ISBN:
184486037
Publishers:
Conway, an imprint of Anova Books
Price
£6.99
Publication
Date: September 2006
Publisher's Title Information
‘A
true seaman is always ready to act in time to avoid injury to his ship or his
shipmates, or to himself. He does the
right thing as he has learned how the sea behaves…treat your ship as a personal
friend - after all, you have to live together’
A
Seaman’s Pocket Book, June 1943
At
the height of the Second World War this small pocket-book, outlining all the
basic tasks a seaman needed to know to perform his duties efficiently, was
issued to all ratings on board ships of the Royal Navy.
Emphasising
the need for all seamen to have 'sea sense', the handbook, in straight period
prose, explains the terms, skills and conventions of shipboard life; a life
that required a common language and where failure to respond to orders
instantly could mean the difference between life and death.
With
an introduction by one of Britain's leading maritime historians, this
reproduction is a real mixture of wartime nostalgia and historical
authenticity.
Faithfully reproduced, with a short introduction by Brian Lavery, which explains the importance of a book like this to a navy that had to take on vast numbers of civilians or Hostilities Only men to meet the manning needs of the war, this volume provides a real mixture of wartime nostalgia and historical authenticity. It makes a world now lost to us accessible again, explaining as it does the terms, skills and conventions of ship board life, a life that required a common language, and where failure to respond to orders instantly could mean the difference between life and death.
The book is sure to appeal to those who served in the war as well as the current generation who are becoming increasingly interested in the role their grandparents, fathers and uncles played during that time.
Brian Lavery was, until recently, Curator of Naval History at The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and is a renowned expert on the sailing navy. He has written a number of best-selling titles on maritime history and his latest work - Churchill's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation
1939-1945.
Review
A Seaman’s Pocket-Book
In his Introduction Brian Lavery refers to the Manual of Seamanship, a revised edition of which was published 1932-1937. I have a copy of Vol I reprinted in 1942, priced 7s 6d (38p). I also have Vol II which is BR 67 (2/51) reprinted 1956. My Royal Navy certificate of service records 15 March 1963, passed professionally for Leading Seaman and 19 October 1962
issued BR 67 (II). This is a little confusing as the dates are out of order.
Why and how did this much smaller version come about? It seems it was because of the shortage pf paper, plus the need to train up hostilities only seamen ratings.
By the time I joined we all issued with
BR (1938) Naval Rating handbooks. I
have a 1965 copy, not the smaller one I was issued with in 1962. I suspect that the Seaman’s Pocket Book was
very welcome at the time because it is such a handy size - it really is for a
pocket measuring in old money, 49/10 x 74/10. I would have been very glad of a copy had it
been available for us in 1956. I want
to set you a test, can you describe or explain the following:
Marry the falls?
What is a Lug-less joining shackle?
What is a Blake Slip?
Where would you find a Fairlead?
Where would you have found Robinson’s
disengaging gear?
How many bells would have been rung at
0300 hrs? What are rowlocks and crutches?
Answers are not required on a postcard,
talk amongst yourselves at 'Stand easy'!
Enough, enough, perhaps it reminds you of
times gone that you would rather forget, I doubt it because we remember the good
times.
If you still mess about in boats or love
to read Naval books this could be very handy.
I certainly like the quote on the rear cover, "Jumpers.... must be pulled
down to the full extent. Bulky things
must not be stored in the pockets: They
cause an unsightly bulge, and are apt to fall out". Presumably since females now go to sea this will need an
amendment!
A super little book, a friend who was an
HO rating in 1944 said he not issued with one but always wanted one, perhaps at
80 it’s a little late!
Rob Jerrard
Churchill's
Navy The Ships, Men and Organisation 1939- 1945
Author:
BRIAN LAVERY
ISBN:
1844860353
Publishers:
Conway, an imprint of Anova Books
Price
£40
Publication
Date: 2006
Publisher's Title Information
A
full account of all aspects of the Royal Navy - social and technical - during
the Second World War.
Contemporary paintings, photographs and line drawings from naval manuals and Admiralty fleet
orders.
Presented in full-colour throughout in Conway's large reference format.
In this timely follow-up to his best-selling Nelson's Navy, Brian Lavery has turned his attention to the Royal Navy of the Second World War.
Delving into all areas of the Royal Navy, Lavery casts a lucid eye over
the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation that was put under acute strain
during the war period, yet rose to the challenge with initiative and
determination. The merits of technological advances in ship design, armament
and sensors as well as the endurance of naval customs and tradition are all
discussed and set in context.
Churchill's Navy is essential for anyone who wants to cut through the myth and propaganda to understand the reality of life in the Royal Navy during those crucial years.
Part
1 The Navy in 1939 The Navy in 1939
Part
II The Background to Naval Power My Lords of the Admiralty
Admirals
and Fleets
Intelligence
and Communication
The
Arts of the Seaman
Logistics
Part
III Enemies and Allies Enemies
Allies
The
Merchant Navy
Other
Services
PART
IV The Ships Ship Design
Shipbuilding
Engines
Armament
Sensors
Fittings
V
The People The Administration of Naval Personnel
Naval
Medicine
Naval
Law and Discipline
Naval
Custom and Tradition
Part
VI Officers and Ratings Officers
The
Higher Rates
Jack
Afloat and Ashore
Engineers
and Others
The
Royal Marines
The
Wrens
Part
VII The Battle Fleet Ships in the Battle Fleet
Life
in the Battle Fleet
The
Fleet in Battle
Naval
Bases
Naval
Aviation Aircraft Carriers
The
Personnel of the Fleet Air Arm
Aircraft
Aircraft
Techniques and Tactics
Squadrons
and Bases
Part
IX The Submarine Service The Organisation
Submarines
Submarine
Techniques
Part
X Escorts Escort Vessels
Life
in the Escorts
Escort
Techniques
Escort
Bases
Part:
XII The Coastal Navies Coastal Forces
Mine
Warfare The Patrol Service and Harbour Defence
Part
Amphibious Warfare Combined Operations Personnel
Landing
Vessels Combined Operations Techniques
Review
Why Churchill's Navy? When
Churchill took office again as First Lord of the Admiralty on the first day of
the Second World War, a famous signal went out to the fleet: 'Winston is back'.
