New Britain, New Navy

Available for over a year

Lord West concludes his history of the Royal Navy in the twentieth century by examining the period since the end of Empire. He covers decolonisation, the coming of nuclear technology to the Royal Navy and inter-service battles. He looks at the Navy's focus on the North Atlantic in the late Cold War and the part played by the submarine service and Royal Marines in that theatre. And he explores modern social history: the effect of nuclear weapons on society, and the changing roles of women and gay service men and women in the Royal Navy. Lord West served in the Falklands War, and tells the story of that conflict, including the dramatic and rarely told effect it had on the end of the Cold War, and other navies around the world. Producer: Giles Edwards.