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
Eleven Months to Freedom
A German POW's Unlikely Escape from Siberia in 1915
Eleven Months to Freedom recounts the daring World War I escape of German midshipman Erich Killinger. Falsely accused of bombing a railway station after crashing his plane at sea, he was sentenced to life in the Sakhalin coal mines.
Shipped by rail with several other POWs across Russia, Killinger was determined to return home. In order to do this, though ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Rules of Game
Jutland and British Naval Command
Foreword by Admiral Sir John Woodward. When published in hardcover in 1997, this book was praised for providing an engrossing education not only in naval strategy and tactics but in Victorian social attitudes and the influence of character on history. In juxtaposing an operational with a cultural theme, the author comes closer than any historian yet to explaining what was ...
Available Formats: Softcover
A Century of Carrier Aviation
The Evolution of Ships and Shipborne Aircraft
Available for sale only in the U.S. and Canada. Exceptions made for USNI Members.
Written by a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Royal Navy and an award-winning historian of naval flying, this book provides a masterly overview of the history of aviation in the world's navies down to the present day. Heavily illustrated from the author's comprehensive collection ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
The British Pacific Fleet
The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force
In August 1944 the British Pacific Fleet did not exist. Six months later it was strong enough to launch air attacks on Japanese territory, and by the end of the war it constituted the most powerful force in the history of the Royal Navy, fighting as professional equals alongside the U.S. Navy. How this was achieved by a nation nearing ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Warships of the Great War Era
A History in Ship Models
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich houses the largest collection of scale ship models in the world, many of which are contemporary artifacts made by the craftsmen of the navy or the shipbuilders themselves, ranging from the mid-seventeenth century to the present day. Treated as historical evidence, they offer far more detail than even the best plans or the finest ...
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
Aircraft Carrier Victorious
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 represented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. Intended to provide a permanent reference for the Admiralty and the dockyards, these highly detailed plans ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Utmost Savagery
The Three Days of Tarawa
Marine combat veteran and award-winning military historian Joseph Alexander takes a fresh look at one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. His gripping narrative, first published in 1995, has won him many prizes, with critics lauding his use of Japanese documents and his interpretation of the significance of what happened. The first trial by fire of America's fledgling ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Joshua Barney
Hero of the Revolution and 1812
Little has been published about the life of Baltimore’s Commodore Joshua Barney, a man who earned a commission in the nascent Continental Navy, sailed as a privateer, and served as a commodore in both the French and American navies. Louis Norton’s biography scrutinizes Barney's colorful life and critically analyzes events that forged his character.
Available Formats: Softcover