Thesiss

James IV, who ruled Scotland from 1488 through 1513, created a large naval establishment, acquiring or having built some twenty ships which he used to enforce his domestic and international policies. He used his navy to bring royal control to the Western Isles, and it was with s…

The Franks in the Levant during the era of the Crusades brought with them a culture built around the owning of land and terra firma military exploits. Naval power was not something they fully understood, or even recognized as a need. To them, ships were tools for assisting with …

Rebels haven’t always been sexy. In fact, throughout history “fighting the power” has often revealed the ugliest side of human nature. Of course, sometimes rebellion is necessary, even if it isn’t pretty, but it should never be considered lightly. So, under what circumstances is…

This project explores a set of limited maritime conflicts in the Pacific and their effects on the creation of the U.S. “New Navy”: The United States military’s first substantive peacetime expansion, c. 1882-1898. It does so in an effort to understand how technological shifts and…

“Self Defense and Sea Power: The Provincial Navies of the British Atlantic World, 1689–1763,” explores the ways in which Anglo-American colonial governments in North America and the West Indies managed naval defense during imperial and border conflicts between the late seventeen…

This project examines the life of my grandfather, John Robert McGowan, fondly known to me as Pop Pop. His stories follow him through a childhood growing up in the Great Depression in a working class family, to serving in the U.S. Navy in World War II, and to working three jobs i…