Books from the Naval Institute Press are the backbone of Naval Gazing, and every year they run a major sale in November and December, the best time of the year to build out a naval library. Unfortunately, this year's sale is significantly worse than previous years, with no free shipping and the half-off only applying to a selected set of books, which you will need to use the code HOLIDAY at checkout to get. But that's still a lot of the stuff you would want, and it's as good a time as any to take a look at their catalog and see what they have available. Note that if you decide to venture off the Holiday and Clearance lists, there's a substantial discount for being a USNI member, and the $42/year web membership can pay for itself pretty quickly.

First, there are new releases in the past year, all of which I think should be in the holiday sale. Highlights are the 2025 Seaforth World Naval Review, by far the best publication if you want an up-to-date state of the world's navy, Aircraft of the Royal Navy since 1908, by David Hobbs, the leading expert on RN aviation, Jellicoe's War by Nicholas Jellicoe (grandson of the Admiral and a nice guy) about John Jellicoe's time as First Sea Lord, a new book on the RN in the Cold War, The Origins of Aegis, about the weapons system that has proved itself in the last year and a new technical book on the British Fiji class. Also worth noting is a reissue of D.K. Brown's classic Rebuilding the Royal Navy. Read more...

Reader Quanticle has reviewed a recent report, Party on the Bridge, about Chinese naval command, and I asked him if I could repost his writeup here, as I thought it would be of significant interest.

American naval captains, like their British forebears, command a great deal of authority. In the US Navy, a captain is wholly and entirely responsible for maintaining the safety of their vessel, its crew, and accomplishing the missions that they are assigned. They have sole command of all aspects of their ship's operation, from watch rotations to weapons employment. This tradition of sole command is so inculcated into Anglo-American naval traditions that it is difficult for us to imagine any other way of running a navy ship. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), however, offers an alternative system. Instead of being commanded by individuals, as US and UK naval vessels are, PLAN vessels have a dual command system, where a captain and a political officer assume joint responsibility for major decisions. In their report, Party on the Bridge: Political Commissars in the Chinese Navy, Jeff Benson and Zi Yang look at this very different system of commanding a naval vessel, examine its strengths and weaknesses and highlight how it may lead to misunderstandings when US and Chinese naval units encounter each other at sea. Read more...

It is time once again for our regular Open Thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't Culture War.

Also, the USNI sale has begun, although with some different details from last year. Post coming next week.

Overhauls are Iowa part 1, The Space Force and the FAA, my review of the 45th Infantry Division Museum, Early Guided Weapons Parts one and two, Taranto and for 2023, Is This a Battleship? - A Guide for Journalists.

Over the last few years, I've been involved with a series of meetups with people from the internet, first through the Data Secrets Lox forum and then for Naval Gazing itself. And those have been a lot of fun, so I thought I'd share the lessons I and some of the other key players have learned for doing large-group (10+ person) meetups with friends from the internet.

1. Have a Base

If you like these people enough to travel long distances to meet them, then you probably are going to want to talk to them, and you need a place to do that. Having a central location where everyone goes when not doing something else encourages hanging out and makes it a lot more fun. And having everyone gathered in one place when they aren’t doing something else makes a lot of your logistics easier. Read more...

It has been seven years since Naval Gazing started up, and it is once again time to celebrate both the US Navy and the fact that I keep finding things to write about.

The big event this year was our second meetup in New England, which was amazing. Thanks to everyone who came. I'm currently planning to do next year's back at Iowa. Check back here around the start of 2025 for more details. We should have the same catering crew, and an in-depth look at the greatest ship ever built. Read more...

It's time once again for our regular Open Thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't Culture War.

I recently got a report from a friend who went by North Carolina, and he spoke quite positively of the ship. They have a fair bit open, including an engine, turret, and fire control, and the signage was good enough to get his teenage daughters interested for a while. I do hope to get there myself soon, but in the meantime, hopefully this helps anyone who is thinking about visiting.

Overhauls are LA Maritime Sites, JDAM*, In Defense of Missile Defense and for 2023, Honda Point Part 3 and Conscription.

Reader theredlamb was kind enough to contribute this writeup of Air Mobility Command Museum.

Website

Dover Air mobility command museum is a small air museum that specializes in cargo and transport aircraft. The adjacent Dover Air Force Base donates some of their aircraft, and the rest have been delivered and restored from across the country. They have a wealth of information on their approximately 40 aircraft on the signs and on info cards that are available by the gift shop. The museum mostly focuses on planes, but there are a few small exhibits and displays in the main building. Read more...

While I was in DC for the recent DSL meetup, I ended up wandering around north of the Capitol building, and stumbled across a museum I hadn't even known was there. The National Guard Foundation has a museum charting the history of the National Guard and its predecessor state militia units about a block west of Union Station. And while it's not one of DC's superstar museums, it's certainly a nice enough place to spend half an hour or so, and an excellent companion to the Post Office Museum¹ across the street.

Website

First, for those who are confused, the US Army and Air Force are broken up into three components: Active, Reserve and Guard. The Active force is what it sounds like, full-time soldiers or airmen who do the job professionally. The Reserve is also pretty much what you'd expect, people who do one weekend a month and two weeks a year, but can be called up as needed. The National Guard is like the Reserves, but instead of being controlled by the Federal government, they are controlled by the states. Sort of. Read more...

It's time once again for our regular Open Thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't Culture War.

Overhauls are Secondary Armament Part 3, Secondary Armament Part 4, NWAS Trident Part 2, and for 2023, Norway Part 13 and Honda Point Part 2.

The Suez Canal was completed in 1869, and it was hailed as a technical triumph, linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and shaving thousands of miles off the trip between Europe and most of Asia. But it was initially a failure as a business, drawing only a tenth of the expected traffic in its first year. But things slowly improved as rates were cut and more shippers found the time saved to be worth the price. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save Ismail's finances from the consequences of his borrowing binge, which by 1875 had reached nearly a hundred million pounds. Lenders were unwilling to extend further credit, so he was forced to unload his one remaining asset: his 44% stake in the Canal Company. It was expected that the French would buy it, but the British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli, saw the value of the Canal to the British Empire and swooped in to buy Ismail's share on behalf of the British government. The government didn't have the 4 million pounds required, but it quickly secured a quite reasonable loan from Lionel Rothschild, and was soon the largest shareholder in the Canal.

But the money in question was a pittance against Ismail's debt, and a year later, he was forced to accept an Anglo-French commission to run Egypt's finances, effectively handing over control of the country to its bankers. Ismail was obviously unhappy and tried to retake his country, but his ministers began to turn on him and in 1879 he was deposed in favor of his son, Tewfik. Further indignities, like forcing Egypt to sell its 15% share of canal revenues, soon ignited Egyptian nationalism, which wasn't particularly happy with either the Europeans or the Turkish/Albanian upper class that dominated politics. The results were predictable, and in 1882, things spilled over into armed rebellion. The British, increasingly dependent on the Canal, sent the fleet, which ended up bombarding Alexandria. It was followed by an Army, which swiftly routed the Egyptians and turned Egypt into a de-facto British colony, although it was still formally part of the Ottoman Empire. The French, who had declined to join the intervention, were unhappy that the Canal was now under British control, and managed to get a treaty passed that declared the Canal to be neutral and open to ships of all nations. The British were not particularly happy about this, and the neutrality language would repeatedly find itself in tension with language allowing regulation in the interest of Egyptian security.² Read more...