Before I begin, let me say
that the title should read 'The Ships, Personnel and Organisation'. The Title is, inter alia, 'Men', yet it has
a chapter on 'The Wrens' and a photograph of one on the rear cover. Only yesterday I had a conversation with two
men, who said that both their wives had been WRN Boats' Crews in WWII. "Join the Wrens and Free a Man for the
Fleet" There were also the shipyard and
dockyard workers who supported them.
Where would you begin to
review a book of this magnitude?
Whatever your particular interest you will find a section covering
it. Working through the main twelve
headlines, which are sub-divided up to a total of fifty, indicated the task
ahead of me, which pales into insignificance compared to that of the
author.
We must of course start with
the navy in 1939, which had dipped somewhat since the beginning of the
twentieth century from being on the crest of a wave into the hard times of
1918-1922 and having the 1922 Treaty forced upon it at Washington. This didn’t end there, because the treaty
was reaffirmed in 1930.
In 1931 the crew of several
ships of the Atlantic Fleet mutinied against pay cuts, which would bear hardest
on long-serving seamen. I well remember
discussing this with retired RN seamen in the pubs at Portsmouth in the late
50s and early 60s and they were still angry.
Part 1 of this book explains
the lead up to WWII in some detail and it is worth reading thoroughly to
understand how the Royal Navy stood at the brink of war. So how was it? How stood Nelson’s Navy,
would he have been proud of what they had done to it?
“The fleet that went to War in September 1939 consisted of 129,000
officers and men, supplemented by 73,000 reservists. Including Australian and
New Zealand forces it had 317 operational warships, consisting of 12
battleships and battlecruiser, 8 aircraft carriers, 58 cruisers, 100 fleet
destroyers, 101 escort vessels and 38 submarines.
Its record in the inter-war
years was not one of failure. The enormous spirit of the Royal Navy had been
maintained through many tribulations. It was a much more flexible organisation
than in 1914, both tactically and in its ability to take new personnel and
ideas. All this would be reflected in its "-wartime performance”.
As a member of the HMS ST
Vincent Association I found a reference to that Establishment in Part VIII,
“Candidates were selected by interview and stiff medical examination. They were
sent to HMS St
Vincent at Gosport for initial training, under the watchful eyes of
Chief Petty Officer Wilmott ‘of the yellow fangs’ and the bloodshot and
unremitting eye and a voice like a rusty winch, and Petty Officer Trim who had
been twenty years a postman and was not relishing his recall to the
colours. ( Sea Flight, Hugh Popham A
Fleet Air Arm Pilot’s Story William Kimber 1954) They learned naval discipline
in the same way as all new recruits, by foot drill. They were trained in a
certain amount of seamanship, for they had to co-operate with ships and report
on enemy activities. They also learned about the navigation and the theory of
flight before being sent on to flying training. They were also finally,
selected for further training as a pilot or observer”.
This book really is a must
for anyone interested in the Royal Navy of this period.
Rob Jerrard
The
author
Brian
Lavery was, until recently, Curator of Naval History at The National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, and is a renowned expert on the sailing navy.
He
has written a number of best-selling titles on maritime history including
Nelson's Navy, now in its twelfth reprint, the highly successful Jack Aubrey
Commands and The Island Nation.
The Aircraft Carrier
Victorious
Edition: 2004
Author: Ross Watton
ISBN: 0851779964
Publishers: Conway Maritime
Price £25.00
Publication Date: 2004
I served in HMS Victorious
from 2 April 1963 until 9 August 1964, so it was a great pleasure to receive
this book for review. 
She had a long and
distinguished career starting on 4 May 1937 when she was laid down until
1969. Having survived WWII,
modernisation began on 23 October 1950 but was not completed until January 1958
when she appeared with the familiar 984 radar that was to figure largely in my
life aboard as an RP2 (Radar Plotter 2nd Class).
The
purpose of the modernisation was to bring the carrier up to the required state
for operating the much faster and heavier jet fighters which were being brought
into service by the 1950s. It was
thought cheaper to modernise an existing carrier than to build from scratch.
The Admiralty instituted a 9-year modernisation plan in 1948. With the start of
the Cold War, Russia had become the main threat, but it seemed unlikely that a
war would break out before 1957. Victorious was chosen as the best candidate
from the Illustrious class for such a refit, although Formidable was originally
provisionally selected. Implacable and
Indefatigable were also scheduled for similar modification in 1953-55 and
1954-57 respectively, and Indomitable for conversion to a deck landing training
ship in 1957. With the new Eagle and
Ark Royal due for completion during the first half of the 1950s, the Royal Navy
would be equipped with five fleet carriers by 1957.
