The most famous naval action of the nineteenth century, the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, was fought by the British and Franco-Spanish navies with wooden, wind-propelled line of battle ships and guns that fired solid shot weighing up to forty pounds out to four hundred yards. A paradox can exist with technologies that help us do more with less: they can increase consumption of the very resources one is trying to conserve. This change began in the mid-19th century with the advent of coal-fired steam engines, armor, and mines.

Not only could the United States outproduce its enemies, but it also had the money, materials, and ingenuity necessary to create the best possible equipment and supplies all of which helped the Allies fight more efficiently and effectively. Some of the new inventions helped the United States find the strategic goods necessary for fighting the war. For example, the steam engine transformed naval warfare, but first it transformed transportation and manufacturing in general and in the process changed the world economy. To the best of our knowledge, such a broad and structured look at naval technology as a process viewed through the lens of specific application has never been done.Given the limitations of the cases presented here, the authors did a commendable job of creating an accessible and readable volume that points out some potential pitfalls to avoid and techniques for developing technological advantage in wartime. We thank our editor at Naval Institute Press, Glenn Griffith, and the wonderful people there for bringing this book to print in such excellent fashion. This book will explore the principles that govern this process and consider whether these principles apply across platforms, nations, and technologies, and whether, if observed, they lead to victory regardless of the period or the technology in question and thus can be expected to apply to the technologies of today, as yet untested in peer combat. Conversely, advantages in torpedo technology and night optics, unrecognized by the Americans, allowed the Japanese navy to win tactical victories in the night battles fought in the Solomons despite U. This book examines six specific technologies that came of age in twentieth-century naval warfare and considers the way navies applied these technologies and adapted to their use.

So too was the tactical goal of the commanding admirals: to concentrate their firepower through maneuver while preventing their opponents from doing the same. Starting in 1942, Manhattan Project personnel built the world’s first nuclear reactors, processed tons of uranium ore to isolate radioactive material for the bombs, and designed incredibly precise mechanisms to make them explode at exactly the right moment. A secret memorandum from a British destroyer captain to his superior officer dated 26 December 1942 noted that he had at his disposal Type 285, 286, and 271 radars, sonar, a radio interception device, very high frequency radio, shore radar plots, enemy reports from remote sources, an automatic plotting device, and several binocular-enhanced sets of eyes.It also had to be able to climb a 45-degree slope fully loaded and make it through water up to 18 inches deep. By 1944, synthetic rubber plants were producing around 800,000 tons of material annually for the war effort. In general, navies strive to win wars with better versions of existing weapons, tools, and platforms rather than use novelties in the front line. It also provides some stimulus for consideration by those planning the future of navies, in an inceasingly complex and challenging world. They categorize their six case studies across three uses: weapons (mines and torpedoes), tools (radio and radar), and platforms (submarines and aircraft).

To paraphrase Carl von Clausewitz, while the concept of innovation is simple, innovating under enemy fire is difficult.Still, by 1914 fleets of gun-armed capital ships dominated naval thinking, much as the ship of the line had more than a century before. By 1914, with combat governed by caution, the capital ship’s strategic function had come to dominate its tactical function.

The tactical function of the dreadnought battleships that fought the Battle of Jutland, 111 years after Victory’s triumph at Trafalgar, was essentially the same. He represented the United States at Operation Torch 75th anniversary commemorations held in Algiers and Oran, Algeria. Just about anyone can sell a book, but a professional bookseller knows the ins and outs of the rare book trade.In essence, technology is the practical application of knowledge expressed through the use of a device.