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
Torch
North Africa and the Allied Path to Victory
World War II had many superlatives, but none like Operation Torch—a series of simultaneous amphibious landings, audacious commando and paratroop assaults, and the Atlantic’s biggest naval battle, fought across a two thousand mile span of coastline in French North Africa. The risk was enormous, the scale breathtaking, the preparations rushed, the training inadequate, and the ramifications profound.
Torch was the ...
Torch was the ...
Available Formats: Softcover
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
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
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
Struggle for the Middle Sea
"The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940-1945"
Available for sale only in the U.S. and Canada. Exceptions made for USNI Members.
The Mediterranean is the maritime crossroads where Europe, Asia, and Africa meet. More major naval actions were fought there than in the Atlantic or Pacific yet remarkably little has been written about the subject. Th is fresh study of the Mediterranean’s naval war analyzes the actions ...
Available Formats: Softcover
U.S. Navy Against Axis
"Surface Combat, 1941-1945"
The U.S. Navy against the Axis tells the story of the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet in World War II with an emphasis on ship-to-ship combat. The book refutes the widely-held notion that the attack on Pearl Harbor rendered battleships obsolete and that aviation and submarines dominated the Pacific War. It demonstrates how the surface fleet played a decisive role at ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Submarine!
Welcomed as the first book about American submarines in World War II to be written by a man who actually fought them, this compelling personal account of the war beneath the sea firmly established Edward L. Beach's reputation as a writer in the early 1950s. Given the survival rate of those in the silent service, it is a story many ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Sense of Honor
A fascinating portrayal of a gung-ho first classman's campaign to shepherd an unprepared plebe through the Academy's complex and unforgiving ethos. It stands as a testament to those whose devotion to duty, honor, and country is only strengthened by their willingness to question it.
Available Formats: Softcover
Fields of Fire
Hailed as the most important novel to emerge from the Vietnam War when first published in 1978, this book launched a spectacular writing career for James Webb that now includes four bestselling novels. A much-decorated former Marine who fought and was wounded in Vietnam, Webb tells the story of a platoon of tough, young Marines enduring the tropical hell of ...
Available Formats: Softcover