Pilots joined with their
aircraft. I joined by a slightly slower
method. We did join for the same
reason; because of aircraft. I was
involved with controlling them. She was
the first ship and the only one of three to be fitted with the 984 3D Radar and
comprehensive display system (CDS) which revolutionised aircraft control. As an RP2 I was an 'Intercept Officer’s
Assistant'. We worked as a team of two
on these new displays and controlled one aircraft - a Buccaneer by my time, and
we would place the aircraft in a perfect attacking position. 984 was certainly ahead of its time and I
recall one conversation by radio with a US Navy pilot refusing to believe we
had him on radar at that distance and what’s more we knew his exact
height. It was only after he changed
height and we confirmed it that he believed us.
Model makers will consult
this book looking for the finer details.
However, those who join a ship will immediately concern themselves about
the accommodation and food. On Page 86
at D6 a drawing of a ‘three-tier bunk’ fitted after modernisation is shown, I
occupied a middle section (some of the time).
However the messdeck number does not come to mind and I have been unable
to trace it from the very detailed drawings of the layout at D3 and D4. If only I could remember the number, was it
20?
Catering is discussed. I recall it was of a very high-class in
Victorious with a cold buffet served at lunchtime, including whole dressed
salmon.
Pages 16-19 give a career
summary. Needless to say this summary
is very brief – the period of my entire commission is summed up in a few words.
There are some magnificent
photographs of Victorious (the Mighty V or Vic for short) and those on Pages 18
and 19 taken in 1959 are stunning, as is the 1966 shot of her arriving in
Valetta, Malta. The one of her in Fareham
Creek stripped of all fittings is very sad – the end of a long career. There are some photographs on my website at http://www.rjerrard.co.uk/royalnavy/vict/vict.htm
The technical drawings are
in amazing detail. I could spend hours
trying to pinpoint certain parts of the ship which occupied my time
onboard. Even the boats are covered by
detailed drawings. She carried one of
my favourites, the 35-foot fast motorboat which I crewed and for which I was
later Coxswain, also the 27-foot whaler and the Pinnace.
There have been other books
on Victorious eg 'HMS Victorious 1937-1969' by Neil McCart, which details each
commission with facts. However if it is
technical detail you seek, this Anatomy of the Ship Series’ will be the one you
want and Victorious does not disappoint.
Happy Days.
Rob Jerrard
The
44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution "Old Ironsides"
Author:
Karl Heinz Marquardt
ISBN:
1844860108
Publishers:
Conway Maritime
Price
£25 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2005
'Old
Ironsides', as the USS Constitution is affectionately known, acquired her
nickname during the dramatic confrontation with HMS Guerriere in 1812, during
which the enemy's shot failed to penetrate her strong oak hull. By this time
she was already fifteen years old. As one of the six original frigates ordered
by George Washington on 27 March 1794, she and her sisters represent the birth
of the US Navy and she occupies a special place in its history.
In
1954 President Eisenhower signed into law the repair and restoration of
Constitution as a museum vessel, and she has remained one of the major visitor
attractions of the Boston National Historic Park since its inception twenty
years later. In this brand new addition to the well-established and highly
popular 'Anatomy' series, the author has compared draughts from the
twentieth-century restorations with original plans from 1796 and drawings from
her major refit in the 1840s, to produce, for the first time, an accurate set
of plans for the frigate as she would have appeared during the Anglo-American
War.
A
full description of one of the United States' most famous historic preserved
ships in her 1812-1815 appearance
More
than 250 perspective and 3-view drawings, with in-depth descriptive keys, of
every detail of the ship - general arrangements, hull construction, fittings,
masts and yards, rigging and sails, and armament Pictorial section showing
full-view and on-board photographs
One
large-scale plan on the reverse of the fold-out jacket
A
complete anatomy of the ship in words, photographs and drawings.
From
the Author’s Forward
Putting
pen to paper to tell the story and explain the lines and details of all
existing ship might look like a breeze (and in some cases it is), but it
becomes an obstacle course when trying to envisage only the fighting 'teenage
years' of a ship. The period under
observation goes back to the years of opposition between the young United
States Navy and the British Royal Navy around 1812, when USS Constitution was a
glorious war-horse. Her 1812
appearance does not match that experienced by present-day visitors aboard the
surviving snip. Not only does her
exterior appearance differ, but also many of the 'original pieces' - pumps,
anchor-chains, capstans etc. - are from a later period of the ships life.
Early
major overhauls were purpose driven to update fighting capacity, to turn her
later into a Navy Academy training vessel and at the end into a receiving
ship. The idea of reconstructing an old
pump, oven or capstan would have sounded absurd during that period; they were
replaced with available new and more modern items. It was neither practicable nor fashionable for a commissioned
ship to utilise a restored turn-of-the-century stern or capstan and our modern
desire of reliving history just did not exist.
In reality it would be much easier to reconstruct a complete 1812-1815
replica of 'Old Ironsides' from keel to
truck rather than trying to re-shape her many times-repaired surviving hu11
into that specific time-frame, but would it be the same,
With
draughts only known from her planning stage of around 1796 and others from her
major overhaul before the 1844-45 circumnavigation, today's
Drawings
were established in 1927 and later, in short during twentieth century
reconstructions. They provide the
actual lines of the ship and the status of stern and head as they appeared when
the new drawings were made. Every
additional part of the reconstruction of the ship in her sailing days must be
considered like any other restoration: it has to be seen as an individual
interpretation of known facts, whether general or specific, which means that
there are many possible interpretations. In this we have to include the current
sail plan, rigging arrangements, the boats and many other items.
