The Postwar Fleet (Hardcover)

Captain Jeremy Stocker

ISBN 10: 1916931219 / ISBN 13: 9781916931213

Published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd, Woodbridge, 2026

About this Item

Hardcover. A revealing documentary account of how Britain struggled to shape a modern navy amid Cold War pressures, rapid technological change and relentless financial constraint.The Postwar Fleet Vol 2 reproduces key documents relating to the planning of Britain's postwar Navy from the period 1950-1957, as the Government tried to reconcile worldwide requirements with severe financial constraints. It begins in June 1950 with the outbreak of the Korean War, which marks the end-point of Volume 1. This event overturned many previous planning assumptions and initiated a short-lived programme of rearmament. Succeeding years saw an almost annual cycle of what were, in effect, fresh defence reviews as the Ministry of Defence and the Admiralty tried to match resources and force levels to continuing commitments. Planners also had to respond to the increasing influence of technological change, especially nuclear weapons, computers and guided missiles.The volume concludes with the publication of a major Defence Review in April 1957 which marked the beginning of a new, post-Suez Operation, phase in British defence policy. A revealing documentary account of how Britain struggled to shape a modern navy amid Cold War pressures, rapid technological change and relentless financial constraint. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781916931213

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Postwar Fleet (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, Woodbridge
• Publication Date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1916931219
• ISBN 13: 9781916931213
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

A revealing documentary account of how Britain struggled to shape a modern navy amid Cold War pressures, rapid technological change and relentless financial constraint.


The Postwar Fleet Vol 2 reproduces key documents relating to the planning of Britain's postwar Navy from the period 1950-1957, as the Government tried to reconcile worldwide requirements with severe financial constraints. It begins in June 1950 with the outbreak of the Korean War, which marks the end-point of Volume 1. This event overturned many previous planning assumptions and initiated a short-lived programme of rearmament. Succeeding years saw an almost annual cycle of what were, in effect, fresh defence reviews as the Ministry of Defence and the Admiralty tried to match resources and force levels to continuing commitments. Planners also had to respond to the increasing influence of technological change, especially nuclear weapons, computers and guided missiles.

The volume concludes with the publication of a major Defence Review in April 1957 which marked the beginning of a new, post-Suez Operation, phase in British defence policy.

About the Author

Dr Jeremy Stocker is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute. He served as a Warfare Officer in the Royal Navy for 20 years, specialising in air defence, before transferring to the Royal Naval Reserve in 1996. Captain Stocker has seen active service in the Persian Gulf (1990) and in Afghanistan (2006). He retired in 2016. Jeremy's PhD was awarded by the University of Hull in 2003 for a thesis on British policy towards ballistic missile defence. His second book, Architects of Continental Seapower: Comparing Tirpitz and Gorshkov was published in 2021.