Naval history of the Royal Navy from 1860 to present day. Each Royal Navy ship has a dedicated page to the history of the ship and a naval enthusiasts and crew message board.

Naval Historians and Enthusiasts Notice board

This notice board and notice boards for individual ships have been set up for people to contact each other as well as exchange information about ships of the Royal Navy.  This is done as a service, and is not in any way connected to any official websites of any of the ships or The Royal Navy

Photographs and information on historical events about battleship requested for this new website. If you have any information you would like to send us including photographs of crew members serving on this battleship and also photographs of the ship please USE OUR MESSAGE FORM 

MESSAGES

I am trying to find some information on an earlier named HMS Curacoa. This was the first ship my ancestor, Arthur Bickell served on as a boy in 1897-1898. Does anyone have any info on this vessel? email here

HMS FANTOME 

LT CDR JAMES NATHANIEL SHORT...  I'm looking for anyone who has information about my grandfather - Lt Cdr James Nathaniel Short, who served in the RN from early 1900's to 1947.  He was a torpedo expert.  He didn't talk much when he was older, but before he died in 1983 he handed me some of his papers.  I'm particularly interested in anyone who can tell me what happened to HMS warwick in about 1918 when I believe it was sunk.  I have one of its bookshelves!  Pop (as he was known) also served on attachment to the Australian Navy.  Hope you can help.   lizheathuk@btclick.com 

ADMIRAL OF THE FLEET LORD LEWIN...... My father was Terry Lewin, ultimately he became Admiral of the Fleet Lord Lewin whose last appointment was as Chief of the Defence Staff at the time of the Falklands conflict. He died in January 1999 after which I passed the major part of his "important effects" to the National Maritime Museum (where he had also acted as head of the trustees). His life has been well covered in Richard Hill's authorised biography "Lewin of Greenwich" which is still in print and a good read. Now I am collating other materials about him and would particularly like to hear from all and any former colleagues, ship's companies, national servicemen, anyone, with stories, memories and recollections about him. I am particularly interested in sea jobs (but anything is welcome) which in order from 1939 were;-  Belfast, Valliant, Ashanti, Chequers, Corunna, HMY Britannia, Urchin, Tenby, Hermes.  I am aware that unless I collect these stories now they will soon be lost so please, all of you, try to remember something!            Many thanks, Tim Lewin                                        tim.lewin@btinternet.com

Looking for information about HMS Simbra - served on by my father in 1943/44. Sailed to Aden, Mombassa, Massawa and possibly Colombo. Any information welcome. Contact Knoble@coventry.ac.uk 

George Henry Russell.  Born 1832 in Sittingbourne Kent, served in the Royal Navy for 10 years in the African Station on HMS Castor and HMS Waterloo. I would like to find out any information on those ships. If anyone can help please contact Anne and Andrew at  anne&andrew@xtra.co.nz 

Nelson and the Nile, The Naval War against Bonaparte 1798, by Brian Lavery.

The Battle of the Nile, fought on 1st August 1798, was Nelsons first great victory and dealt a fatal blow to Napoleon Bonapartes ambitions in the Middle East.  But the battle itself was only the decisive event in a campaign of many months, upon the outcome of which depended the domination of the Mediterranean and the whole strategic situation in Europe.  In this book, Brian Lavery places the Battle of the Nile in its full strategic context, showing the interplay of military and political factors that sent Nelsons squadron into the Mediterranean in pursuit of the powerful French invasion fleet.  This was also Nelsons first independent fleet command, and the author shows the development of his command style and the forging of the esprit de corps which was later to triumph at Trafalgar.  It also provides a fascinating and detailed insight into the nature and conditions of naval war in the Age of Sail, from the strain felt by fleet commanders, isolated from higher authority and starved of information of the enemy, to the daily lives of the sailors and the tactics used in battle.  

Hardback book with 318 pages.

Order number BK0401. Book price £25.00.

The Illustrated Directory of Warships, from 1860 to the present day, by David Miller.