In
defence of the ship's current status as a museum ship in the Boston National
Historic Park, it must be acknowledged that it is much easier to bring
individual thoughts to paper than to apply them three-dimensionally to an old
hull. Even with the final goal being an
1812 likeness, what can be achieved is determined by construction and financial
restraints. Keeping the ship afloat has
priority- over any alteration of details towards a specified period. This should be understood when considering
why this jewel of the US Navy is still, even after the latest reconstruction
efforts, not a mirror image of her youthful years when she earned her popular
nickname 'Old Ironsides'.
Karl
Heinz Marquardt is an internationally acclaimed draughtsman who contributes
regularly to Conway's modelling quarterly Model Shipwright and has written 18th
Century Rigs & Rigging and The Global Schooner, along with two other
Anatomy of the Ship volumes on Cook's Endeavour and Darwin's Beagle, for the
Conway list.
The Series
This
highly acclaimed series aims to provide the finest documentation of individual
ships and ship types ever published. It
is a radical departure from the usual monograph approach, which concentrates on
either the ship's service history, its technical details or external
appearance. All of these aspects are
included in the Anatomy of the Ship', but what makes the series unique is a
complete set of superbly executed line drawings - the conventional 3-view type
of plan as well as explanatory perspective views with fully descriptive
keys. Although elaborate drawings are
extremely popular in aviation publications, this is the first attempt to
document ships in similar depth - literally down to the nuts and bolts.
These
drawings are accurate, visually exciting and totally comprehensive, offering
ship buffs, historians and model makers a novel insight into the technicalities
of each ship type covered.
The jail that went to Sea.
|
Author: |
Peter Haining |
|
ISBN: |
1-86105-561-7 |
|
Publisher: |
Robson Books |
|
Price: |
£16.95 |
|
Publication Date: |
Hardback, 2003 |
Fly sheet Summary
In 1941 the British people
had their backs to the wall in their lone fight against the might of Hitler's
Germany. America was neutral and the violent and dangerous underworld of
Glasgow became the starting point for one of the most amazing and, until now,
untold episodes of the war.
This is an extraordinary
account of the most unlikely crew ever to take a ship to war. Government
officials, desperate for men to sail merchant ships across the Atlantic to
collect vital equipment and supplies from North America, devised a plan to
enlist convicts from Barlinnie Prison and use them to crew a 25,000-ton
merchantman, the George Washington. This unprecedented and dangerous operation
was probably the nearest thing to press gang tactics since the days of Lord
Nelson. Quite simply a choice of death or glory, this book relates the
extraordinary story of a motley band of seaman through the accounts of two
survivors, the log and memories of Captain David Bone and documents finally
de-restricted by the Public Records Office in London.
Reviewer's Comments
Like many ex-navy people I
enjoy reading books about the sea, but with the emphasis generally being on
books about the Royal Navy. When asked to review this book I thought it would
prove to be very interesting, as it would give me more of an insight to life in
the merchant service during the Second World War.
By the summer of 1941
Britain was suffering merchant ship losses at a rate of loss equivalent of 7
million tons/year - we were losing them at three times the rate we could build
new ones! Then Roosevelt came up with the Lend-Lease agreement but with proviso
that ships need to be manned by British crews. With our manpower losses
mounting the government surreptitiously began scouring the prisons to enlist ex-cons
to crew some of these vessels.
Although I found the book to
be interesting reading it, sadly, failed to fully live up expectation. This was
because it dealt more with the onshore antics of the anti-heroes (a small band
of five Bridgeton, Glasgow hoodlums), rather than being a true seafaring story.
It also inferred that there were many other ex-cons recruited, but provides no
detail on any of these.
The book covers the
activities of the five 'Bridgeton boys' from mid-August 1941 when they left
Barlinnie Prison and were coerced (press-ganged?) into joining the merchant
service - to mid-March 1942 when the George Washington, the ship they had
joined, was handed back to the Americans. During this period, the only time
they spent at sea was the few weeks on the voyage out to Halifax, Nova Scotia
on the Pasteur and two short 120-mile trips to New York — one to carry out sea
trails, the other to return the worn out liner back to the Americans.
In between the five
hoodlums, on full pay from the British government, created mayhem in Halifax,
then Montreal and to a lesser extent in New York. While in New York, two of the
infamous gang of five, McCormack and McCourt, jumped ship - and were never
heard of again! The other three then caused so many problems on the return leg
to Halifax that they were kicked out of the boiler room and put on to other
duties. They also plotted to mutiny and take the ship to South America but the
skipper, aided by the crew (including some stokers from HMS Manchester) quickly
knocked this plan on the head. After the ship was handed back the other three
then disappeared and were also never seen again. The whole episode ended up
being a massive waste of British money!
During the voyage out to
Canada the ship did have an amazing escape when, halfway across the Atlantic,
it came under surface gunfire from U402. It managed to evade the shelling
efforts of the subs gun crew and eventually the skipper gave up the chase and
turned away towards home - apparently the U-boat had used up all its torpedoes
on earlier victims.
The story is based on
unfinished research carried out by a famous historian (W.O.G Lofts) and
completed by Haining, who seems to be better known for his editing of horror
anthologies and writing of Dr Who stories. The book dwells rather heavily on
some of this historian's research material and most of the onshore activities
of our ant-heroes are based on the recollections of a few of the other crew
members.
