"This book explores innovation within the Royal Navy from the financial constraints of the 1930s to war, 1939-45, the Cold War, and on to the refocusing of the Royal Navy after 1990. Successful adaptation to new conditions has been critical to all navies at all times, and to naval historians the significance and process of change is not a new area of study. The technical requirements of war at sea have focused attention on changing naval technology for many years. However, in recent years innovation has been increasingly studied within a number of other disciplines, providing new theoretical positions and insights. War at sea is a highly complex process which demands the integration of technology with many other social processes for successful innovation.

This book aims to examine case studies of innovation, some successful, others less so, which place the experience of the Royal Navy within a variety of economic and strategic contexts. They explore the impact of technology, politics, organization and economics on the process of innovation. Together these studies will provide new insights against which to set recent ideas on innovation and provide a stimulus to more research by historians and scholars in other disciplines."--Jacket.