Cold War Fleet

Cold War Fleet is a selection of photographs of Royal Navy vessels from the 25 years from 1966 to 1991. Each is reproduced at an exceptionally high standard, accompanied by a detailed caption. Many of the photos are completely unique and have never been published, such as the images of the minesweepers HMS Wilton and HMS Bossington photographed during Operation Rheostat in 1974. There are many ships displayed that took part in the Falklands conflict and a large number of aerial photographs. Created by two of the most acclaimed naval photographers in the world, this stunning book is a window back in time to the Royal Navy of the Cold War, showing a fleet created to defend Britain and other NATO countries from Soviet attack. Featuring every kind of ship from aircraft carriers and destroyers to auxiliary vessels, this is a peerless resource for any enthusiast of naval history.

Though they were never the most glamorous of warships, found US Navy frigates were frequently found on the frontlines of the Cold War at sea. These warships were the descendants of World War II's destroyer escorts, designed primarily to escort convoys. They specialized in anti-submarine warfare, but were intended to be numerous, tough, versatile, and well-armed enough to show US naval power around the world, performing roles that varied from intercepting drug-smugglers to defending aircraft carriers. When the Cold War turned hot, frigates were often there. It was a US Navy frigate, Harold E. Holt, that conducted the US Navy's first hostile boarding action since 1826 during the SS Mayaguez incident. Frigates were at the forefront of operations in the Persian Gulf during the Tanker War, with the frigate USS Stark suffering a notorious Exocet attack by Iraqi warplanes, and proving the Oliver Hazard Perry-class's legendary toughness. This book explains how the technology and design of frigates changed during the Cold War, how the classes were modified to keep up to date, and explores the many varied missions they performed during the Cold War and since.

The Royal Canadian Navy crews that sailed the Atlantic during the early Cold War held a contemptuous view of their West Coast brethren, likening the Pacific fleet to a “yacht club” where sailors enjoyed a life of leisurely service on a tranquil sea. As David Zimmerman reveals, nothing could be further from the truth. From the fleet’s postwar downsizing, through to its rapid expansion in the wake of the Korean War as Cold War fears gripped the nation, Maritime Command Pacific fought to hold steady amid drifting Japanese mines, Soviet submarines, and joint US-Canadian training exercises.

After World War I, the U.S. Navy’s brief alliance with the British Royal Navy gave way to disagreements over disarmament, fleet size, interpretations of freedom of the seas, and general economic competition. This go-it-alone approach lasted until the next world war, when the U.S. Navy found itself fighting alongside the British, Canadian, Australian, and other Allied navies until the surrender of Germany and Japan. In The U.S. Navy and Its Cold War Alliances, 1945–1953, Corbin Williamson explores the transformation this cooperation brought about in the U.S. Navy’s engagement with other naval forces during the Cold War. Like the onetime looming danger of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, growing concerns about the Soviet naval threat drew the U.S. Navy into tight relations with the British, Canadian, and Australian navies. The U.S. Navy and Its Cold War Alliances, 1945–1953, brings to light the navy-to-navy links that political concerns have kept out of the public sphere: a web of informal connections that included personnel exchanges, standardization efforts in equipment and doctrine, combined training and education, and joint planning for a war with the Soviets. Using a “history from the middle” approach, Corbin Williamson draws upon the archives of all four nations, including documents only recently declassified, to analyze the actions of midlevel officials and officers who managed and maintained these alliances on a day-to-day basis. His work highlights the impact of domestic politics and security concerns on navy-to-navy relations, even as it integrates American naval history with those of Britain, Canada, and Australia. In doing so, the book provides a valuable new perspective on the little-studied but critical transformation of the U.S. Navy’s peacetime alliances during the Cold War.

