Naval Warfare Fiction

In November 1921, the first purpose-built aircraft carrier was launched by the Japanese, followed a year later by the launch of the British Hermes. The conversion of battle cruisers into aircraft carriers after World War I required the consideration of issues including handling aircraft on the flight deck and the techniques of attacking enemy ships, and the evolution of carrier operations was ongoing when World War II broke out.

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

Command of the oceans was crucial to winning World War II. By the start of 1942 Nazi Germany had conquered mainland Europe, and Imperial Japan had overrun Southeast Asia and much of the Pacific. How could Britain and distant America prevail in what had become a "war of continents"? In this definitive account, Evan Mawdsley traces events at sea from the first U-boat operations in 1939 to the surrender of Japan. He argues that the Allied counterattack involved not just decisive sea battles, but a long struggle to control shipping arteries and move armies across the sea.

Iain Ballantyne considers the key episodes of submarine warfare and vividly describes the stories of brave individuals who have risked their lives under the sea, often with fatal consequences. His analysis of underwater conflict begins with Archimedes discovering the principle of buoyancy. This clandestine narrative then moves through the centuries and focuses on prolific characters with deadly motives.

The Napoleonic Wars saw fighting on an unprecedented scale in Europe and the Americas. It took the wealth of the British Empire, combined with the might of the continental armies, almost two decades to bring down one of the world's greatest military leaders and the empire that he had created. Napoleon's ultimate defeat was to determine the history of Europe for almost 100 years. From the frozen wastelands of Russia, through the brutal fighting in the Peninsula to the blood-soaked battlefield of Waterloo, this book tells the story of the dramatic rise and fall of the Napoleonic Empire.

Shattered by the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. is rebuilding its fleet while the badly damaged Submarine Division Seven holds the line against the Japanese Navy. The loss of even one more submarine could be devastating - and every enemy ship that slips through means more lives lost. But Lieutenant Commander Jack Tremain is determined to whip into shape a boat that's returned from a hellish patrol and make the Japanese pay - even if this is his last mission ever.

The worst place for a sailor is to be on the beach. Lord Howe’s words, “You will not be forgotten,” seem nothing more than an empty promise. Now married and with a baby on the way, his finances are steadily dwindling, and he is left no choice but to seek employment with The Honorable East India Company. Hope of a naval career is fading. When all seems hopeless, Donland has his dream fulfilled; he is given command of Wessex, a frigate. His orders send him to patrol the Coasts of Florida in the year 1790. He is to uncover a plot to undermine English negotiations to purchase Florida from...

Naval combat underwent a significant metamorphosis during World War II. Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan launched some of the most powerful battleships ever to sail the world's oceans, yet the conflict witnessed the emergence and triumph of the aircraft carrier as the 20th century's true monarch of the seas. Submarine warfare expanded and developed while aircraft technology and doctrine experienced several revolutionary changes due to the unforgiving demands of the new combat environment.

No one is to be trusted and Donland is to use every trick available to him to succeed. The forces arrayed against him are powerful as well as influential. He must deceive and evade those who attempt to stop him from reaching a wreck on an island in the Indian Ocean. The Admiralty and The Honorable East India Company give him the authority to command any vessel he boards. He uses that authority no matter the objections of the captains of the merchantmen or the naval ships he boards. Having journey from the Mediterranean, across Egyptian deserts then marooned on an island, he finds himself ...

In this exciting second book of the series, Kinkaid’s daring and proficiency are tested to the limit when he is given command of the lightly armed brig, Swift, of 12 guns. Ordered to deliver a diplomat bearing a copy of the Declaration of Independence to the Dutch free port of St. Eustatia in the Caribbean, his mission seems easy enough. But then why have they taken on over 100 muskets and heavy weapons? All Kinkaid is told is that he must assist a major of marines with a secret assignment that takes them to the wet, steaming jungle island of Dominica, inhabited by cannibalistic Carib ...

This fourth installment in the Jonathan Kinkaid historical fiction series finds our daring American Navy Captain and his seagoing patriots taking the news of our great victory over the British at Saratoga to Benjamin Franklin in Paris, resulting in a treaty between France and our Independent Colonies, and a French fleet to American shores. With spies and saboteurs, intrigue and villainy, this masterfully written tale is another triumph of high-seas adventure in the Winston style, as a more confident and newly married Kinkaid wrestles with his own demons as well as enemies of the cause. ...

Two hundred years after nuclear and chemical weapons have nearly annihilated the global population, the last of mankind struggles on in isolated communities. Law and order is carried out by the Political Office, black-clad police who rule through fear and violence, commanding the world's survivors how to think, how to act, and when to obey the call to the Gathering: the ritual massing for war against an unknown and unseen enemy. Now the call has come, and all nations must pay tribute.

The two sloops attacking the frigate are like hyenas at the tail of the lion. Donland in command of Oxford, fifty-four guns, joins the fight even though all three vessels are Spanish flagged. He sets himself on a path that risks his career and his ship. What follows is that Oxford is pitted against a French frigate and Spanish third-rate. Treachery and treason rear their ugly heads as France is embroiled in the beginnings of revolution. Gaining command of Oxford came about in fulfillment of a promise. A promise, though made in good faith, is despised by Admirals and Donland suffers the ...

Hornet is lost to him, sold! The war with the colonies is over and with its end Donland is without prospects. He, like so many others, is to be cast on the beach with half-pay. But, one of his previous exploits, the rescue of prisoners from Puerto Rico, brings him to Admiral Pigot’s attention. Donland is ordered to act as a guide to lead a rescue party to free a person important to the crown. Donland is carried as a supernumerary aboard the frigate, Brune, commanded by snobbish Captain Sheffield. In landing the rescue party, Brune goes aground and is hammered by a shore battery. Donland, ...

In the vein of Tom Clancy's gripping military thrillers, Submerged Fury: The Leviathan War, plunges readers into a high-stakes undersea battleground where the fate of civilization teeters on the edge. It's 2098, and the world is reeling from the shockwaves of a groundbreaking discovery: vast energy reserves hidden in the ocean's abyss. This revelation sparks a ferocious conflict among submerged factions, catapulting the Atlantic Coalition's thirst for supremacy. Their secret weapon? Leviathan, a monstrous marvel of genetic engineering designed to command the seas through terror. With the ...