The Kingdom Of Fife, Scotland

Technology Goes To War

In 1866, Robert Whitehead, an engineer from Bolton, England, developed a new weapon system that would dramatically alter naval strategic thinking and directly affect the future a British Empire largely built upon the back of Royal Navy supremacy via 'gunboat diplomacy'. His automotive torpedo heralded an end to a time when battleships represented the supreme extention of national might. For the first time in history, smaller, faster, and less costly ships could deliver an effective attack against heavily armoured battleships. When fired from submarines, the potential to inflict massive damage was maximised. As the nineteenth century drew to a close, many new technologies were applied to both daily life and in warfare.

The attack on Vladivostock (Port Arthur) naval base in 1904 was the opening gambit of the war between Russia and Japan. It was the first attack in history in which spotters, equipped with wireless technology, were quietly landed in advance of the attack and climbed to the top of the hill separating the anchorage from the sea. Japanese ships, firing over the hill from seaward, were guided by these spotters and several Russian ships were damaged in the attack. In response, the Czar of Russia ordered sixty-four year old Admiral Ziconvy Rozhestvensky to lead the powerful Baltic Fleet to sail half-way around the World and into a battle that occurred in the Sea of Tsushima near Japan in May 1905.

A few days after leaving port, Russian sailors mistakenly fired on British fishing boats, promoting a widely publicised 'international diplomatic incident'. Rozhestvensky's fleet continued south and around the Cape of Good Hope then across the Indian Ocean on an eight month journey. Eight months in which the Japanese Navy had plenty of time to train and prepare for a decisive sea battle. Once again, wireless telegraphy played an important part with many Japanese radio stations being set up and fishermen ordered to look out for the Russian fleet. On first contact, Japanese Heihachiro Togo, on board the flagshig Mikassa, was informed of the Russian presence within hours of the event.

From an early phase, the Japanese Navy had modelled itself on the British Royal Navy and emulated many of the traditions and command structure. Japan had invented a new kind of propellant charge for their guns which produced far less smoke and helped maintain better visibility during battle. In the eight months prior to the battle, Japanese gunners had been constantly training and the normal defence budget for ammunition had been expended within a few weeks of war breaking out. The Japanese was thus well armed and ready to meet the Russian challengers.

What followed was a battle on the scale of Trafalger with pre-dreadnought warships and in which the Russian Fleet was totally outclassed and outgunned. As night fell, the Japanese warships withdrew and torpedo boats of the Japanese Navy moved in to inflict even more damage and destruction. Rozhestvensky was captured and compelled to sue for peace by signing unfavourable terms of surrender. Better training and superior technology had allowed the small nation of Japan to inflict a major defeat on one of the most powerful nations in the World.

A few months later, iIn June, 1905, the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin famously rebelled against the brutal Russian regime and gave rise to the 'red flag' that became a major part of Russian History. One of the few surviving Russian warships surviving Tsushima managed to reach Manila and later returned to the Baltic. On the 25th October 1917, sailors on the Auroa refused orders to sail and allegedly aided Bolshevik revolutionaries storm the Winter Palace. Following soon after the disasterous Battle of Tannenberg in 1914 and where the Russian Second Army was virtually wiped out by German Forces, Czar Nicholas II found himself in a difficult political situation and at risk from his own people. The Russian Revolution ultimately removing him from power shaped a major part of World History in the twentieth century.

Tsushima had illustrated the capability of torpedo boats and the lesson was not lost on Admiral Fischer of the Royal Navy. A new class of warship called destroyers were introduced to counter the threat of torpedo boats. By contrast, Germany saw how small and fast minelayers, torpedo boats and submarines could threaten the confidence and power of the 'invincible' Royal Navy.

The early years of the twentieth century was a time of great uncertainty in many nations. Stories about the American Civil War sharpened political minds and advances in technology frightened many. Smaller nations quickly recognised their limitations and sought alliances with more powerful neighbours. Europe became a series of cross-connected links whereby major nations guaranteed lesser nations in time of war. An attack on a small nation automatically invited reprisal from more powerful allies. It was a time when the World was living on the edge yet with most people unaware of the horrendous possibilities.

In 1904, Ambrose Fleming invented the diode and in 1907, Lee De Forest invented the triode, both of which were thermionic devices comprising glass envelopes and electrical heaters causing sub-atomic particles called electrons to be released and controlled. When used with knowledge and components developed by Ohm, Voltaire and others, these devices could be put together to form electronic circuits as distinct from electrical and mechanical machines. Marquess Guglielmo Marconi, an inventor of Italian and Scottish-Irish ethnic background deserves special mention here, not only as a Nobel Prize Winner in 1909, but as the man who invented radio! Within a few short years, many ships of the World rented services to include the new 'wireless telegraph' using Morse Code with operators employed by the Marconi Wireless Company. One of these ships was the 'unsinkable' RMS Titanic.

