Trade defence

Pre-war plans for trade defence had assumed that the German threat would come from cruisers, supplemented by armed liners. For this reason the Royal Navy had retained many old cruisers that required large crews. Cruisers had the advantage that they could remain at sea for longer than destroyers, and the twenty-six light cruisers completed during the war were useful additions to the fleet. However, large... 

John Buckley, The RAF and Trade Defence 1919-45 Constant Endeavour (Keele University Press, 1995), esp. pp. 97, 101-6, 128-30, 166-8 John Buckley, Air power and the Battle of the Atlantic , Journal of Contemporary History, 28 (1993), 141-61 ... 

Buckley, John, The RAP and Trade Defence Constant Endeavour, Keele University Press, 1995. 

Wood is one of the oldest constructional materials. Historically it was important in world exploration and trade, and the defence of that trade, in the provision of merchant ships and navies. It was also important in the early days of railway engineering and in building construction. Although in many applications wood has been replaced by other materials, this renewable resource now supports the growing industries of manufactured wood products. Prominent amongst these are the panel materials chipboard, flake-board, strandboard, plywood and blockboard, hardboard and softboard, wood-cement products and the products of the very large pulp and paper industries. 

For the services attitudes, see John Buckley, Contradictions in British defence policy 1937-1939 the RAF and the defence of trade , Twentieth Century British History,... 

Economics and politics also intersected in Whitehall s perception in 1956 of the Soviet Union as a threat to Britain s share of international trade. In May of that year, when arguing that Britain could not afford a policy of perfection in defence, Eden noted that there was evidence that the Russians intended to concentrate on industrial exports. In order to be able to meet this competition, part of the burden placed on British industry by defence orders must be reduced, so as to release resources for civil production. In present circumstances, he said, economic failure was a more serious risk than global war, and defence plans had to be adjusted to this revised political assessment. He added that a recent report from the ambassador in Washington showed that President Eisenhower was thinking along the same lines.The Russians made no secret of their intentions. In November 1957 Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, declared in a visit to the United States in the peaceful field of trade we declare a war. The threat to the United States is not in the intercontinental ballistic missile but in the field of peaceful production. We are relentless in this and will prove the superiority of our system. ... 

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