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
Atlantic Escorts
"Ships, Weapons and Tactics in World War II"
Winston Churchill famously claimed that the submarine war in the Atlantic was the only campaign of the World War II that really frightened him. If the lifeline to North America had been cut, Britain would never have survived; there could have been no build-up of U.S. and Commonwealth forces, no D-Day landings, and no victory in western Europe. Furthermore, the battle raged from the first day of 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
Before the Ironclad
"Warship Design and Development, 1815-1860"
When first published in 1990 Before the Ironclad was highly regarded and wholly unique. Brown’s work challenged old assumptions and started a reevaluation of British contributions to naval developments of the period. This book traces the transition from sail to steam power to the construction of the HMS Warrior, the first iron hulled warship, and this new edition will ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Voyage to a Thousand Cares
"Master's Mate Lawrence with the African Squadron, 1844-1846"
In 1844 the USS Yorktown sailed from New York, as part of the U.S. Navy's newly established African Squadron, to interdict slave ships leaving the African coast. Aboard the sloop of war, Master's Mate John C. Lawrence, an educated New Yorker in his early twenties, kept a private journal describing what happened during the extraordinary two-year voyage and his reactions ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral
"Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal"
This is the first paperback edition of the revisionist work about Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, who won his battles at sea but lost the war of public opinion. A surface warrior, Fletcher led the carrier forces in the Pacific that won against all odds at Coral Sea, Midway, and the Eastern Solomon’s. Despite these successes, during the post-war Fletcher had ...
Available Formats: Softcover
First Team
Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
Hailed as one of the finest examples of aviation research, this comprehensive 1984 study presents a detailed and scrupulously accurate operational history of carrier-based air warfare. From the earliest operations in the Pacific through the decisive Battle of Midway, it offers a narrative account of how ace fighter pilots like Jimmy Thach and Butch O'Hare and their skilled VF squadron ...
Available Formats: Softcover
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
First Team and Guadalcanal Campaign
Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942
From huddled command conferences to cramped cockpits, John Lundstrom guides readers through the maelstrom of air combat at Guadalcanal in this impressively researched sequel to his earlier study. Picking up the story after Midway, the author presents a scrupulously accurate account of what happened, describing in rich detail the actual planes and pilots pitted in the ferocious battles that helped ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Atlantic Escorts
"Ships, Weapons and Tactics in World War II"
Winston Churchill famously claimed that the submarine war in the Atlantic was the only campaign of the World War II that really frightened him. If the lifeline to North America had been cut, Britain would never have survived; there could have been no build-up of U.S. and Commonwealth forces, no D-Day landings, and no victory in western Europe. Furthermore, the battle raged from the first day of the ...
Available Formats: Softcover