The RMS Titanic was a large ship even by modern ships at 68,000 tons. She was built at the Harland and Wolff Belfast Yard in Ireland for the White Star Line and designed to compete with the Cunard liners Lusitania and Mauretania, the fastest ocean liners then in existence. On her maiden voyage, she exhibited a minir list which was never corrected and on leaving Southampton port, there was a brief collision with the liner 'New York'. Titanic sailed to Cherbourg and then to Queenstown (now called Cobh) in Southern Ireland. One noted spirialist of the time refused to board the vessel and believed it was 'doomed'. On sailing, the Titanic assumed a westward course towards America.

The winter of 1912 was quite severe with icebergs venturing further south than other recent years. Many ships chose to stop in mid-ocean and used radio to warn others of the danger. One of these was the Californian under command of Stanley Lord. His radio officer received a rebuke from operators on Titanic who wanted to 'clear the airwaves' for passengers on Titanic wishing to send messages to relatives and friends via the radio station at Father Point located at the mouth of the St. Lawrence seaway in Canada. The chastened radio operator on the Californian retired to bed soon afterwards and switched off the radio. He was the sole operator on board.

Later that evening, Frederick Fleet, visually scanning ahead from a position above the bridge of Titanic spotted an iceberg and alerted the bridge command under the watch of William Murdoch. Captain Edward Smith was absent because of a ball being given in his honour and since this represented his last voyage before retirement. Murdoch tried to avoid collision but failed on account of Titanic's speed, thought to be around 22 knots although capable of more. With hindsight, it might have been better if Titanic had rammed the iceberg head-on, but as it was, the quality of steel available to shipbuilders at the time was less than any shipbuilder would expect today. As ice shards scraped along the hull, rivets and plates were broken and circumvented the modular construction ideology whereby Titanic had been labelled 'unsinkable' by the 'shipbuilder' magazine. Within hours, the Titanic sank with around 1500 lives and remains as one of the worst maritime disasters of all time. The subsequent enquity, led by Lord Mersey, led to accusations of negligence on the part of crewmen aboard the Californian which had been stopped nearby yet unaware of the major disaster occuring just a few miles away from their location. By comparison, the Carpathia, commanded by Arthur Rostrum, had raced over a much longer distance to reach the scene at breakneck speed to rescue many survivors. Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian became a scapegoat concerning the loss of Titanic but, in hindsight, he did nothing wrong. Claims about emergency rocket performance have since shown innaccuracies claimed by the manufacturers. Perhaps the greatest failure was the need to maintain radio surveillance round the clock and became one of the recomendations of the court.

Interestingly, the RMS Titanic is the last vessel in history that used the old 'Come Quick Danger' or CQD Morse Code and which was replaced by 'Save Our Souls' or SOS code since three dots and dashes were quicker to comunicate. Titanic had been fitted with insuffivcent lifeboats and the Mersey enquiry made it clear that future vessels would meet this requirement.

On May 19th 1914, the liner Empress of Ireland, with Henry George Kendall in command, was struck by a Norweigian collier at the mouth of the St Lawrence seaway and close to Father Point where the Marconi Company had established a major radio and communication point. The Empress of Ireland sank within fourteen minutes and claimed over a thousand lives. The collier, Storstad, had been built using a lateral structual technique and whose hull carved into the Empress of Ireland like a knife through butter. Storstad surived the encounter but was later sunk by torpedo in war time.

Even before this time, the life of Hendry George Kendall would have made interesting reading, As a young man, he witnessed a murder on his first voyage and when the ship docked in Australia, he quickly headed inland tp avoid being the next victim and became an unsuccessful gold prospecter for a short time before returning to the coast. He became part of the crew on a leaky Norweigan owned vessel carrying fertilizer to Europe and the vessel barely made it. He survived shipwreck of the SS Lusitania (an earlier ship prior to the more famous RMS Lusitania) in Newfoundland and worked with Marconi to establish ship to shore radio communication systems. In 1910, he became captain of the Union Pacific owned SS Montrose.

On one voyage, Kendall became suspicious about two of his passengers who turned out to be Doctor Crippen and his lover, Ethel Le Neve, on the run from the law after Crippen had murdered his wife and disposed of her body. The latter kept a low profile and was dressed like a boy but it was known that Crippen had gold implants in his teeth. Kendall tested his hypothesis by inviting Crippen to the captain's table during the voyage and told jokes to make his guests laugh and smile. On seeing the glint of gold in his teeth, Kendall sent the following wireless telegraph to Scotland Yard, "Have strong suspicions that Crippen London Cellar murderer and accomplice are among saloon passengers. Mustache taken off growing beard. Accomplice dressed as a boy. Manner and build undoubtedly a girl." He then ordered a reduction of speed and extended the time of the voyage so that Inspector Dew of Scotland Yard could board the fast White Star liner SS Laurentic and overtake the fleeing fugitives. At Father Point, located near the mouth of the St Lawrence Seaway in Canada, Inspector Dew made contact with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and disguised himself as a pilot and knowing that vessels heading into the St Lawrence would stop at this location before proceeding upriver towards Quebec. When the SS Montrose made this stop, Inspector Dew boarded the ship and challenged the passengers.

