Lord West explores the Royal Navy's three battles between the wars.

The three opponents were a new department in Whitehall, communists in Russia, and the Navy's oldest foe - the Treasury.

The First World War left Britain reeling, economically devastated and with massive social dislocation and a generation scarred, both physically and psychologically, by the conflict. The country was on the back foot, and the Royal Navy was, too.

The Navy's formidable new capability - its air arm - was taken away and handed to the newly-formed RAF. Constant raids by the Treasury were initially rebuffed, but eventually took their toll. And a perception grew up that the pre-war arms race had caused the war, and that the Navy had caused the arms race, and there was little outrage when the size of the navy was fixed.

But alongside these battles in Whitehall, in international negotiations, and for the hearts and minds of the British public, the Navy also had a proper war to fight.

For almost a year after the end of the First World War, the Navy - together with other British and allied troops - fought a war in Russia against the 'Red Army' of the nascent Soviet Union.

Largely forgotten today because the exhausted troops were eventually withdrawn, the war nevertheless gave Estonia its first taste of independence.

Producer: Giles Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Lord West looks at how the Royal Navy won the First World War.

The Royal Navy's role in winning the conflict has often been overlooked - drowned out by the new and savage reality of industrial warfare on the western front, and the tragic romance of the imagery and war poetry which surrounded it.

Yet the Navy's role should not be underestimated, and in this programme Lord West looks at the greatest naval battle of the war - Jutland - and its dramatic impact on the war.

Jutland was a great strategic victory for the Royal Navy, but largely because of truly terrible PR afterwards, many to this day regard it as a defeat. It was part of the reason for the growing disconnect between the nation and its navy.

Yet the outcome of Jutland influenced more than just public sentiment. It forced the German military to confront the reality of their situation: that the Royal Navy's blockade could not be broken by their own fleet, and would in time strangle Germany into submission.

The result was unrestricted submarine warfare: Germany's only chance of victory, but itself carrying the risk of bringing the United States of America into the war on the Allied side.

When the USA did join the war, troops poured into Europe, but the most significant impact was on that three year old blockade, tightening it to a point that strangled Germany and won the war for the Allies.

Producer: Giles Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Lord West looks at the Royal Navy's strategy for winning the First World War.

How in the early years of the war did it fail to bring its might to bear?

The First World War represented a major change in British strategy towards wars on the European continent. Historically Britain had stood off from continental conflicts, funding armies there but otherwise letting the Royal Navy exert its power at sea.

But now with British and imperial armies fighting across Europe, the Royal Navy was reduced to transporting troops, escorting convoys and, with the exception of some small victories mopping up German commerce raiders around the world, an inglorious policy of distant blockade.

While the Grand Fleet was kept in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, the only real attempt to fundamentally alter the balance of power was opposed by many in the Navy, went down in history as a catastrophic failure, and remains to this day one of the war's great 'what ifs'.

Producer: Giles Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Lord West looks at how a revolution in naval technology transformed ideas of warfare, contributed to the arms race and laid the foundations for victory in the First World War.

During the early years of the 20th century, one man dominated the Royal Navy. Admiral Sir 'Jacky' Fisher revitalised the Mediterranean fleet, pressed for social reform and promoted the introduction of torpedoes and submarines.

And in 1904 Fisher finally achieved a lifelong ambition, becoming First Sea Lord and professional head of the Royal Navy. Now he was able to develop new technology even faster. His crowning achievement was HMS Dreadnought, a battleship so powerful that it effectively made every other warship in every other navy redundant.

With Britain's navy pre-eminent, to level the playing field like this was dangerous. And it was to play a part in the pre-war arms race, but Britain's victory in that arms race would also make possible victory in the war which followed.

Lord West discusses Fisher's contributions, not least to the history of world oil. For it was he who persuaded a young Winston Churchill to convert the Royal Navy to oil power - altering the arc of history in South Wales, whose coal industry went into decline; in the Middle East; and around the world.

Producer: Giles Edwards

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.

Admiral Lord West tells the story of the Royal Navy during the 20th century, when through political, social, technological and economic turmoil, the Navy's fortunes mirrored those of Britain.

The Navy in the decade before the First World War was vast, a truly globalised organisation, defending British interests around the world. At home it was the bulwark against invasion and had such a powerful hold on the British imagination that images of sailors - of Jack Tar - sold everything from cigarettes to postcards.

Reform would come only with two titans of the era - Winston Churchill and, first, Admiral 'Jacky' Fisher.

Naval history in fifteen parts

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2014.