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
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
Torpedo Junction
"U-Boat War Off America's East Coast, 1942"
In 1942 German U-boats turned the shipping lanes off Cape Hatteras into a sea of death. Cruising up and down the U.S. eastern seaboard, they sank 259 ships, littering the waters with cargo and bodies. As astonished civilians witnessed explosions from American beaches, fighting men dubbed the area "Torpedo Junction." And while the U.S. Navy failed to react, a handful ...
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
Proudly We Served
The Men of the USS Mason
Few Americans know the history-changing story of the men of the USS Mason, the only African-American sailors to take a World War II warship into combat. At a time when most blacks in the Navy were relegated to stewards or laborers, the crew of the USS Mason escorted six convoys across the perilous North Atlantic, helped to win the ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Spy Sub
A Top Secret Mission to the Bottom of the Pacific
Spy Sub is the acclaimed story of the secret mission by the USS Viperfish to find a lost Soviet submarine armed with nuclear missiles in the great depths of the Pacific Ocean. This mission is still classified by the U.S. Department of Defense, nearly 50 years after the event. Moving silently beneath the Soviet ships searching on the surface, the ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Fight For The Sea
Naval Adventures from World War II
This collection of popular naval stories covers the entire span of World War II, beginning when Britain's Royal Navy faced fascist forces on its own until the final Allied victory over the Japanese in 1945. It offers a rich mixture of stories about such large and well-known battles and operations as the Battle of the River Plate, Pearl Harbor, and ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
British Fiji Class Cruisers and their Derivatives
The Fiji-class, often called the “Colony” class, cruisers were a class of eleven light cruisers of the Royal Navy that saw extensive service throughout World War II. They were an attempt to incorporate the characteristics of the preceding “Town” class within the reduced 8,000-ton limit agreed under the 1936 London Treaty. In general layout, Colony class resembled the earlier ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
The U.S. Naval Institute on Naval Strategy
In the U.S. Navy, “Wheel Books” were once found in the uniform pockets of every junior and many senior petty officers. Each small notebook was unique to the Sailor carrying it, but all had in common a collection of data and wisdom that the individual deemed useful in the effective execution of his or her duties. Often used as a ...
Available Formats: Softcover
The Battle of Leyte Gulf at 75
A Retrospective
Often appropriately described as the “greatest naval battle in history,” the battle of Leyte Gulf (23–26 October 1944) was actually a series of battles in which both sides exhibited courage and resourcefulness yet suffered from confusion born of poorly conceived command relationships and ineffective communications. Marked by awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, brilliant deception, flawed strategy, effective tactical planning, great controversies ...
Available Formats: Softcover