"Good morning, Dr Crippen. Do you know me? I'm Chief Inspector Dew from Scotland Yard." After a pause, Crippen replied, "Thank God it's over. The suspense has been too great. I couldn't stand it any longer." He then held out his wrists for the handcuffs. Crippen and le Neve were arrested on board the Montrose on July 31st 1910 and both were returned to England on board the SS Magantic where they were tried separately and Ethel Le Neve was aquitted. In later years, it seems she emigrated to Australia and lived a life in quiet obsurity. By contrast, Doctor Crippen was convicted and hanged in Pentonville Prison, the first ever criminal to be caught by use of wireless communication. Strangely though, the application of modern DNA testing has caste doubt over this conviction. It now seems possible that Crippen was performing illegal abortions and that one of his patients died in the process. True or not, we'll never know.

In the early hours of May 29th, 1914, Henry George Kendall commanded the Empress of Ireland and made ready for a sea voyage to England. Moments later, the liner was accidentally rammed by the Norwegian owned collier Storstad. The Storstad had been built using a design technique that massively improved hull integrity but where collisions had occurred with other vessels, the result typically inflicted major damage on the other vessel. On that fateful day, the same was true for the Empress of Ireland. She sank in less than fourteen minutes and claimed over a thousand lives. Captain Kendall survived the encounter and was aquitted of all charges during the subsequent enquiry. Soon afterwards, he was posted to the duty of Marine Superintendant at Antwerp but within weeks of his arrival, Henry George Kendall was in the news again and the story concerning the loss of the Empress of Ireland quickly forgotten.

The assasination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo just a few weeks later proved to be 'the shot that rang around the World' and began the first phases of World War One. As German troops poured into Belgium, the British Consulate was beseiged by about 600 refugees. Henry George Kendall formulated a plan whereby refugees boarded the SS Montrose and the decommissioned SS Montreal with the former towing the latter to England. Both vessels ended their respective careers as block ships deliberately sunk in positions likely to hamper enemy ships while Kendall joined the crew of HMS Calgarian until she was torpedoed near Ulster in 1918. He survived and served as King's Messenger, a post whereby he personally delivered important documents to recipients at the request of the Crown. After the war, he was appointed to the position of Marine Superintendant at Southhampton before moving to a similar position in London in 1924. He died in a nursing home, aged 91, in 1965.

The story of the Empress of Ireland disaster ranks as one of the worst maritime accidents of all time yet the events of World War One which started just a few weeks later overshadowed the memory. It remains a prime example of how, even in peacetime of the period, technology was vulnerable, limited and prone to failure in spectacular style.

Global War

In late 1914, German Admiral Graf Maxmillian Von Spee led his modern and well equipped Far Eastern Fleet across the Pacific and docked at Valparaiso. The local population welcomed them and the German Fleet of five warships remained there for a short time. In response to this movement, Rear Admiral Christopher Craddock was ordered to deal with 'the problem' despite lacking resources to do so. Ships were sent to augment Craddock's fleet but several failed to arrive by the time Craddock decided to sail from Port Stanley in the Falkland Isles.

In late October, Winston Churchill, First Sea Lord of the Admiralty, instructed Craddock to wait pending possible reinforcement from the Japanese Navy but it is not known whether this message was actually received. Communication technology of this period was crude and the local presence of HMS Glasgow attracted German attention. Graf Spee's fleet sailed from Valparaiso with a view to sinking her but what they found instead was Craddock's makeshift fleet near the Chilean coastal town of Coronel. Coronel ended the myth of Royal Navy invincibility that had lasted since Trafalger and was one of the worst naval defeats Britain had suffered in more than a century! HMS Glasgow and a converted merchant vessel emerged as sole survivors of this encounter and both quickly returned to Port Stanley for repairs and refuelling.

Although widely celebrated in many parts of the World, the German success proved to be short-lived. By the time Graf Von Spee sailed his fleet towards the Falkland Isles and with plans to attack, HMS Glasgow had been repaired and refuelled, and had been joined by other ships of the Royal Navy. This new fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee sailed out and destroyed the German Fleet. Years later, in another World War, a 'pocket battleship' bearing the name 'Admiral Graf Spee' would meet its fate near this location. Nearer home, the German Navy concentrated upon disrupting the supply of raw materials being shipped to Britain from America. Submarine technology was crude and limited by the extent of technology of that time.