Interestingly, Haining
mentions a British destroyer - HMS Manchester - that was being repaired at the
League Island, Philadelphia yard at the same time as the conversion work was
being carried out on the George Washington. As mentioned earlier Captain Drew,
the skipper of Manchester had loaned Captain Bone some of his engine-room staff
for the brief journey back to Halifax, but the ship in question must have been
the Southampton-class cruiser - not a destroyer. I had only recently finished
reading a super book - Destroyer's War by AD Divine - 
which covered the exploits
of HMS Firedrake and the other destroyers of the 8th flotilla. She
sustained severe damage to her boiler room from a 500Kg bomb while involved in
the same Malta convoy as Manchester. They accompanied each other across to the
US for repairs - Firedrake to Boston and Manchester to Philadelphia.
Footnote:
The George Washington was
given a major refit by the Americans with new oil-fired water tube boilers and
converted to being a US troop carrier. Over the next three years she made
numerous successful runs to the Far East carrying up to 5,000 US troops. On one
visit to Bombay she was berthed near a British armed merchant cruiser - HMS
Circassia. The commander of this ship was none other than Captain Bone, who was
now nearing 70 but was still holding down a very senior position in the
merchant service.
Mike Welfare
Book Reviews Editor’s Note
Mike is correct about HMS
Manchester, which was a Southampton Class Cruiser. She arrived in Philadelphia 23rd September 1941,
according to George Luscombe who served in the ship and wrote an account in
"Total Germany", 
published in 1999 by The Pentland Press Ltd. Manchester’s repairs finished 27th
Feb 1942 and she returned in March to Portsmouth Dockyard to finish
repairs. She was sunk 13th
August 1942.
Rob Jerrard
The Age
of The Galley
Edition:
Paperback 2004
Author:
William James
ISBN:
0851779557
Publishers:
Conway Maritime Press
Price
£16.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: October 2004
For
thousands of years organised naval warfare was the exclusive preserve of the
galley. Oars provided a level of control and manoeuvrability beyond the
capabilities of the contemporary sailing ship, and not experienced again until
the era of the screw propeller. Precise control allowed squadrons and fleets to
operate together, as a unit, which promoted the evolution of early fighting
tactics. However, for fleets to be more effective than collections of
individual vessels, they needed training and organisation, from which the first
state-funded navies were to develop.
The
Age of the Galley charts this development from the earliest paleolithic craft,
some of which were paddled rather than rowed, to the classical trireme and its
Roman and Byzantine successors. However, as a warship the galley survived the
coming of the three-masted sailing ship and even adapted itself to gunpowder
artillery, so later chapters are devoted to the medieval and Renaissance fleets
that served the later maritime powers of the Mediterranean. The principal
historical chapters are backed by more general sections on the design and oar
systems of galleys, on the organisation and infrastructure of galley fleets,
and on non-military applications of the galley.
This
volume includes:
Paddled
and Oared Ships before the Iron Age
The Ancestry of the Trireme 1200-525 BC
The
Trireme
Hellenistic
Oared Warships 399-31 BC
Fleets
of the Early Roman Empire 31 BC-AD 324
Late
Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic Galleys and Fleets
From
Dromon to Galea: Mediterranean Bireme Galleys AD 500-1300
Merchant
Galleys
The
Naval Architecture and Oar Systems of Ancient Galleys
The
Naval Architecture and Oar Systems of Medieval and Later Galleys
Oar
Mechanics and Oar Power in Ancient Galleys Oar Mechanics and Oar Power in
Medieval and Later Galleys
The
Geographical Conditions of Galley Navigation in the Mediterranean
Economics
and Logistics of Galley Warfare Naval Installations
The
Athenian Navy in the Fourth Century BC
Title:
The Royal Navy Handbook
Edition:
1st
Author:
Produced by the Defence Procurement Agency
ISBN:
0851779522
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £14.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 2003
This
is the official MoD guide to the Royal Navy of today and tomorrow - the
definitive MoD Guide, with a foreword by Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP and an
introduction by 1st Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West.
Definitive
information on every type of vessel and aircraft and their weapons systems in
service with the Royal Navy around the globe.
The
Guide examines strategic forces, the submarine and surface fleets, naval
aviation, the Royal Marines Commandos, Royal Fleet Auxiliary and support
forces, Joint forces, naval bases and future procurement projects.
Full
specifications are given with colour illustrations and plans showing the UK's
maritime forces in unprecedented detail.
This
is a complete work of reference for the professional and enthusiast alike.
This
is a super little book - anyone interested in the Royal Navy will want a copy,
the colour photographs are of a very high quality and it is full of information
about today’s Navy. Highly recommended.
To
find out more about this and other Naval books; and to purchase a copy, go
online to www.rjerrard.co.uk and
follow the Royal Navy link, or E-mail robjerrard@aol.com
Rob Jerrard
HMS
St Vincent, Duncan 972 Class Nov 1956-Dec 1957
RN
1956 - 1968
Title: Nelson's Navy: The Ships, Men and
Organisation 1793-1815
Author:
Brian Lavery
ISBN: 0851775217
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £35 RRP UK
Publication
Date: Reprinted 2000
Cover
illustration: An original painting by Geoff Hunt depicting the Hard at
Portsmouth.
The
popularity of sea-stories set during the Napoleonic Wars bears witness to the
great romance associated with the sailing navy at the apogee of its success. Of
course, these accounts are fiction and accurate descriptions of either the
technicalities or contemporary social conditions are not their main aim, but
they whet the appetite for more information.
