Cover

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pp. 1-1

Frontmatter

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pp. 2-7

Contents

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pp. vii-viii

Illustrations

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pp. ix-xii

Conversion Tables

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pp. xiii-xiv

Series Foreword

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pp. xv-xviii

Water is unquestionably the most important natural feature on earth. By volume, the world’s oceans compose 99 percent of the planet’s living space; in fact, the surface of the Pacific Ocean alone is larger than that of the total land bodies. Water is as vital to life as air. Indeed, to test whether the moon or other planets can sustain life, NASA looks for signs of water. ...

Foreword

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pp. xix-xxii

Ultimately, logistics is about combat power. Today, seaborne logistic support is a well-established and indispensable enabler for achieving sustained reach, freedom of maneuver, and operational flexibility in maritime operations—the hallmarks of any genuine blue water navy. ...

Acknowledgments

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pp. xxiii-xxiv

There are a number of people who have helped me during the course of writing this book, for whom I would like to record my sincerest gratitude and appreciation. ...

Introduction

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pp. xxv-xxxii

When peace returned to the Pacific in August 1945, both Britain and the United States were deploying the most potent fleets ever created.¹ It was not just the sheer numbers either. The necessary flexibility to win a war stretching across vasts oceans had required a unique capacity for sustaining huge combat fleets at sea for lengthy periods many thousands of miles from their shore bases. ...

Abbreviations

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pp. xxxiii-xxxiv

1. Naval Logistics, 1900–1940: Historical Perspective, Political Context

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pp. 1-20

Any nation’s strategic foreign policy reflects a myriad of often conflicting perceptions and interests even within their own elites—particularly financial, economic, diplomatic, or military—as well as other domestic or external pressures. For brevity’s sake, the following strategic overview is confined to the naval perspective as it related to the Pacific during the interwar period. ...

2. World War II: The Fleet Train Comes of Age

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pp. 21-46

This chapter charts the progress of both the U.S. and British navies in developing mobile logistic support during World War II. This war would require a new type of expeditionary warfare using carrier task forces that would have to operate for long periods away from any base. ...

3. Underway Replenishment at Sea (UNREP/RAS)

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pp. 47-76

Chapter 2 described the key to achieving mobility and endurance by using fleet trains replete with mobile bases for floating medical, repair, and salvage facilities that could also act as staging posts to transport fuels, aircraft, and all forms of supplies to the carrier task forces in the battle zone. ...

4. Postwar Logistics: Turning Practice into Procedure

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pp. 77-108

Logistically speaking, the primary impetus for strategic change in how global wars could be waged at sea during the first half of the twentieth century was the switch in ship propulsion from coal to oil. The implications for endurance, efficiency, ship displacement, and, ultimately, war-fighting capability were significant and far-reaching. ...

5. Fleet Sustainability and Its Effect on Auxiliary Ship Design

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pp. 109-134

When looking at the general attributes of either the Royal Navy or the U.S. Navy by the end of World War II, arguably their most outstanding capabilities could be characterized as mobility, flexibility, and sustained high-intensity striking power. These were the legacy of their struggle to achieve strategic flexibility and sustainable air-offensive capability, ...

6. Strategic Mobilization: The Case for Reserve Fleets

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pp. 135-160

With both navies at their peak strength by the end of World War II, the most immediate postwar challenge was to arrest the momentum and decelerate their complex machinery in an orderly and planned way. As the Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO) of the U.S. Navy put it, “We could not choose the time and circumstances of our mobilization. ...

Images

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pp. 161-181

7. Fleet Mobility: Tactical Development, 1945–1953

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pp. 182-216

Despite the effects of demobilization and increasingly severe operational budgets, the challenge for the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy was how to deploy tactically their most effective forces at the right level, mix, and capability to meet constabulary obligations and yet be ready for any potential high-intensity maritime threats. ...

8. Conclusion

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pp. 217-226

This book has suggested that the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy had neither the need nor motivation during the interwar period, or for that matter even in the early years of World War II, to foresee the full strategic and logistic ramifications of carrier-based air support for amphibious landings in the Western Pacific. ...

Appendix A. U.S. Naval Train Squadron, 1926

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pp. 227-262

Appendix B. BPF/Fleet Train: Planned and Actual Strengths, 1941–1946

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pp. 228-229

Appendix C. Admiralty Plans (Q) Division, 1944

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pp. 230-265

Appendix D. Pacific Ocean Distances (miles

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pp. 231-266

Appendix E. Task Force 37, BPF, July 13–August 20, 1945

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pp. 232-267

Appendix F. The BPF Fleet Train in the Pacific, December 1944–January 1946

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pp. 233-235

Appendix G. Replenishment Formations, 1946

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pp. 236-271

Appendix H. Royal Navy Cruising Disposition during Replenishment, 1947

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pp. 237-272

Appendix I. Replenishment at Sea Liquids Transfer Rig Comparisons

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pp. 238-240

Appendix J. Replenishment at Sea Solids Transfer Rig Comparisons

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pp. 241-242

Appendix K. USN Logistics Plans Division OP-12, 1944

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pp. 243-278

Appendix L. USN CNO Organization, 1945

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pp. 244-279

Appendix M. USN CNO Logistic Agencies, 1942–1946

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pp. 245-280

Appendix N. USNWC First-Year Logistics Course, 1947–1948

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pp. 246-247

Appendix O. Naval Staff Admiralty, 1949

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pp. 248-283

Appendix P. Naval Staff Admiralty, January 1952

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pp. 249-284

Appendix Q. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, 1947

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pp. 250-285

Appendix R. RFA Tanker Plan, 1946

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pp. 251-286

Appendix S. Proposed USN Postwar Fleet Dispositions, November 1945

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pp. 252-253

Appendix T. U.S. Navy Force Levels, 1945–1955

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pp. 254-289

Appendix U. RN Naval Estimates: Personnel, Active, and Reserve Fleet Statistics, 1945–1955

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pp. 255-256

Appendix V. Royal Navy Fleet Train Deployed during the Korean War

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pp. 257-292

Appendix W. USN Organization Chart for the Operating Forces, 1947

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pp. 258-293

Appendix X. Mobile Logistic Support: Related Doctrine Manuals

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pp. 259-260

Notes

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pp. 261-292

Glossary of Replenishment Terms

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pp. 293-294

Bibliography

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pp. 295-312

Index

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pp. 313-320

About the Author

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pp. 356-359

After retiring from Barclays Bank International in 1994, Peter V. Nash studied naval history for his master’s degree at King’s College, University of London. In 2006 he was awarded his doctorate degree, also from King’s College. He has spent several years researching archives in the United States and the United Kingdom on naval logistics, ...