Pirates & Privateers: Histories of Navies around the World

Naval commanders, like most leaders, have a natural tendency to control via centralization. Yet many naval engagements, most famously Nelson’s at Trafalgar, are won through the commander’s willingness to decentralize command and trust the instincts of his subordinates. Decentralization succeeds when the commander thoroughly educates his subordinates before each engagement so they can act instinctively to carry out his intentions, rather than await orders that may be impossible to see or hear during the “fog of war.”

History professor Michael Palmer examines the processes and technologies of more than four centuries of naval command, as well as the key leaders and battles of each period. Whether wind, steam, or nuclear fuel power a fleet, the universal constraints of warfare remain to be tamed by how the leader chooses to command that fleet. Written fighting instructions lay out the recommended techniques in several possible situations. Yet battles have been lost when subordinates miss, misinterpret, or misunderstand signals from the flagship; at their worst, situations may call for a signal not conceived of in the fighting instructions.

Rapid advances in communications have had several contradictory results in naval command. While officially espousing decentralized control, the U. S. Navy since World War II has used radio and satellites to monitor war progress from headquarters and effectively micromanage both tactics and operations. U-boat captains during World War I received wireless telegraph messages from central German commanders who coordinated their movements, but such signals were subject to enemy interception. Thus, the very technology that could give them superiority over their foes became unreliable or even dangerous at crucial mission times.

Those commanders who were slaves to the classical centralized model utilized the well-ordered line-ahead formation, executed only pre-planned maneuvers, and deviated only upon one of several discrete flag signals communicating the commander’s wishes to the fleet. In contrast, decentralizers, such as Horatio Nelson, imparted their tactical wishes to their subordinates and were able to yield control during even a pell-mell mêlée and expect success.

Ship captains and pirate captains both have the same goal: using the unique talents of their crews to best advantage to achieve victory at sea. Command decisions are critical whether the prize is booty or an enemy nation.

Professor Palmer’s thorough research and extensive footnotes do not get in the way of telling a spellbinding history through the eyes of those who stand on the decks of some of the most famous ships of the past. A dozen battle maps and an extensive index enhance the text’s usability.

Hitler’s Secret Pirate Fleet
by James P. Duffy
University of Nebraska, 2005, ISBN 0-8032-6652-9, US $15.95

During World War II, Hitler uses two types of vessels in an attempt to cripple Britain. Most people know about U-boats, but Auxiliary Cruisers, also known as surface raiders, disrupt maritime trade and divert the Royal Navy with false radio reports of enemy raider activity. Converted cargo vessels, the raiders hide various weapons to seize and destroy any vessel except a large warship. They sail under flags of neutral or friendly nations, while those aboard alter the ship’s profile and repaint her to maintain the vessel’s disguise. After capturing a prize, they confiscate what they can use, and if circumstances allow, send her to a German port with a prize crew aboard. If not, they sink her. Prisoners are housed aboard the raider and treated well.

Although the tactics of these raiders mirror those of pirates, Duffy points out that those who serve aboard these vessels are neither pirates nor privateers, but loyal members of the German navy. Before firing the first shot, they reveal their true identities as German warships. These accounts of nine raiders include Atlantis, the first and most successful raider; Orion, whose travels equat to five circumnavigations of the world; Widder, whose captain is only one of two naval commanders convicted of war crimes; Thor, the only raider to complete two tours of duty; Komet, which attacks an enemy land base; and Michel, the last German warship in operation.

This book is not for pirate fans per se, but for those who want to see how others take the tactics pirates use and implement them during war. Those interested in World War II naval operations will also want to read these accounts. Each chapter includes a map showing the locations of where prizes are taken, and short sidebars that relate events elsewhere related to the war. Appendices provide the raiders’ original names and German identities, technical data (length, beam, tonnage, etc.), and their armament and war records. Also included are a photo essay, information on a controversy regarding the Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, a bibliography, and index. The only drawbacks to the narrative are the tendency to repeat Japanese treatment of prisoners turned over by the surface raiders in and near the Pacific and the inclusion of the same sidebar in different chapters. The book does end on a high note, though, with a recounting of the sea battle between Stier, Stephen Hopkins, and Tannenfels.

Cover Art:
Sailors, Ships and Sea Fights

Sailors, Ships and Sea Fights
Proceedings of the 2022 ‘From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815’ Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail Conference
edited by Nicholas James Kaizer
Helion & Company, 2024, ISBN 978-1-804513-44-6, US $49.95 / UK £29.95

The late 17th century to the 19th is a time of science, reason, and understanding. This Age of Enlightenment inevitably leads to the Age of Revolution. In both spheres, the world’s navies play a role, and this book examines naval history during this period from the points of view of Britain, France, Italy, and Spain. The essays examine operations in Europe and North America, naval administration, and naval social history and biography. The subjects on which the thirteen contributors write are often aspects rarely elaborated upon in volumes that study naval history in greater depth.

Venetian and ‘Auxiliary’ Vessels in the Second Morean War: Failures and Successes of a Mediterranean Navy in the Age of Sail (1714-1718) by Mauro Difrancesco

Spanish Use of Sea Power, 1731-1748 by Albert C.E. Parker

From Ferrol and Flanders: Bourbon Seaborne Support for the 1745 Jacobite Rising by Albert C. E. Parker

An Unsung Success: The French Flying Squadron in the Atlantic, 1793-1795 by Olivier Aranda

The Royal Navy in American, 1767-1771: Trade, Public Order, and the Halifax Naval Yard by R. N. W. Thomas

The Nile That Wasn’t: D’Estaing, Barrington, and the Battle of St. Lucia, 1778 by Thomas Golding-Lee

Unprepared and Unaccountable? The Historical Significance of the Loss of His Majesty’s Sloops Peacock, Boxer, and Epervier, 1813-1814 by Nicholas James Katzer

Antwerp: Britain’s Achilles Heel by Paul Leyland

Anson’s Legacy: The Man Who Built a Navy, 1751-1762 by Andrew Young

‘Ships wanting in the whole’: Navy Dysfunctions at the Beginning of the Seven Years War by Joseph Krulder

War and Peace: Trends in Royal Navy Courts Martial, 1812-1818 by Andrew Johnson

Seamen, Safe Houses, and Secret Service: A British Counsel’s Recruiting for the Navy, 1795-1808 by Jim Tildesley

‘Discovered Going to the 74 in a Small Boat’: Black Pilots and Maritime Opportunity Aboard HMS Poictiers, 1812-1813 by Andrew J. Lyter

Safe Moored’: Greenwich Pensioners in Perception and Reality by Callum Easton

Sailors, Ships and Sea Fights is the 121st title in the From Reason to Revolution series. The book is divided into four parts, each concentrating on different aspects of naval history. Scattered throughout are illustrations, maps, tables, and figures. Each chapter includes footnotes and a selected bibliography. The book is indexed generally and according to ships mentioned by the authors. There is also a brief Comparison of Ranks that covers the British Royal Navy, France’s Marine du Roi and later Marine Nationale, Spain’s Real Armada, as well as the Republic of Venice.

Although of primary interest to readers of naval history, readers seeking information on less-covered aspects of naval history will enjoy these informative and interesting contributions.