At the Battle of Jutland, the presumed might of the Royal Navy was challenged and found wanting. Not since the Battle of Trafalger in 1805, had the Royal Navy been put to the acid test of engagement with an enemy. In this principal naval battle of World War One, the Royal Navy lost fourteen capital warships and the Germans lost eleven. Jutland was where a spotter aircraft was successfully launched from a ramp mounted on the gun barrels of HMS Engadene. It was the first time such a feat had been attempted during a battle and if communications between the pilot and Royal Navy Admiral Jellicoe had been better then the outcome might have been very different. As it was, what the pilot could see and what Jellicoe could see were two different things. Jellicoe feared a trap with the risk of torpedoes being launched against his battlefleet and wisely chose to withdraw. Technically, it was a German victory but a hollow one since Jutland had the strategic effect of confining the German High Seas Fleet to port.

World War One saw the introduction of armed aircraft on both sides. During the American Civil War, hot air ballons had been used for spotting purposes but in this new war, propellor driven aircraft with guns fought 'dogfights' in the sky. It made reputations of several pilots, most notably Baron Manfred Von Richthoven who became famously known as the 'Red Baron'. He is credited with eighty kills and on the last day before he was due to retire, nearly claimed his eighty-first plane before being hit and killed by a .303 bullet most-likely fired from the ground by an Australian gunner. At the time, however, a Canadian pilot was given credit for the kill.

Although neither side acheived aerial supermacy, German aircraft of the period tended to be faster and capable of more accurate fire. This was possible thanks to an interruptor gear that allowed pilots to fire hull mounted guns through the sweep of the propellor with bullets passing safely through the arc during the periods when the propellor was not present. By contrast, allied aircraft used less accurate weapons mounted on the wings. Aircraft on both sides were limited as regards the amount of weight they could carry and although German pilots occasionally dropped grenades upon enemy lines, there was no serious development of specialist bombers.

In Britain, development of tracked vehicles was initially concealed by describing them as water carriers for frontline troops and called tanks. Later, when the guns and armour were added, the name stuck. Tanks were first deployed at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. While many of the vehicles proved unreliable or sucumbed to 'friendly fire', two of the tanks broke through the enemy defences and ended the stalemate that had lasted for many months.

On May 7th, 1915, German submarine U20 torpedoed the RMS Lusitania off the coast of Southern Ireland. Around twelve hundred lives were lost including American citizens. The Germans claimed she was being used to carry contraband in support of the British war effort and sadly, there is some evidence to suggest this might have been true and thus making the ship a legitimate wartime target. Despite this, the US chose to remain politically neutral and isolated from the 'European War' although ready to sell whatever materials were demanded by the combatants. This position remained intact throughout much of the war but the scene changed when the British 'Room 40' intelligence group intercepted and decoded the Zimerman Telegram intended for priviate reading by the Mexican government. The document stated that Germany was willing to help Mexico reclaim Texas, New Mexico and Arizona as part of their national territory and it was this, more than anything else that had occurred, that finally persuaded the American government to act. On 6th April 1917, the United States of America declared war on Germany.

Battleships were sent to join with the British fleet at Scapa Flow and US destroyers deployed at Cobh in Southern Ireland. Submarines were ordered to escort Atlantic convoys. The American army was small but drafted four million men within a short period of time. Although never officially part of the Allied forces, the American Expedtionary Force (AEF) under General Pershing began landing troops in Europe at a rate of about 10,000 each day. The balance of power that had kept the war going for years quickly shifted in favour of the allied forces and doomed Germany to an inglorious defeat.

By 1918, daily life in Germany was becoming a major struggle with shortages of essential supplies affecting citizens at every level. A German plan to challenge the Royal Navy for a second time resulted in crew mutinies at the naval ports of Wilhelmshaven and Keil and sparked revolution in the Germanic Nation as a whole. With the enemy closing in, Kaiser Wilhelm II accepted the inevitable defeat of Germany and fled. A few days later, within a rail carriage docked at Compiegne in France, the Articles of Surrender were signed and World War One officially ended on the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month. Today, this date is referred to as 'Armistace Day' and recognises the heroic sacrifice given by many in service to this country.

Once again, the human race was stunned by the horrendous cost of a modern war and determined it should not happen again. In 1919, the 'League of Nations' was formed with a primary duty to prevent further war. In 1921, the 'Washington Treaty' set limits on armaments and which favoured America. In theory, aggression by any nation against another would be met by combined force from others but this soon proved to be an empty threat.

In 1922, the French government complained as regards German war reparation payments and occupied the Ruhr industrial regions of Germany contrary to international advice. German workers resisted, production levels fell and the country was unable to generate wealth. The value of German currency plummeted. Mass starvation and unemployment followed. A barrowload of marks was needed to buy a loaf of bread during the worst times. It was against this background of hardship, poverty, unemployment that a new nationalist socialist party found willing members among the German populace. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor and assumed the role of Fuhrer (leader) upon the death of President Hindenburg in 1934.

