Roger Branfill-Cook
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The X stood for experimental, but it might equally have meant extraordinary, exotic or extravagant, as this giant submarine attracted superlatives the world’s largest, most heavily armed, and deepest diving submersible of the day. X.1 was a controversial project conceived behind the backs of the politicians, and would remain an unwanted stepchild. As British diplomats at the Washington naval conference were trying to outlaw the use of submarines...
Author
Language
English
Description
The first recorded engagement by a steam-powered warship took place on a river, when in 1824 the Honourable East India Company's gunboat _Diana_ went into action on the Irrawaddy in Burma. In the 150 years that followed river gunboats played a significant part in over forty campaigns and individual actions, down to the Portuguese and American Brown Water fighting in Africa and Vietnam respectively at the end of the twentieth century. They proved to...