Alexander Milne was the pre-eminent naval administrator of the Victorian Royal Navy, spending eighteen years at the Admiralty between 1847 and 1876, over six of them as First Naval Lord. His administrative career coincided exactly with the greatest technological upheaval in warfare at sea since sails supplanted oars, and he played an important role in almost every step of the Navy's transformation from sail to steam, wood to iron, and in the equally critical processes of devising a modern system of recruiting and training enlisted personnel, and evolving a coherent strategy suitable for a steam-powered fleet. This collection is drawn from a rich documentary record of Milne's and the Board's labours during the late 1840s and 1850s. It also encompasses Milne's earlier sea service, furnishing a unique glimpse of the maritime policing operations of the Navy during the Pax Britannica.

Centred upon a man who never participated in combat operations during his sixty-year naval career, this volume depicts the routine peacetime operations of the mid-Victorian Royal Navy, operations that have received short shrift in naval histories, even though they have constituted the bulk of the service's mission during the past two centuries. Not surprisingly, the Navy operated in support of the liberal state and its agenda, as many of the documents in this collection make clear. Following the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, both Britain and the United States moved quickly to exploit new trade opportunities and for the next seventy years it was the Royal Navy that enforced the Doctrine, to the benefit of British commercial interests, but also to those of the United States and of any other country engaged in legitimate trade in the hemisphere. The service took the lead in combating piracy and the slave trade, and upheld the rule of law across global trade routes. The documents that comprise this volume therefore deal with topics of interest to scholars of international relations, Anglo-American affairs, the U.S. Civil War and the slave trade. Other aspects addressed include naval medicine, steam-era logistics and other elements of the Royal Navy's modernization pertaining to its materiel, personnel, and administration.

This, the second of three volumes of the correspondence of George Brydges Rodney, covers the admiral's life from the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 until August 1780. This was perhaps his most eventful, extraordinary and controversial period; from being a successful admiral, a member of Parliament and the Governor of Greenwich Hospital, Rodney plunges into debt and a debtor's exile in France, only to rise again as a victorious admiral and as a national hero. At the end of the Seven Years War Rodney was disappointed and bitter at the failure of the British government to reward him for his prominent part in the capture of Martinique and other French islands in the West Indies. He was made baronet in 1764 and governor of Greenwich Hospital in 1765. He had already been a member of Parliament for Saltash in 1751-4, and sat for Okehampton, Penryn and Northampton consecutively between 1759 and 1774. In 1768 he was involved in one of the most costly elections in eighteenth century parliamentary history. He secured election at Northampton, but his finances were broken. Furthermore, he had begun to gamble heavily and, with a limited income, fell into the hands of moneylenders. In 1770 he attempted to recoup his finances by becoming Commander-in-Chief at Jamaica. Nevertheless in the West Indies until 1774 Rodney managed a successful period of diplomacy with Spain, of intelligence gathering, and of navigational surveying especially off the coast of Florida. Even so, he returned to England deeply in debt and was forced to flee to France to escape his creditors. The war with the American colonies proved to be Rodney's salvation. After war with France had broken out, in 1779 the British government was desperate for an admiral who could fight and win battles. Rodney was appointed Commander-in-Chief in the Leeward Islands. His success in battle and skillful conduct of the naval war in the West Indies in 1780 restored Rodney's public standing. The stage was set for his most famous victory, the Battle of the Saintes in 1782, and the restoration of his private finances. George Brydges Rodney had gone through a dramatic change of fortunes. The character of that man is revealed here. This volume will permit re-assessment of this outstanding British admiral of the American War of Independence for a new generation of historians.

This is the first comprehensive account of how intelligence influenced and sustained British naval power from the mid nineteenth century, when the Admiralty first created a dedicated intelligence department, through to the end of the Cold War. It brings a critical new dimension to our understanding of British naval history in this period while setting naval intelligence in a wider context and emphasising the many parts of the British state that contributed to naval requirements. It is also a fascinating study of how naval needs and personalities shaped the British intelligence community that exists today and the concepts and values that underpin it. The author explains why and how intelligence was collected and assesses its real impact on policy and operations. It confirms that naval intelligence was critical to Britain’s survival and ultimate victory in the two World Wars but significantly reappraises its role, highlighting the importance of communications intelligence to an effective blockade in the First, and according Ultra less dominance compared to other sources in the Second. It reveals that coverage of Germany before 1914 and of the three Axis powers in the interwar period was more comprehensive and effective than previously suggested; and while British power declined rapidly after 1945, the book shows how intelligence helped the Royal Navy to remain a significant global force for the rest of the twentieth century, and in submarine warfare, especially in the second half of the Cold War, to achieve influence and impact for Britain far exceeding resources expended. This compelling new history will have wide appeal to all readers interested in intelligence and its crucial impact on naval policy and operations.

Alexander Milne was the pre-eminent naval administrator of the Victorian Royal Navy, spending eighteen years at the Admiralty between 1847 and 1876, over six of them as First Naval Lord. His administrative career coincided exactly with the greatest technological upheaval in warfare at sea since sails supplanted oars, and he played an important role in almost every step of the Navy's transformation from sail to steam, wood to iron, and in the equally critical processes of devising a modern system of recruiting and training enlisted personnel, and evolving a coherent strategy suitable for a steam-powered fleet. This collection is drawn from a rich documentary record of Milne's and the Board's labours during the late 1840s and 1850s. It also encompasses Milne's earlier sea service, furnishing a unique glimpse of the maritime policing operations of the Navy during the Pax Britannica.