One War Is Not Enough

Hitler began resolving the economic ills of the German economy by ordering a whole series of government contracts covering a wide spectrum of projects that employed millions of people. His plan to 'kick start' the German economy brought lasting benefits like the autobahn and rail networks still in existence today. By 1938, Germany had become one of the most efficient and industrious nations on the planet. Even on a local scale, German homes became a small part of the greater industrial cog. In cellars in every street, many people worked to produce goods that were sold onward to others in the chain. Even complex products that demanded usage of precision components were made in this way then assembled at a central location. It's one of the reasons why the Royal Air Force found it hard to destroy weapons production in World War 2. If they bombed a particular factory then another would quickly emerge within months! German manufacture became synonimous with quality and the people's car branded as Volkswagen is still a popular choice with international buyers today. Under Hitler's pre-war rule, the German economy boomed and became a period of industrial production still to be matched or exceeded in modern times. It's a sobering thought to realise that if World War Two had begun five years later then Germany might have developed the atomic bomb and intercontinental missiles capable of striking the United States. Germany was already planning construction of an aircraft carrier and the new generation of submarines came too late to alter the outcome of World War Two. Even in reality, Germany produced jet engine aircraft and rocket powered missiles before the end of the conflict!

From an external viewpoint, Germany became a country in which idealism was represented at every level of society. Children from young ages were indoctrinated in support of the superior race philosophy and how the Third Reich would rule the World for a Thousand Years. Sadly, such a centralised philosophy meant exclusion of others and peoples of Jewish descent were especially singled out and targeted as scapegoats for ills remaining in the economy. Even now, decades later, it remains hard to accept how an apparently civilised society embarked on a strategy which would effectively claim more than six million innocent lives!
In 1936, tensions brought about by poverty and the feudal government system brought about civil war in Spain and served as a precursor of the global warfare known as World War Two. The Spanish Civil War invited many foreign participants on a voluntary basis including George Orwell (author Eric Blair) whose observations were translated into fictional works like '1984'. In this conflict, the nation became divided between a republican movement and a nationalist counterpart with the latter receiving considerable levels of support from the Catholic Church, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. In April, 1937, the northern Basque town of Guernica was bombed by aircraft of the German Luftwaffe 'Condor Legion' and the Italian Aviazone Legionaria. The result prompted Pablo Picasso's famous painting and honed the concept of blitzkreig or 'lightning war' among German pilots. Ultimate victory went to the better funded nationalists with General Franco assuming overall political power over the nation in 1939.

The League of Nations proved to be ineffective during the Spanish Civil War and more so when Italian forces invaded Abbyssinia (now called Ethiopia) and committed attrocities including usage of chemical weapons and mustard gas. Benito Mussolini's dictatorship of Italy tried to conceal their usage of such weapons but reports from the International Red Cross movement made them public knowledge across the World. It was Benito Mussolini who first referred to agreement between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany as 'Axis Forces'. The expression was later applied to include Japan.

In 1938, Hitler sought to integrate a part of the Czechoslovak Republic largely occupied by Germanic peoples and gambled the League of Nations would not intervene. Opposition from Britain vanished when Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Treaty of Munich and war was averted in a policy later called appeasement and in which France and Britain saw Russia as a greater threat. It was thought that a Soviet- Germanic war would ease pressure on other parts of Europe.

On September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland via the Danzig Corridor and applied the technique of 'lightning war' on Polish citizens. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army invaded eastern regions of Poland in cooperation with Germany. By October 1st, Poland had been overrun while surviving Polish forces reformed in Romania, Hungary and the United Kingdom. Many of these exiled Poles came to Fife and many landmarks still remain from this period. The Town Hall of Earlsferry was built by Polish exiles and the large concrete anti-tank defences seen at Elie are remnants of work done by Polish soliders during the war.

In late September 1939, German bombers launched from conquered Norway attempted to destroy the Forth Rail Bridge. From a strategic viewpoint, destroying the bridge would have limited the supplies to Rosyth Naval Dockyard in Fife and to Scapa Flow in Orkney. In what became the first aerial action of World War 2 over British soil, the attackers were met by the City of Glasgow squadron of the Royal Air Force and flying Spitfires. By all accounts, the Luftwaffe received a 'bloody nose' from the encounter and quickly sought escape by dropping their bomb loads in order to lighten their craft. Several of these bombs fell in Fife.

One house in Kilrenny was completely blown apart killing the entire family with the sole exception of a boy who had ventured to the bottom of the garden in order to feed his pet rabbit. Two houses in Crail were destroyed but, fortunately, the families were in St. Andrews at the time. The traitor and German radio announcer Lord 'Haw Haw' was compelled to put a positive face on the failed effort by making a propaganda announcement that 'the industrial town of Crail' had been destroyed!