For
all those with this deeper interest in the workings of a great fleet, Nelson's
Navy will prove the perfect guide. The book is divided into fourteen thematic
sections which deal with the design and construction of ships; with the Navy's
central and local administration; with the training and organisation of
officers, seaman and marines; with ship administration; and with life at sea.
By means of dispassionate descriptions and personal accounts the author reveals
a world far removed from the popularly depicted poverty and cruelty of life in
the Royal Navy.
Brian
Lavery - one of the world's leading authorities on the sailing navy - has
produced a book which is truly encyclopaedic in its scope and at the same time
eminently readable. Derived from considerable original research, Nelson's Navy
is the first single-volume work to cover in such depth this vast and complex
subject, and give a clear and authentic picture of the Senior Service as a
whole. It will become an important source book for the naval historian, a
valuable reference work for the enthusiast, and a revelation to the general
reader.
Patrick
O'brian, says of the book, ‘There is no royal road to a knowledge of the Navy
of Nelson's time ... but Brian Lavery's book is the most nearly regal that I
have come across in many years of reading on the subject ... you name it,
Nelson's Navy has it.'
THE
TIMES says of it, ‘A masterpiece on life in the Senior Service under England's
favourite seafaring son.'
Your
Reviewer certainly agrees- this is a magnificent book about these times, packed
with information and illustrations. You
may read, Alexander Kent, Dudley Pope, C S Forester and others but this is the
real thing. The frontispiece is a
detail of Nicholas Pocock’s Nelson’s Ship’s, an imaginary composition depicting
five of the ships Nelson distinguished himself in.
THE AUTHOR
Brian
Lavery is one of the world's leading authorities on the sailing warship. Apart
from contributing numerous articles to magazines and journals, he edited and
introduced Deane's Doctrine of Naval Architecture 1670, the earliest full
treatise on the subject in English. He is author of the two-volume Ship of the
Line, The Arming and Fitting of English Ships of War 1600-1815 and of two
`Anatomy' volumes, The 74 gun Ship Bellona and The Colonial Merchantman Susan
Constant 1605. Nelson's Navy is the culmination of many years of research. He
is currently Curator, Ship Technology, at the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich.
Title:
The Cruiser Belfast, Anatomy of the Ship Series Edition:
IF YOU SERVED ON BELFAST YOU WILL WANT A COPY OF THIS BOOK
Author: Ross Watton
Edition Revised 2003
ISBN: 0851779565
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £25 RRP UK
Illustrations
20 b&w photos & 8pp colour
Publication
Date: 2003
Review
HMS
Belfast was the last ship I served in - she was not seagoing at that time in
1967/8, but I am still glad for that brief period in a great ship
HMS
Belfast was the largest British cruiser of the Second World War and saw
distinguished service throughout the conflict, including playing a major part
in the destruction of the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst. Today she is preserved
as an historic monument on the River Thames in London.
The
'Anatomy of the Ship' series aims to provide the finest documentation of
individual ships and ship types ever published. What makes the series unique is
a complete set of superbly executed line drawings, both the conventional type
of plan as well as explanatory views, with fully descriptive keys. These are
supported by technical details and a record of the ship's service history.
This
volume features a full description of one of Britain's historic preserved
Ships. A veteran of the battle of North
Cape in 1943
With
over 100 perspective and 3-view drawings. Accompanied by in-depth descriptive
keys.
The
Author
Ross
Watton has also written the Anatomy of the Ship on HMS Warspite.
The
Floating Prison
Author:
Louis Garneray Translated from the French by Richard Rose
ISBN: 0851779425
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: RRP UK £17.99
Publication
Date: 15th October 2003
Louis
Garneray (1783-1857) is famous as one of France's greatest marine artists. He
went to sea at the age of 13, served on board privateers in the Indian Ocean
and was captured by the British in 1806. He was confined until 1814 amongst
thousands of prisoners o£ war in the hulks, the floating prisons, of Portsmouth
Harbour.
Richard
Rose is the author of the acclaimed social history Pembroke People. He has done
extensive research into Napoleonic prisoners of war. The material he has included
with The Floating Prison is the first serious and accurate study of life on the
hulks to have appeared for many years.
Boy
Seamen who joined the Royal Navy and Trained at HMS St Vincent, Gosport,
Hampshire, (Turk Town), will remember their Training Establishment’s link with
the Hulks. Behind St Vincent was an
area known as the "French Cemetery".
The following description is given by Tom Robson in his book "Boy
Seaman RN"
"In
1908 a battleship of 19,250 tons was built at Portsmouth to become the next HMS
St Vincent, until she was scrapped in 1921.
The
first Boys Shore Training Establishment, HMS Ganges, had been operating
successfully since 1906 so it was decided by the Admiralty to open a second
establishment. This was to be HMS ST Vincent at Gosport. The Barracks at Forton
was thus designated. Forton Barracks
had been built in 1713 as a Naval Hospital.
At the outbreak of the Seven Years War in 1756 it was converted into a
Prison Camp for prisoners of the French and American Wars. The graves of the
French prisoners were behind the new Seamanship Block of 'Hawke Division'
and a detail of Boys were ordered to remove the Headstones and place them on
the perimeter wall to allow cultivation of the land.
Forton
then became the home of the Royal Marine Light Infantry for many years until
1923. The official commissioning, for the new role of Boys Training, took place
on 17th May 1927 under the command of Captain P L H Noble CVO RN "
A
Summary of the book
It
is an extraordinary account of nearly 9 Years captivity on the British prison
hulks during the Napoleonic Wars.
