Call for Papers - Naval Dockyards Society 31st Annual Conference
Posted: Wednesday 9th September 2026
Event Date: Saturday 20 March 2027
Location: Hybrid - Online & National Maritime Museum, Greenwich
Organisers: Naval Dockyards Society
The Naval Dockyards Society (NDS) identifies July 1937 as the beginning of the Asia-Pacific War, December 1941 extending the Sino-Japanese war into a wider Indo-Pacific Ocean war involving Britain, the United States, Australia, the Netherlands and Norway, and critically embedding Royal Navy dockyards and logistical infrastructure. This interpretation challenges the narrative of the Pacific War as a solely American operation and emphasises British and Australian logistical transformation of base infrastructure around Sydney.
This conference highlights the indispensable contribution of merchant navies and their sailors and the global shore-based infrastructure to the Allied victory. All proposals relevant to the Conference theme will be considered, particularly including the following.
Conference proposals could address:
· Evaluating the status of Singapore, Hong Kong, Trincomalee, Bombay, Colombo and other Indo-Pacific bases in 1937–41
· How the Sino-Japanese war 1937–41 affected British naval planning and logistics
· How the Royal Navy’s China Station was destabilised, 1937-42
· How Singapore Dockyard prepared for the possibility of Japanese war
· Appraising the scale and challenges of supplying ammunition, fuel, repair facilities and personnel to the Indo-Pacific Fleets in the Second World War
· Evaluating the effect of the collapse of Hong Kong and Singapore on the Indian Ocean infrastructure
· Assessing the effectiveness of Colombo, Trincomalee, Bombay and Simon’s Town in sustaining the Eastern Fleet following the collapse of Hong Kong and Singapore
· Assessing Dutch naval involvement, surface and submarine, at Colombo, Fremantle and Sydney
· Evaluating the role of international merchant navies and their sailors, such as those of the Netherlands and Norway
· How the Royal Navy was transformed from a fleet supported by imperial bases in Singapore, Hong Kong and Ceylon into a fleet operating against Japan sustained from Australia
· Appraising the WW2 transformation of Sydney Harbour’s infrastructure and the role of Mobile Naval Air Bases (MONABs)
Presenter information
If your proposal is accepted, you will present in-person or online. NDS shall refund UK/European travel fares to the conference (or travel from a UK airport to Greenwich), your fee, lunch, and contribute to accommodation, publish your paper in NDS Transactions (https://navaldockyards.org/transactions/) and give you a copy. Your talk will be c.35 minutes, the printed paper 6–10k words, due 31 June 2027.
How to submit your proposal
Send your title, a 300-word synopsis and a 100-word biography by 16 October 2026 or earlier to Roger Bendall roger@rogerbendall.com and Dr Ann Coats avcoatsndschair@gmail.com N.B. The proposal should present original research.
Download Full Call for Papers here.
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