Entering service between 1937 and 1939, the ten British “Town” class cruisers were the most modern vessels of their type in the Royal Navy when World War II began. Built in response to large 6-inch gunned cruisers in the U.S. and Japanese navies and primarily designed for the defense of trade, they saw arduous service in a wide range of ...
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British Town Class Cruisers
"Southampton and Belfast Classes: Design, Development and Performance"
Available Formats: Hardcover
Otto Kretschmer
The Life of Germany's Highest Scoring U-boat Commander
Otto Kretschmer was only in combat from September 1939 until March 1941 but was Germany's highest-scoring U-boat commander, sinking 47 ships totaling 274,333 tons. This definitive work details his personal story and the political backdrop from his earliest days.
After completing his officer training and time on the training ship Niobe he served aboard the light cruiser Emden. In December ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Schnellboote
A Complete Operational History
The Kriegsmarine’s Schnellboote—fast attack boats or E-boats to the Allies—were the primary German naval attack units in coastal waters throughout the Second World War. Operating close to their various bases they became a devastatingly effective weapon in nearly all the Kriegsmarine’s theaters of war, from the Baltic to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was in the English Channel ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Hitler's Forgotten Flotillas
Kriegsmarine Security Forces
This study of the Kriegsmarine’s Sicherungsstreitkräfte, their security forces, fills a gap in the study of the German navy in World War II. This book describes the wide array of vessels including patrol boats, minesweepers, submarine hunters, barrage breakers, landing craft, minelayers, and even the riverine flotilla that patrolled the Danube as it snaked towards the Black Sea. These vessels ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Cruiser Birmingham
Detailed in the Original Builders' Plans
The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the “as fitted” general arrangements, these drawings documented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service.
Today these plans form part of the incomparable collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Target Hiroshima
Deak Parsons and the Creation of the Atomic Bomb
For better or worse, Navy captain William S. "Deak" Parsons made the atomic bomb happen. As ordnance chief and associate director at Los Alamos, Parsons turned the scientists' nuclear creation into a practical weapon. As weaponeer, he completed the assembly of "Little Boy" during the flight to Hiroshima. As bomb commander, he approved the release of the bomb that forever ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Fight for the Air
Allied Air Battles in World War II
This epic air story of World War II is a powerful, poignant cross-section of the global air conflict from the perspective of British and American pilots. The author artfully weaves the historical backdrop with the pilots' accounts of one-on-one dogfights, dangerous bombing missions, and narrow escapes. Whether recounting the dark days of the Battle of Britain or the far-flung operations ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Burning of Washington
The British Invasion of 1814
With all the immediacy of an eyewitness account, Anthony Pitch tells the dramatic story of the British invasion of Washington in the summer of 1814, an episode many call a defining moment in the coming-of-age of the United States. The British torched the Capitol, the White House, and many other public buildings, setting off an inferno that illuminated the countryside ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Sisterhood of Spies
The Women of the OSS
The daring missions of America's World War II intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), are the stuff of legend, yet the contributions made by the 4,000 women—including Julia Child and Marlene Dietrich—who served in the OSS are largely unheralded. To tell their fascinating stories, McIntosh, a veteran of sensitive OSS and CIA operations, draws on her own experiences ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Fast Carriers
The Forging of an Air Navy
This classic study is considered essential reading for its analysis of fast aircraft carrier development in WWII. It provides a fascinating record not only of the U.S. Navy's metamorphosis from a battleship-oriented to a carrier-centered fleet, but also of the heated debates that took place over the changing naval strategy. With an insider's grasp of the famous individuals involved, award-winning ...
Available Formats: Softcover