A
dramatic narrative of the author's captivity on board the prison hulks in
Portsmouth Harbour from 1806 to 1814.
The
book contains a Foreword, Epilogue and notes that illuminate the history of the
hulks and complement the narrative.
It
contains 16 pages of plates in colour and black and white, including.
unpublished examples of Garneray's art, with over 50 illustrations in total
The
Floating Prison, Garneray's unique account of his captivity during the
Napoleonic wars, is the remarkable record of a young man, captured at sea by
the Royal Navy in 1806, who was confined for nearly nine years with hundreds of
others in the prison hulks moored off Portsmouth.
Garneray's
lucid and sometimes grimly humorous narrative is the longest and most detailed
of the few memoirs that chronicle the world of bizarre contrasts that existed
in these hulks. Prisoners gambled, starved, fought duels, forged banknotes and
made desperate attempts to escape; they also studied, made exquisite ship
models and wrote and performed plays. Garneray began a career as an artist in
the almost impossible conditions on board, pursued his art with astonishing
determination and after his release in 1814 went on to become one of France's
greatest marine painters.
The
Floating Prison was first published in France in 1851 under the title Mes
Pontons and has ever since been accepted as an accurate account of conditions
on the hulks and of Garneray's early life. In his commentary Richard Rose
examines the story for the first time against contemporary records and reveals
unknown facts and an enigma behind the artist's narrative.
"Remember this well; on board the hulks a
prudent man never lets himself be carried away by generosity nor by any other
feeling whatsoever. You must get used to shutting your heart, your eyes and
your ears to all pity."
This
bleak advice was given to Louis Garneray in 1806 on his first day as a prisoner
of war in one of the British hulks, the former warships used as floating
prisons in Portsmouth Harbour.
The
Floating Prison is Garneray's unique account of his captivity during the
Napoleonic wars.
Original woodcuts
designed by Garneray, colour reproductions of his paintings, and illustrations
of life on the hulks introduce the reader to a great artist who was also a
notable writer. The foreword, notes and appendices by Richard Rose are
complementary to Garneray's text, reveal the true stories of French prisoners
in Great Britain and are an outstanding contribution to an unknown aspect of
maritime history in the Napoleonic era.
Rob Jerrard
Destroyer An
Anthology Of First-Hand Accounts Of The War At Sea 1939 - 1945
Author:
Edited by Ian Hawkins
Foreword
by Len Deighton
Introduction
by Rear Admiral John Hervey, CB, OBE, RN, Retd
ISBN:
0851779476 HB & 1844860086 Paperback 2005
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £19.99 HB & £9.99 Paperback
Publication
Date: HB 9th January 2004 PB June 2005
REVIEWS
The
Publishers say "No ships of the Second World War Royal Navy were embroiled
in a wider range of tasks than its destroyers. At the heart of many vital
operations, they were required to do the 'dirty work' of the navy time and time
again. From shepherding Britain's convoy lifelines across the Atlantic, to
fighting tooth-and-nail against E-boats in the Channel; from courageous inshore
work in support of beleaguered troops, to capturing the keys to hitherto
unbreakable German codes, the destroyer was always 'in amongst it' and
frequently the first into, and last out of, action."
This
is probably true, it would certainly be backed up by any "Destroyer Man"
Having
served in a Battle Class Destroyer HMS Aisne I suppose I can claim that right,
however it was Peace Time in 1967 at the end of Her life.
This
isn’t the first book to be given the title "Destroyer", Ewart Brookes
published one under that title in 1962, Arrow issued it in paperback in 1973
and 1977, this is a good read if you can find a copy, this latest
"Destroyer" is the observations of the men who served and, as such,
will provide a much more in depth study of the WW2 operations and is highly
recommended, purchase of it will also help to preserve HMS Cavalier.
Anthologist
Ian Hawkins has drawn together numerous stories from the officers and crew who
served on 'B' class destroyers and others. These, together with excerpts from
official reports and speeches, news articles, books and his own explanatory
notes, combine to produce a wide-ranging anthology whose pages bring vividly to
life the courage, stress, danger and hard routine of going to war in a
destroyer.
Whether
describing how it felt to man an antiaircraft gun against relentless aerial
assault, to race at full-speed to the aid of a blazing merchantman, or to
penetrate far up enemy-held rivers on special service, each account brings
sharply into focus many memorable personal experiences of major events at sea,
including such actions as the Battles of Narvik, Channel evacuations, the
capture of the Enigma machine, convoy JW 51 B, the sinking of the Scharnhorst,
D-Day patrols and Pacific operations, and many others. Also included are rare
insights into less famous but equally fascinating episodes, and grimly humorous
observations on the daily life and conditions endured by the destroyer crewman.
As Len Deighton states in his foreword, "If you want to know what that
generation of matchless heroes were like, Ian's book will show you." The
result is a valuable work that fills a gap in the recorded history of the war
and unforgettably impresses upon us the
Ian
Hawkins became interested in the history of the Second World War as a boy
growing up in East Anglia; his father, a Royal Navy destroyer commander, and an
uncle, a Royal Air Force squadron leader, were both killed in action. A former
civil engineer, he sustained very severe head injuries in an attack in Saudi
Arabia in 1976 and was left paralysed down one side of his body. He is now
confined to a wheelchair as a result of his paralysis. This is his fifth book.
