War
II, the U.K. Royal Navy put in serv-
ice not only the similar motor tor-
pedo boats (MTBs) but also a generally gun-only equiv-
alent, the motor gun boat (MGB). Overshadowed by
the Royal Navy’s larger warships, the wooden-hull
MGBs of the Coastal Forces fought intensely, almost on
a daily basis, with German and Italian forces, particular-
ly in the English Channel and the Mediterranean. The
approximately 200 MGBs escorted MTBs on their torpedo attacks, dueled with German E-boats, supported
commando raids, and attacked shipping along the
coasts of occupied Europe and the Axis supply lines in
the Mediterranean.
The “Dog Boats” also supported the Allied invasions
of Sicily, Italy, and southern France. With original artwork and tables listing the classes of MGBs and their
specifications, this monograph gives the reader a comprehensive survey of these heavily armed craft.
THE LAST CENTURY OF
SEAPOWER
Volume 1: From Port Arthur
to Chanak, 1894-1922
Volume 2: From Washington
to Tokyo, 1922-1945
By H.P. Willmott, Bloomington, Ind.:
Indiana University Press, ( 1) 2009
and ( 2) 2010. ( 1) 568 pp., $34.95
ISBN: 978-0-253-35214-9
( 2) 704 pp. $39.95 ISBN: 978-0-
253-35359-7
The first two volumes of these fact-packed works cover the age of modern naval warfare that began with
the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and
the Spanish-American War of 1898
and carry through to World War I,
the impact of inter-war naval
treaties and World War II. The
author, the dean of naval historians, provides a sweeping
look at, and analysis of, the transformation of naval
power with a focus on the maintenance of empires, the
growth of fleets, improvements in ship engineering and
weapons, and evolution of doctrine.
The author’s dry wit and sense of irony add spice to
the impressive array of facts and analysis of the greatest
period of naval warfare. Willmott is fearless in his
judgments.
These books feature extensive appendices, including chronologies, that follow each chapter rather than
reside stashed at the back. The extensive footnotes also
provide much rich detail. ■
