Innovating Victory: Naval Technology in Three Wars

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By 1944, synthetic rubber plants were producing around 800,000 tons of material annually for the war effort. Line-abreast formations were tried and discarded; ramming tactics went in and out of fashion; torpedoes and speed were heralded (by some) as revolutionary. In 1904, 1914, and 1939, navies went to war with unproven technologies and experienced steep learning curves in trying to match expectations with practical and effective use. Some of the new inventions helped the United States find the strategic goods necessary for fighting the war.

Innovating Victory: Naval Technology in Three Wars studies how the world’s navies incorporated new technologies into their ships, their practices, and their doctrine. Victory can hinge on a navy’s ability to quickly apply a new or superior technology directly against a weakness of its opponent on one hand while mitigating the enemy’s technological advantages on the other.The way navies integrate new technology varies according to differences in national resources, force mixtures, priorities, policies, perceptions, and missions. O’Hara thanks his family—daughter Yunuen, son Vincent, and wife Maria—for their past and ongoing support, while Heinz thanks his wife Meg, daughter Julia, son David, and granddaughter Maggie, who loves technology but prefers Minecraft to mines. Modern naval technology is the sum of the of the elements involved in the invention, development, production, and use of specialized weapons, tools, and platforms.

Ship propulsion evolved from sail to steam, and fuel from coal to fuel oil to nuclear; guns progressed from muzzle-loaders to automated 8-inch cannons; mechanical fire control was invented and elaborated. Since the conflicts of the 1970s and 1980s, as networked and distributed systems, drones, artificial intelligence, and directed energy and magnetic weapons have come into use or development, there has not been a single case of peer-to-peer combat between major navies. In 1914 the battle instructions of the British fleet specified tactics that were similar to those of a century before, at least in their most distilled form.Having made these observations the authors nevertheless do make some broad statements on current capabilities.

For mines, torpedoes, and radio, this is the Russo-Japanese War; for submarines and aircraft, World War I; and for radar, World War II.Where the text refers to aircraft, it includes both aircraft relying on engines to remain airborne (airplanes) and aircraft relying on buoyant gases (airships).

Highly recommended for anyone wanting to better understand the implementation of historic naval innovations.The historical analysis is very structured, with each technology analyzed across three phases, its discovery, exploration, and exploitation. Just about anyone can sell a book, but a professional bookseller knows the ins and outs of the rare book trade.