Although we might smile about such an exagerated description now, Crail did perform a valuable function in World War Two with the nearby airfield called 'HMS Jackdaw' training many Coastal Command pilots and providing air cover to shipping going to and coming from Leith and Methil.

Even now, a short drive around Fife and neighbouring counties reveals presence of wide gates where aircraft once crossed public roads and where abandoned red brick buildings were constructed for military purposes during World War Two. In the post-war era, HMS Jackdaw was closed and aerial defence duties shifted to Leuchars Air Base near St Andrews.

In Britain, secret usage of computers proved invaluable by decoding encrypted messages while radar ensured Royal Air Force aircraft like the Spitefire and Hurriciane were able to challenge the Luftwaffe whenver they chose to attack. Unlike World War One, there was no singular naval battle but a whole series of them. The pocket battleship Graf Spee self destructed when trapped in the River Plate rather than accept surrender. Afterwards, the British desperately wanted to examine the wreck to examine some of the masts which appeared to have some special use but the local authorities forbade them from getting near. This time, the contest between the navies became a careful balance and when France surrendered, the concern about the French ships being added to the German Navy was deemed too risky and the Royal Navy was ordered to destroy the French Fleet. Most the ships had gone to Mers-El-Kebir in North Africa and this is where Force H under Admiral Sommerville performed this terrible act with thousands of French sailors being killed. Other French ships fled to England and where they formed 'Free French' Forces under General De Gaulle. World War Two saw the Royal Navy stretched to its maximum with many older ships compelled to remain in service whereas many German warships were comparatively new. The Royal Navy was also required to escort merchant vessels carrying essential supplies to Britain. Germany deployed submarines to destroy these ships and initially with tremendous success.The initial land expedition sent by Britain to France were quickly forced back onto the beaches of Dunkirk where most were miraculously rescued by using every ship and boat available in the South of England. Germany prepared to invade Britain.

The invasion of Brtiain was given the code name 'Sea Lion' and the build up of arms along European coastal regions began in earnest but first it was the job of the Luftwaffe to gain control of the skies over Britain. Over many days, a concerted effort was made to acheive this but the Battle of Britain favoured the defenders and the invasion plans were cancelled.

Once again, the United States of America was initially reluctant to become involved in another European war but on 7th December 1941, Japanese aircraft lauched from aircraft carriers attacked the US Navy Base at Pearl Harbour and destroyed US aircraft on the ground at Clarke Air Base. More than a year earlier, a small number of seaplanes had taken off from a British aircraft carrier and on the night of 11-12th, November 1940, attacked the Italian Navy Harbour at Taranto. By comparison, the Japanese raid on Hawaii was on a much larger scale and illustrated the vulnerability of battleships to air attack. Three days later, Royal Navy Force Z from Singapore was attacked by 86 Japanese aircraft and the battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk. Together they were lessons that showed a desperate need for air cover in order to protect shipping.

In the Battle of the Atlantic, this was a major problem since land based aircraft had a limited range and although Hudsons of the Canadian Air Force often flew over convoys on the western side of the ocean and long-range Sunderlands escorted convoys nearer Britain, there was a wide gap in the middle that came to be known as 'U-Boat Alley' and where submarines operated with minimal fear of being spotted from the air. In this respect, Germany had another ace in the shape of the Condor, an aircraft originally designed to be a long range liner but then modified to increase its range so that they could conduct wide sweeps over the ocean and seek out convoys. Information gleaned in this way was then communicated back to their base in France then relayed to the submarine captains. If the convoy was a large one then several U-Boats would work together in what became known as a 'Wolf Pack'. Germany employed surface raiders too in the shape of their battleships and one of the primary tasks of the Royal Navy was to find and destroy them. E-Boats were also highly successful in laying mines near the British coastline and this tactic may have sunk more ships than by submarines.

The sheer tonnage of allied shipping, and the number of sailors killed, during the early phase of the war was horrendous. The possibility of starvation and an inability to continue the war became a growing realization in Britain and considerable effort was applied to this crucial problem. ASDIC underwater sonar proved useful in detecting submerged submarines but was less successful in tracking submarines on the surface and using the cover of night to conceal their presence. Experienced U-Boat commanders soon realised this and some were even brave enough to lay in wait as the convoy began to pass by before making their presence known. On diving though, ASDIC soon provided useful information as regards their speed and depth and this information was relayed to the fire control so that depth charges and new weapons like hedgehog could be set before launch. In 1939, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal narrowly avoided being hit by three torpedoes fired by U39. In the event, the torpedoes exploded permaturely and U39 was sunk, the first U-Boat casualty of the war. Another carrier, HMS Courageous was less fortunate.

