USS Enterprise CVA(N) / CVN-65: The World's First Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier by Dr. David Mckay

$125.00 NZD

Category: Military History | Reading Level: Near Fine

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-65) - Big E - was an icon of her time. During her 51 years of service in the United States Navy she lived up to her name and achieved many "first" and "only" accolades. "Big" described not only her physical size but also alluded to her spirit and stature in the eyes of the navy, US citizens, and countless admirers from around the globe. This ship, like no other, had a soul that defined her as special to her many crew and to her nation. This book comprehensively describes the spirit, structure, function, and roles of Enterprise and of her sailors and airmen, those special men and women who sparked life into the cold iron. Big E sailed the seven seas for over half a century, completing 25 major deployments and serving in every US fleet. She represented the United States in almost every major naval operation from 1961, starting with the Cuban missile crisis and ending with Operation Enduring Freedom. She was first on station in the Arabian Sea following the September 11 attack on the United States in 2001. Big E sailed through five decades of major world geo-political and societal changes and technological growth, participating in the Cold War, Vietnam, and lastly the war on terror, and ushering in the integration of women into navy crew, and computers and satellite communications into daily routine. She led the way of a new navy, even towards the end of her service life, always demonstrating incredible adaptability. With a focus on the design, construction, and early technologies that made Big E unique, this book also highlights the personalities behind the ship, including the enigmatic father of the nuclear navy, Adm. Hyman G. Rickover, and the skippers who, under his close eye, were entrusted to operate the most complex nuclear plant in existence. Full disclosure of the layout of Enterprise, the organization of the crew, the complexity of electronic combat systems, the air wings she hosted, and the manner in which she operated is discussed in an evolutionary sense. Enterprise in 2012 was a very different platform to when she was first operational in the early 1960s. Every deployment is described in detail, with many narratives inter-woven, and over 400 photographs illustrate the ship's proud history. There is a comprehensive summary and tabling of each deployment, air wing attachment, combat system architecture, maintenance overhaul period, and of significant mishaps and losses. Every detail of this magnificent ship has been covered, creating a deserving memorial to Big E, and to those who served on her. ...Show more

Clipper Ships and the Golden Age of Sail: Races and Rivalries on the Nineteenth Century High Seas by Sam Jefferson

$60.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

In the era of commercial sail, clipper ships were the ultimate expression of speed and grace. Racing out to the gold fields of America and Australia, and breaking speed records carrying tea back from China, the ships combined beauty with breathtaking performance. With over 200 gorgeous paintings and ill ustrations, and thrilling descriptions of the adventures and races on the water, this beautiful book brings the era vividly to life. Chapters include: The origins of the clippers - from the gold rush to the tea trade A hell ship voyage with 'Bully' Waterman, one of the most successful and notorious captains of the era Marco Polo, the fastest ship in the world - her rise to prominence and subsequent decline Mary Patten's battle with Cape Horn - a lady captain takes charge in a very male world Mutiny aboard the 'wild boat of the Atlantic' The great China tea race of 1866 - an amazingly close race across the world, only decided in the final few miles The Sir Lancelot defies the odds - her eccentric captains and rivalry with the legendary Thermopylae The Cutty Sark's longest voyage First-hand accounts, newspaper reports and log entries add fascinating eyewitness detail, whilst the stunning images show how the designs of these thoroughbreds developed over the years. A wonderful read and worthy celebration of these racehorses of the sea. ...Show more

Mutiny on the Spanish Main - HMS Hermione and the Royal Navy's Revenge by Angus Konstam

$42.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

From renowned author and naval historian Angus Konstam, this is a gripping account of one of the Royal Navy's bloodiest and most dramatic mutinies.Mutiny on the Spanish Main tells the dramatic story of HMS Hermione, a British frigate which, in 1797, was the site of the bloodiest mutiny in British naval history, which saw the death of her captain and many of her officers. Though her crew handed her over to the Spanish, Hermione was subsequently recaptured in a daring raid on a Caribbean port two years later. Drawing on letters, reports, ship's logs, and memoirs of the period, as well as previously unpublished Spanish sources, Angus Konstam intertwines extensive research with a fast-paced but balanced account of the mutiny and its consequences.   Illustrated with maps and diagrams tracing the events as they unfolded, and supported by informative inserts on the technical and tactical nuances of seamanship and naval warfare in the period, this book is both a fascinating narrative retelling and an informative guide to one of the most notorious events in the history of the Royal Navy. ...Show more

Death of a Cruise Ship by Tom O'Connor

$39.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

Empire of the Deep

$60.00 NZD

Category: Military History

The story of our navy is nothing less than the story of Britain, our culture and our empire. Much more than a parade of admirals and their battles, this is the story of how an insignificant island nation conquered the world's oceans to become its greatest trading empire. Few other nations have fallen so deeply in love with a branch of the armed forces as the British did with its Navy. Yet, as Ben Wilson shows, there was nothing inevitable about this rise to maritime domination, nor was it ever an easy path. For much of our history Britain was a third-rate maritime power on the periphery of Europe. EMPIRE OF THE DEEP also reveals how our naval history has shaped us in more subtle and surprising ways - our language, culture, politics and national character all owe a great debt to this conquest of the seas. This is a gripping, fresh take on our national story. ...Show more

Saltwater Highways: The Story of Ports and Shipping in New Zealand by Gordon McLauchlan