Spectacularly illustrated details of all major aircraft carriers, battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers and escorts from 1860 to the present.

Paperback book with 480 pages.

Order number BK6776. Book price £9.99.

Malta Convoys 1940 - 1943 by Richard Woodman

From the day Mussolinis Italy declared war on Britain in June 1940, the island of Malta was under siege.  Its strategic importance was obvious to both sides, blocking as it did the supply route across the Mediterranean from Italy to the Axis armies in North Africa.  It had to be bombed out of existence by the Axis powers, and preserved at all costs by the British.  That Malta survived was due to the courage and fortitude of her people, and to the dauntless determination of the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy.  Here Richard Woodman tells the full, terrifying story of how - at fearsome cost - the impossible was achieved. 

Paperback book with 532 pages.

Order number BK4086. Book price £18.00.

Seapower Ashore, 200 years of Royal Navy Operation on Land edited by Captain Peter Hore.

For most of the age when the Royal Navy dominated the world's oceans, it actually did much of its fighting ashore.  From supporting the army during the Napoleonic Wars with its heavy guns, to shore bombardments such as at Acre in 1840 and Sweaborg during the Crimean War, to the landing of naval brigades of marines and bluejackets in Queen Victoria's myriad 'little wars', the nineteenth century saw the Royal Navy playing a major part in land warfare.  This extended into the twentieth century, with the Royal Naval Division fighting on the Western Front in the First World War, the men of HMS Hood landing their ship's field gun in the ill fated Norwegian Campaign of 1940, and, very recently, when the submarine HMS Splendid fired Britain's first Tomahawk cruise missiles at land targets in the former Yugoslavia in 1999.  A group of eminent naval historians has been assembled to describe this vital element of the Royal Navy's role which has so often been overshadowed by the fleet actions of Nelson's time, and of the First and Second World Wars.  In the contemporary world, where the concept of littoral warfare dominates naval thinking, this wide ranging and authoritative work is a timely reminder that the Royal Navy has successfully pursued such a strategy for at least two hundred years.

Post: UK- £5.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £7.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1552. Book price £25. Illustrated hard back with 290 pages.

To order your copy: secure order form

To Sail No More by Ian Buxton and Warlow

Part One of the 'To Sail No More' series, featuring a collection of photographs, with extended captions, showing the Royal Navy's Reserve Fleets at home and abroad, mainly in the post WWII period.  These books also include pictures from UK scrapyards depicting the sad end for many of the giants of WWII as well as ships being sunk as targets. 

Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £4.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1552. Book price £14.95.  96 pages with over 90 photos. (SB)

To order your copy: secure order form

Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1692.    Price £14.95

Order on our secure order form - click here

Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £4.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1760.    Price £14.95

Order on our secure order form - click here

Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £4.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1777.    Price £14.95

Order on our secure order form - click here

Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £4.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1784.    Price £14.95

Order on our secure order form - click here

Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £4.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK883.    Price £14.95

Order on our secure order form - click here

Post: UK- £4.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £6.00 (each plus one charge of £4.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

RN Destroyers in Focus, Since 1945 by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow RN

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1753. Book price £9.95.  96 pages with over 90 photos. (SB)

To order your copy: secure order form

The Royal Navy in Focus, 1960 - 69 

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1333. Book price £8.95.  159 pages with over 100 photos. (SB)

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The Royal Navy in Focus, 1970 - 79 

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1661. Book price £14.95.  160 pages with over 100 photos. (SB)

To order your copy: secure order form

The Royal Navy in Focus, 1930 - 39 

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1043. Book price £8.95.  134 pages with over 100 photos. (SB)

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The Royal Navy in Focus, 1940 - 49 

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1111. Book price £8.95.  176 pages with over 120 photos. (SB)

To order your copy: secure order form

Royal Navy Minor war Vessels in Focus

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £6.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Book serial number BK1814 Book price £8.95.  96 pages with over 80 photos. (SB)

To order your copy: secure order form