Even from an early stage in the war, it was clear how aircraft carriers had supplanted battleships as the primary warship in any fleet. The problem, from a British perspective, was that they had too few of them and desperately needed more for use in the Atlantic theatre. Many suitable merchant ships were fitted with decks for use with a variant of the Spitfire called Seafire. Some ships were fitted with catapults and were capable of launching aircraft although recovery in many cases was impossible. The inclusion of marine radar on escort warships ended the period of surface raids by submarines and the balance of power and ability switched towards the surface ships which could often manouvere more swiftly and move at greater speed that the U-Boats they hunted. The new fleet of makeshift aircraft carriers offered a better kind of protection and the 'happy time' of the U-Boat crews became a memory. Towards the end of the war, the life expectancy of U-Boat crews was getting close to nil with many going to sea and sure they would not come back. The Battle of the Atlantic remains as the only continuous campaign lasting the entire duration of the war!

In the Pacific War, the Japanese advances were rapid and their attacks even reached North Australia with Darwin being bombed by Japanese aircraft in February 1942. In April 1942, US Bombers led by General Jimmy Doolittle were launched for the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and bombed Honshu in Japan and although the actual damage inflicted was light, it was a mission to show Japan that their cities were not safe from an American response. One month later, in May 1942, the Japanese attempted to land troops at Port Moresby, New Guinea, but were met by a powerful US Naval Force including the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The Lexington was sunk in the battle and the Shoho, a light carrier of the Japanese Navy was also sunk. The invasion, however, was cancelled. Just one month later, near Midway Island, a bold offensive by the Japanese Navy ended in disaster. American Intelligence had broken the encryption codes used by the Japanese Navy and were able to predict where the enemy was planning to strike next. Midway was reinforced and made ready for the battle while the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, USS Hornet and USS Yorktown were despatched to an area called 'Point Luck' on the orders of Admiral Chester Nimitz. Yorktown had been badly damaged at Coral Sea but was hastily repaired and went to sea with some workmen still making these repairs.

On June 4th 1942, the most significant naval battle of World War Two began with aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers taking to the air near the island of Midway. In haste to implement this plan, Japanese submarines sent out to attack any American aircraft carriers sailing from Hawaii arrived too late to stop the three carriers reaching their destination. What followed was a mixture of tactical errors, crucial communication breakdowns and varying shares of luck and misfortune for both sides. USS Yorktown was hit by Japanese pilots who reported her as having sunk then spotted again and attacked but in the belief this was a second carrier. The second attack was successful, however, and the Yorktown sunk.

Initial attacks against the Japanese carrier fleet were unsuccessful with many pilots being shot down by the Japanese air cover protecting the carriers. Japanese senior officers began to realise they were dealing with more than just one aircraft carrier and postponed their attack on Midway in order to deal with the perceived threat. This tactical change meant re-arming aircraft with torpedoes instead of bombs intended for Midway. In their haste to accomplish this, bombs were carelessly left on the deck while the torpedoes were bing fitted. About that time, a Japanese spotter plane sighted USS Hornet and USS Enterprise but could not send back the information because of a radio fault. It was at this moment when several flights of American aircraft made a combined attack on the Japanese carrier fleet. The air cover for the Japanese fleet had just beaten off another attack just moments before and had chosen to pursue the survivors and leaving their charge vulnerable at that crucial moment. As each American bomb slammed into their targets, bombs left on the flight deck detonated and virtually sealed the fate of each ship.

The flagship, Akagi, which had led the fleet during the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941 was one of the three carriers destroyed in this battle. Soryu and Kaga suffered severe damage and sunk soon afterward. Only the Hiryu survived this attack and successfully launched the aircraft that eventually sank USS Yorktown. It did not survive the battle, however, as American aircraft successfully bombed and sank her soon afterward. In light of these events, the Japanese invasion fleet was turned around and the invasion of Midway cancelled.
Japanese leaders had known right from the outset that victory against America would need to be quick and hence the reason for haste. Senior Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had been educated at Harvard and believed it would take eleven months for the Americans to build up sufficient momentum so that ships could be replaced and a full scale war effort put in place. The disaster at Midway effectively ended any hope of victory and represented the high point of Japanese influence in the war.

In successive years, the Japanese were forced to abandon recently conquered territories and progressively withdraw closer to their own shores while American seapower in the Pacific was 'beefed up' by new vessels and new aircraft of increasing ability and specification. New technologies from Britain like RADAR and ASDIC were applied to new ships. Increasing numbers of American submarines were deployed with a view to strangling trade in the same way Germany had tried against Britain. In the closing stages of the war, daily life in Japan meant dealing with shortages and a serious lack of essential supplies. Even so, the nation was determined to fight on and even sent warships to sea with insufficient fuel to return to port. Pilots eagerly volunteered to fly their planes into ships in 'kamikaze' suicide missions. In desperation, kamikaze human torpedoes on midget submarines were also employed but the overall outcome of the war was now inevitable. Sixty-seven Japanese cities were successively targeted over six months using incenduries and explosives designed to firebomb but even this failed to result in surrender. Estimates of casualties likely to needed before surrender played a major part of US President Harry S. Truman's fateful decision to use the recently developed atomic bomb technology on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 6th and 9th, 1945, two atomic devices were detonated over each city with horrendous consequences. To date, these applications of atomic warfare thankfully remain unique! Japan surrendered a few days later and the war in the Pacific was over. Technology had triumphed over courage and human spirit! From this point on, warfare would become more automated and perhaps seen as less horrific or distant to many people.

