Naval Miscellany

For armchair admirals, history buffs, and naval enthusiasts everywhere, A Naval Miscellany is an indispensible and entertaining collection of fascinating and little-known facts, anecdotes, lists, curiosities and stories from our naval past. Forgotten heroes, amazing blunders, surprising trivia, and strange-but-true stories are all included. Who were the naval heroes of the ancient world, and the world's worst admirals? How much did a midshipman get paid in the eighteenth century? What are the origins of sea shanties? Where are the biggest naval bases in the world today? And how does a ship float? It's all here in this little book that will amaze and enlighten even the most avid student of naval history!

Table of Contents:
Draft contents: 1. Flogging, Sodomy and the Lash 2. Naval Heroes of the Ancient World 3. The Most Successful Admirals in History 4. Popular Warship Names 5. The Biggest Navy, the Best Navy and the Most Successful 6. Getting the Message – Naval Signal Flags 7. Remembering the Rum Ration 8. Privateers or Pirates 9. Sea Battle in Close-up: The Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis 10. The Ten Worst Naval Disasters 11. The Ten Most Decisive Naval Battles 12. Convoy Battles 13. Piping the Side 14. The Earliest Submarines 15. What was the Nelson Touch? 16. Naval Medicine in the Age of Sail – Kill or Cure? 17. Anchors Aweigh – How anchors work 18. A Few Great Quotes by Fighting Admirals 19. Nuclear Submarines – a few strange facts 20. Sea Battle in Close-Up: Sinking the Bismarck 21. The World's Worst Admirals 22. The Deepest Naval Shipwrecks 23. Warship type: U-Boat 24. The Anaconda Plan and the US Navy 25. Sea Battle in Close-up: the Monitor and the Merrimac 26. The Sails of a Sailing Warship 27. Naval Ranks 28. Fighting Admiral: De Grasse 29. Island Hopping Campaigns 30. Manning a Sailing Ship of War 31. How to Navigate by the Stars 32. What is a Two Ocean Navy? 33. The Biggest Guns in Naval History 34. Fact File: Q-Ships and Decoy Ships 35. Naval Disasters: Convoy PQ-17 36. Sea Battle in Close-up: The Nile 37. Fact File: Pook's Turtles 38. How Mines Work 39. John Paul Jones and the Russian Navy 40. The Captain: A Man Apart? 41. Warship Type: Destroyer 42. Minesweeping for Beginners 43. The Definition of Seapower 44. Famous Warship Profile: USS Constitution 45. Fighting Admiral: Decatur 46. Blockading an Enemy Coast 47. Shipwrecked Sailors and Castaways 48. Pirate Hunting during the Age of Sail 49. The Ten Most Famous Frigate Actions 50. Naval Pay through the Ages 51. The First Guns at Sea 52. Keelhauling and Hanging from the Yardarm 53. Sea Battle in Close-up: Manila Bay 54. The Story of Radar 55. Warship type: Cog 56. Naval Disaster: The Philadelphia 57. Fighting Admiral: Samson 58. The Power Game: Wind, Coal, Oil and Nuclear fission 59. US Naval Acronyms 60. The Origin of Sea Shanties 61. The Top Ten Fictional Naval Heroes 62. Famous Warship Profile: HMS Hood 63. Wind and Current 64. Fact File: Torpedoes in the American Civil War 65. Amphibious Landings 66. The Ten Biggest Naval Bases in the World 67. Famous Warship Shipwrecks 68. The World's Sea Lanes 69. British Naval Expressions 70. The Story of the Carronade 71. Fighting Admiral: Farragut 72. Wooden legs, and one-eyed cooks 73. Naval Disaster: The Monitor 74. When did women first serve at sea? 75. Buoyancy and Ship Design – What floats your boat? 76. Warship type: Longship 77. Why are sailors smarter than Marines? 78. Battle Honours and how they work 79. Fighting Admiral: Blake 80. The Arctic Convoys – in numbers 81. Naval Power in 1990 82. Fact File: The 100 ton muzzle-loading gun 83. How Marine Steam Engines Work 84. Famous Warship Profile: HMS Victory 85. Sailor's uniforms in the age of sail 86. Fact file: the Cruise of the Emden 87. Ten Battles at Impossible Odds 88. Naval Acronyms – a bluffers guide 89. Fighting Admiral: Togo 90. The Ten Most Successful Torpedo Attacks 91. Brown-Water Navies 92. Ten Liners that served as warships 93. Naval Disasters: the Vasa 94. Dry Ships and Wet Ships: Alcohol at Sea 95. The Top Ten Maritime Superstitions 96. Damage Control in a Modern Warship 97. The Most Treacherous Waters 98. Naval Gunfire Support – How it Works 99. Sea Battle in Close-up: The Coral Sea 100. How the US Navy began 101. Warship type: Galleon 102. Naval Power in 1941 103. Naval Guns in the Age of Sail 104. Don't give up the ship! 105. Fighting Admiral: Nimitz 