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The true origin of the Dardanelles
This article first appeared in Fighting Times A warship sinking at the Dardanelles 1915. Inaccurate accounts I have for many years been...
rdfreeman987
1 day ago6 min read
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Churchill’s apprenticeship
This article first appeared on the History Press website. Churchill with Admiral of the Fleet John Fisher outside the Admiralty in 1915....
rdfreeman987
Jul 82 min read
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Midway: Luck or Judgement?
Few decisive battles have been so indecisive in their early stages. Fewer still have turned on a bare five minutes. Even fewer battles...
rdfreeman987
Jul 76 min read
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Fisher and Beresford: The clash of the titans
When Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Fisher announced his resignation as First Sea Lord in November 1909 the Navy lost its greatest ever...
rdfreeman987
Jul 412 min read
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Be Very Afraid! - Invasion scare novels and their political influence, 1871-1914
This article first appeared in Soldiers of the Queen (Winter 2021) For a period of around 40 years, from 1871 to 1914, British booklovers...
rdfreeman987
Jun 2733 min read
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Invasion scare novels 1871-1914
This article first appeared in Soldiers of the Queen in 2021. The determination to scare For a period of around forty years from 1871 to...
rdfreeman987
Jun 2431 min read
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Did public opinion make Pearl Harbor possible?
(Blog piece for History Today . Jan 2013.) In December 1941 most Americans refused to believe that the Japanese would mount a surprise...
rdfreeman987
Feb 142 min read
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Midway: the overlooked battle
For many of us the Battle of Midway is just one more Hollywood spectacular in, to paraphrase Neville Chamberlain, a far-away sea of which...
rdfreeman987
Feb 133 min read
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Jacky Fisher - a naval genius
An earlier version of this article appeared in Victorian Military History 2014. Jutland 1916 At 7.17 pm on 31 May 1916 Admiral Reinhard...
rdfreeman987
Jun 28, 202420 min read
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Greatest Hero Debate
This is the text of my contribution to a 'Greatest Hero' event at the National Maritime Museum on 17 October. 2011. Patrick Bishop argued...
rdfreeman987
Jun 13, 20249 min read
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