In Europe, Adolf Hitler's decision to attack the Soviet Union meant withdrawing resources from other theatres of the conflict at a time when troops and equipment were arriving from America. It seems likely he underestimated the Russians and the severity of Russian winters. At Stalingrad, the Russians fought back with everything they had and despite appalling loss of life.At the height of battle, the average survival rate for a Russian soldier arriving in Stalingrad was about 4 hours! As the harsh winter of 1942-43 arrived, however, fate began to favour the defenders as German technology was stretched and found wanting in these conditions. Overlapped wheels of Panzer tanks, designed that way to provide additional armour, froze in the bitterly cold weather while trucks assigned to carry supplies to the front struggled in mud and snow. During the initial attack on Russia, the people had fled East but not before they destroyed bridges and railways to stop the enemy from using them. Worse still, allied shipping convoys to Murmansk were getting through and delivering modern armament to the Russian army while factories which had hastily relocated to the East were now returning to a state of production. In December 1942, the Russians encircled the Germans and took command of the two principle airfields. Suddenly, without air support and supplies, thousands of German soldiers sucumbed to frostbite, hypothermia and even starvation. By February, 1943, the situation had become untenable and, despite orders not to surrender by Hitler, Field Marshall Paulus felt compelled to and became the first German Field Marshall to be captured by the enemy.

Between October and November 1942, at El Alamein in North Africa, the British Army led by General Montgomery defeated German and Italian forces in a decisive battle and which shattered the myth of invincibility attached to the German North Africa Corps. Collectively, these two battles represented a turning point in the war. Winston Churchill summed it up thus, "This is not the end, nor is it even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." And so it was. The invasion of Sicily then Italy were resisted feircely but the Axis forces would never again have that ability to deliver a knock-out blow against the enlarged enemy that now included the United States. Allied Commanders were already hard at work on a massive European invasion called 'Operation Overlord' and which went into operation on the 6th June 1944 with large scale troop and equipment landings on beaches in Normandy.The invading troops met with fierce resistance but ultimately established a beachhead so fuel supplies could continue the advance. Despite the odds of success, the German nation was determined to continue the war even though it must have seemed inevitable that victory was no longer possible against Allied Forces which were growing stronger each and every day and while enemy bombers were destroying factories and vital communication links. It seemed no matter how many factories were bombed, the Germans were soon able to resume production and supply to their troops in record time. Even the famous 'dam-buster raid' that flooded many German armaments factories did little more than hamper production for about three months! It's now possible to explain this by how many Germans made components in the cellars beneath their houses and supplied factories with these parts for inclusion in a final product. Many lighter products, like machine guns and mortar launchers, could be made in this fashion but larger items like aircraft and tanks needed larger facilities.

In December 1944, Germany launched a bold offensive against the Allied armies with a view to splitting the US Forces from the British, capturing Antwerp and encircling four Allied armies in the process. Hitler thought an action such as this might stabilize the Western Front long enough for German scientists to perfect a number of new weapon systems like jet engines, V2 rockets and a whole new generation of U-Boats already in building. Some accounts even suggest a possibility of a a surrender in favour of the Axis powers but the 'Battle of the Bulge' as it came to be known didn't work out that way. With the benefit of hindsight, it was the worst encounter ever faced by the modern US Army and cost 19,000 American lives. It had been Hitler's view that when news of the losses were communicated to the people of America then they would demand withdrawal from the war. Despite great planning in secret and with plentiful resources drawn from elsewhere to acheive this aim, the final western offensive of the Wermacht faltered then completely failed. Ammunition and fuel failed to arrive on time and tanks simply ran out of fuel and were abandoned. Infantry retreated as supplies dried up.

In February 1945, Allied bombers overflew much of Germany and delivered the controversial firestorm attack on Dresden. The Luftwaffe was unable to stop it and the resulting firestorm that swept through the city killed ten thousand lives. In April 30th, and with the enemy closing in, Adolph Hitler finally recognised his dream of a 'Third Reich lasting a Thousand Years' lay in tatters. He claimed the German people had failed him before taking his own life rather than face capture. His generals then burned his body.

On May 2nd, Russian troops entered Berlin and the official surrender took place on May 8th although a few German units continued to fight until May 10th. World War Two was over.