106. Ten Traditional Naval Drinks 107. Famous Warship Profile: The USS Enterprise 108. Roundshot, Grapeshot or Chainshot, Sir? 109. A Scurvy Crew: How Scurvy was identified and cured 110. Feeding the Guns: Ammunition Supply 111. Fighting the Martians: Navies in Science Fiction 112. Naval Disaster: Force Z 113. Visiting Davy Jones' Locker: Burial at Sea 114. Hospital Ships in Action 115. Warship type: Cruiser 116. Strange and Unusual Punishments 117. Ship's Pets and Mascots 118. The tradition of going down with the ship 119. Naval Power in 1939 120. Sea Battle in Close-up: Mobile Bay 121. Sailors in Popular Culture 122. Fighting Admiral: Cowan 123. Why did the USS Maine Blow Up? 124. Naval Disaster: The Campbeltown 125. Fact File: The Flight of the Goeben 126. The Ten Most Important Naval Mutinies 127. Sea Battle in Close-Up: Jutland 128. The First Dreadnought 129. The Need for Speed – Fast Attack Craft 130. Steam or Sail? The Age of the Hybrid Warship 131. What is a Lee Shore? 132. Famous Warship Profile: The Bismarck 133. Fighting Admiral: Nelson 134. The Swiss Navy, the Czech Navy and other Landlocked Fleets 135. The story of the Steam Engine 136. Designing the Monitor 137. The Great Naval Arms Race 138. Zeppelins and Flying Boats: Origins of Naval Airpower 139. The Roaring Forties: Warships in a Storm 140. The Ten Most Useful Knots on board a warship 141. Naval Power in 1914 142. Great Naval Ports of Call and Runs Ashore 143. Sea Battle in Close-up: Midway 144. Sailors in the Army: The Story of the Naval Brigades 145. Famous Warship Profile: USS Maine 146. Naval Guns in the Age of the Battleship 147. Anti-Aircraft Fire 148. The Affair of the USS Hunley 149. Ship type: Frigate 150. Breakthroughs in Navigation 151. How a Flight Deck Works 152. Unusual Facts about Pearl Harbor 153. Fact File: The Disaster of the Mary Rose 154. The World's Most Ridiculous Warships 155. Naval Power in 1794 156. Fact File: Mimi and Toutou – warships in the middle of Africa 157. Warships on the Big Screen 158. Passing the Port and other Wardroom Niceties 159. Famous Warship Profile: The Yamato 160. The Word Battleship 161. The Six Battles of Guadalcanal 162. Maiden Voyages that ended in tears 163. The Top Ten Battleships of all time 164. The Great Sea Battles with Pirates 165. Naval Power in 1861 166. What is the Weather Gauge? 167. Ship type: Ship-of-the-Line 168. Donald Duck and the War Effort 169. The First Aircraft Carriers 170. Cockleshell Raiders and other naval stealth attacks 171. Send the Marines - The Origins of the US Marine Corps 172. The Story of the Compass 173. Sea Battle in Close-up- The Constitution and the Guerriere 174. Famous Amphibious Landings 175. Designing a Modern Warship 176. The Story of Armour 177. Sea Battle in Close-up: Copenhagen 178. Naval Recruitment, from Press Gangs to the Village People 179. Naval Power in 1776 180. Who were Nelson's captains? 181. The Least Successful Ship Designs 182. How a warship is launched 183. Famous Warship profile: USS Nautilus 184. Sea Battle in Close-up: The Spanish Armada 185. Naval Watches – Dividing up the Naval Day 186. Naval Ensigns and National Flags 187. Send a Signal: Morse Code or Semaphore? 188. Guided Missiles 189. Sea Battle in Close-up: The Sinking of the Scharnhorst 190. Survival Chances in the Open Sea 191. Grey Ships, Grey Seas, Grey Sky: Warship Camouflage 192. Fact File: Coaling Stations – the reason for Empire! 193. Mothballing a warship 194. Blockade Running for Beginners 195. Famous Warship profile: CSS Virginia 196. Nelson's Injuries, and other limbless admirals 197. Naval Power in 1880 198. Whites and Blues – The Quirks of Naval Uniform 199. An old salt's guide to food preservation in the age of sail 200. Hunter Killer – Submarine versus Submarine warfare

About the Author :
Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands, and is the author of over 50 books, 30 of which are published by Osprey. This acclaimed and widely published author has written several books on piracy, including The History of Pirates. His most recent work is a full-length piratical biography: Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate.  A former naval officer and museum professional, he worked as the Curator of Weapons at the Tower of London and as the Chief Curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He now works as a full-time author and historian, and lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.