A thrilling story of the Cold War, told by a former navy secretary on the basis of recently declassified documents. When Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, the United States and NATO were losing the Cold War. The USSR had superiority in conventional weapons and manpower in Europe, and had embarked on a massive program to gain naval preeminence. But Reagan already had a plan to end the Cold War without armed conflict. Reagan led a bipartisan Congress to restore American command of the seas by building the navy back to six hundred major ships and fifteen aircraft carriers. He adopted a bold new strategy to deploy the growing fleet to northern waters around the periphery of the Soviet Union and demonstrate that the NATO fleet could sink Soviet submarines, defeat Soviet bomber and missile forces, and strike aggressively deep into the Soviet homeland if the USSR attacked NATO in Central Europe. New technology in radars, sensors, and electronic warfare made ghosts of American submarines and surface fleets. The United States proved that it could effectively operate carriers and aircraft in the ice and storms of Arctic waters, which no other navy had attempted. The Soviets, suffocated by this naval strategy, were forced to bankrupt their economy trying to keep pace. Shortly thereafter the Berlin Wall fell, and the USSR disbanded. In Oceans Ventured, John Lehman reveals for the first time the untold story of the naval operations that played a major role in winning the Cold War.

The Royal Canadian Navy crews that sailed the Atlantic during the early Cold War held a contemptuous view of their West Coast brethren, likening the Pacific fleet to a “yacht club” where sailors enjoyed a life of leisurely service on a tranquil sea. As David Zimmerman reveals, nothing could be further from the truth. From the fleet’s postwar downsizing, through to its rapid expansion in the wake of the Korean War as Cold War fears gripped the nation, Maritime Command Pacific fought to hold steady amid drifting Japanese mines, Soviet submarines, and joint US-Canadian training exercises.

A tactical and technical history of the development of British, American, and Japanese naval air defense from the 1920s to the 1980s. This is an account of the evolution of naval fighters for fleet air defense and the parallel evolution of the ships operating and controlling them, concentrating on the three main exponents of carrier warfare: the British Royal Navy, the U.S. Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. It describes the earliest efforts from the 1920s, but it was not until radar allowed the direction of fighters that organized air defense became possible. Thus, major naval-air battles of the Second World War like Midway, the Pedestal convoy, the Philippine Sea, and Okinawa are portrayed as tests of the new technology. This was ultimately found wanting by the Kamikaze campaigns, leading to postwar moves towards computer control and new kinds of fighters. After 1945 the threats of nuclear weapons and standoff missiles compounded the difficulties of naval air defense. The second half of the book covers R.N. and U.S.N. attempts to solve these problems, looking at the American experience in Vietnam and British operations in the Falklands War. It concludes with the ultimate U.S. development of techniques and technology to fight the Outer Air Battle in the 1980s, which in turn point to the current state of carrier fighters and the supporting technology. Based largely on documentary sources, some previously unused, this book will appeal to both the naval and aviation communities. “Fighters Over the Fleet provides more information about fleet air defense than any other work currently available. It is recommended for specialist as well aviation-minded readers.” —Naval Historical Foundation

Faced with an increasingly formidable anti-ship cruise missile threat from the Soviet Union in the early days of the Cold War, and with the recent memory of the kamikaze threat from World War II, the USN placed a great priority on developing air defence cruise missiles and getting them to sea to protect the fleet. The first of these missiles were sizable, necessitating large ships to carry them and their sensors, which resulted in the conversion of a mix of heavy and light cruisers. These ships, tasked with protecting carrier groups and acting as flagships, entered service from 1955 and served until 1980. The cruisers served in the front lines of the Cold War and many saw combat service, engaging in surface actions from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf. Complementing the conventionally-powered missile cruisers was a much smaller number of expensive nuclear-powered cruisers, including the Long Beach, the USN's largest-ever missile cruiser. Until replaced by the Ticonderoga and Burke classes of Aegis ships, the USN's 38 missile cruisers were the most capable and important surface combatants in the fleet and served all over the globe during the Cold War. Using specially commissioned artwork and meticulous research, this illustrated title explores the story of these cruisers in unparalleled detail, revealing the history behind their development and employment.