$44.99 NZD

Category: Nautical | Reading Level: Very Good

New Zealand, a country ‘rinsed by the sea’, has a shipping story to tell as long and convoluted as its coastline. Thoroughly researched, with an eye for a good yarn but also with an acute sense of the shifting social and political changes over the years, McLauchlan tells an informative and engaging tale . Divided into five parts, the book covers the early colonial days; the developing (and still functioning) ports, working on the wharves, port reform and the move, in later years, to containers. The narrative is always lively, picking out the most salient and fascinating elements of what might otherwise be a rambling history of little relevance to today’s   reader.Features:The controversial and very fraught times of union agitation on the wharves in the 1930’s and 40’s.The subsequent age of reform an shipping and workplace practices.The shift to the container age and related advantages, issues and controversies.Detailed histories of the development of all the still-functioning ports around the country – Auckland, wellington, Nelson, Whanganui, New Plymouth, Bluff, Dunedin/Port Chalmers, Lyttelton, Westland, Timaru, Napier, Gisborne, Whangarei  and Tauranga. ...Show more

Cutty Sark - The Last of the Tea Clippers (150th Anniversary Edition) by Eric Kentley

$42.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

An updated and expanded edition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of this iconic ship. The narrative spans her construction at Dumbarton in 1869; her famous tea voyages as well as those with other cargoes; her career under a Portuguese flag; her subsequent return to the Thames, Greenwich; and the drama tic fire, painstaking restoration and glorious reopening in April 2012.The book has been developed from the outset with the Cutty Sark Trust and takes the form of a chronological career narrative but also presents detailed features on crew accounts, log entries, pieces on seamanship, ports and cargoes and broader tall ship culture as well as an opportunity to focus on artifacts and the fittings of the ship.This unique opportunity allows the first publication of specially commissioned photography created as part of, and subsequent to, the clipper's restoration as well as the findings of resulting research. ...Show more

The Guide to Wooden Boats: Schooners, Ketches, Cutters, Sloops, Yawls, Cats by Benjamin Mendlowitz

$40.00 NZD

Category: Nautical

Hunter Killers by Iain Ballantyne

$49.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

Official Royal Navy definition: HUNTER KILLER: a submarine designed to pursue and attack enemy submarines and surface ships using torpedoes. HUNTER KILLERS will follow the careers of four daring British submarine captains who risked their lives to keep the rest of us safe, their exploits consigned to th e shadows until now. Their experiences encompass the span of the Cold War, from voyages in WW2-era submarines under Arctic ice to nuclear-powered espionage missions in Soviet-dominated seas. There are dangerous encounters with Russian spy ships in UK waters and, finally as the communist facade begins to crack, they hold the line against the Kremlin's oceanic might, playing a leading role in bringing down the Berlin Wall. It is the first time they have spoken out about their covert lives in the submarine service. This is the dramatic untold story of Britain's most secret service. ...Show more

Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History by Ian Graham

$34.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

From the Stone Age to the present day, no technology has had a more profound impact on mankind than watercraft. Boats and ships made possible the settlement and conquest of new worlds. They determined the victors of history-changing wars and aided the spread of new philosophies, technologies, and religi ons. Even today, virtually everything we purchase and consume-from petroleum and consumer electronics to the clothes we wear and much of the food we eat-depends upon seaborne trade. Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History is more than just a delight for lovers of the sea-it's a virtual history of the world told through the boats and ships that influenced how and where people lived, with whom they traded, the ideas they exchanged, and how they won and lost the battles that set the course of later generations and millennia. Fifty Ships that Changed the Course of History contains not only maritime marvels from ages past, but also some of the most iconic Australian and New Zealand watercraft. Included are the likes of Captain Cook's HMS Endeavour and Greenpeace's once flagship Rainbow Warrior. Beautifully illustrated with historic artwork and modern photography, it's also a guide to how men and women went to sea or down the river in every age and place. ...Show more

P & O by Ruth Artmonsky

$22.99 NZD

Category: Nautical | Series: Shire Library 701

From humble beginnings in the 1830s, The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company grew to dominate British mercantile shipping for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Initially the company's paddle steamers carried Her Majesty's Mail, as the name impliese, to the Iberian Peninsula, but over time P&O extended its routes across the Mediterranean and onwards to the Middle East, Far East and Australasia. Besides the mail, P&O liners carried spices, silk, tea, and even opium as well as passengers. P&O came to represent the British Empire at sea, and as the Empire waned and Britain took to the air, so a golden age of travelling by sea came to an end. This new book delves into the P&O archives to take a nostalgic  glance astern at all those who travelled P&O. ...Show more

British Admirals of the Fleet 1734-1995 by T. A. Heathcote

$44.99 NZD

Category: Nautical

A companion volume to the same author's "The British Field Marshals 1736-1997", this book outlines the lives of the 115 officers who held the rank of Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Navy from 1734, when it took its modern form, to 1995, when the last one was appointed. Each entry gives details of the dates of the birth and death of its subjects, their careers ashore and afloat, their family backgrounds, and the ships, campaigns and combats in which they served. Each is placed clearly in its domestic or international political context. The actions recorded include major fleet battles under sail or steam, single-ship duels, encounters with pirates on the Spanish Main and up the rivers of Borneo, the suppression of the Slave Trade (for which the Navy receives little gratitude), landing parties to deal with local dictators and revolutionaries, and the services of naval brigades in China, Egypt and South Africa. ...Show more