All
royalties from the sale of this book are being donated to the Cavalier (Chatham) Trust, a "registered UK
charity" whose objective is the restoration of HMS Cavalier, the last
remaining Second World War British destroyer, currently berthed in Chatham
Historic Dockyard, as a lasting memorial to all destroyers and the special men
who served aboard them.
Review by John Whatling
They are called the
"Greyhounds of the Sea". Destroyers, fast and lethal, the protectors of
the fleet. Ian Hawkins has collected the personal recollections of those who
served in B Class Destroyers Keith,
Blanche, Boadicea, Bulldog, Beagle, Brazen, Basilisk, Brilliant, and Boreas between
1939 and 1945.
There are many other ships
mentioned both Allied and Axis and additional reminisces from members of the US
and German Armed Forces. The Merchant Navy is well represented in the
narrative, the gallant seamen who manned ships, in many cases well past their
sale by date, loaded with all the requirements of war, food to sustain us and
weapons to execute the war.
The book takes each year in
turn and leads the reader through an almost diary-like replay of events as they
occurred month by month. The experiences of the men who manned the ships are
the book, they were there and saw it all happen, additional information is only
used when necessary to make the overall picture complete.
Rear Admiral John B Hervey RN
Retd provides a prologue for each year which gives an insight to the war
situation and an introduction to the main players and the ships on which they
served. Iain Nethercote DSM leads off in 1939 by describing his days at HMS
Ganges and first ship HMS Keith and the commencement of hostilities. His
account of his time at Ganges will bring back memories to many a sailor who
passed through its gates over the years.
Reminisces of 1940 cover the
Norwegian Campaigns, operations from Dunkirk, Boulogne and St Nazaire and the
evacuation of the Expeditionary Force from France. We follow the fates of the
convoys both on the East Coast and Atlantic, the magnificent defence of
Glorious by Ardent and Acasta. Our tremendous losses at sea, both of Merchant
and RN ships did not bode well for us in the first year of the war.
If 1940 was bad, 1941
started off horrifically and our losses at sea rose sharply. We stood alone
fighting on two fronts, at home and in the Mediterranean. Seven Destroyers were
lost in a week during the evacuation of Crete and another 16 during convoys and
actions in the Med.
As we progress through the
year three significant events happened. Germany invaded Russia, Japan attacked
Pearl Harbour and HMS Bulldog captured and boarded U-110 retrieving an Enigma
machine and codebooks. The first two can be considered as the first steps to
victory, though the cost of aiding Russia as it turned out was high in ships
and men. The capturing of an Enigma machine can be thought as the turning point
in the Battle of the Atlantic. For the first time we were able to outwit the
enemy by reading their signals. Other memories of the year include working up
at Tobermory, the sinking of HMS Cormorin and a tribute to our submarines.
The beginning 1942 was not a
success. The term World War meant just that. Our ships were in action in every
ocean in the world. Our losses of destroyers rose to 48 the highest of any war
year, 26 in the Med, 8 in South East Asia, 10 in the North Atlantic and 4 in
home waters.
The losses of Merchant ships
became frightening. Convoys to home ports and Russia, often in the most savage
of weather are well documented including the tragedy that was PQ17. Not to be
forgotten are the convoys to Malta.
Beleaguered by constant air attacks, this tiny Island so necessary to
our efforts towards North Africa, almost starving and low on fuel and
ammunition continued the fight regardless of the cost.
The escape of Scharnhorst
and her sister Battle Cruisers from Brest up the Channel to Germany is retold
by John Beeley. He recalls the brave efforts to stop the enemy by MTB’S,
Swordfish and Destroyers, with attacks pressed home as close as 3.000 yards.
The bad news did not end there, the loss of HMS Curacoa when overrun by RMS
Queen Mary did nothing to help morale at the time.
The year did close on a
better note, only three days after the success of El Alamein the Allied
landings in North Africa seemed to indicate that things were beginning to
change.
Change they did, for 1943
could be considered the turning point of the war. At last enemy submarines were
being sunk at a rate that was unacceptable, 41 in May alone. This was due to
the valuable information we were receiving from "Ultra", having five
superb Support Groups to bolster the convoy escorts. Additionally, we had at
last "Closed the Gap." Long range
maritime aircraft from both sides of the Atlantic could now give air cover to
the convoys.
The Mediterranean dominated
the news for most of the year. The Axis
were finished in North Africa, our landings in Sicily and then on the Italian
mainland, led to their surrender. On a lighter note a wonderful description of
"Crossing the Line" ceremony aboard Boadicea certainly bought back
memories to me.
The arrival of
1944 certainly saw the pace hotting up. The preparations for
D-Day was foremost in the planner’s minds for
the first half of the year. This
was marred by
the tragedy of Slapton Sands, when a practice landing by LCT’S
was attacked
by nine E-Boats sustaining heavy loss of life.
Elsewhere
things were at last going our way. Convoys to Russia, some made
up of forty or
more ships were getting through. In February, Convoy JW47
delivered
250,000 tons of war material to Russia with one casualty, an escort.
In the Far
East the allies were making inroads towards Japan. Italy was now
the
springboard into southern Germany. As D-Day arrived and the biggest Armada
the world had
seen, crossed the Channel to France, the general consensus was that
the end was in
sight.
Recollections
of this year are many and pay tribute to the heroism of our ships
and the men
that manned them. We hear of the rescues of downed pilots, attacks
on ships
during and after D-Day with radio controlled glider bombs and V1 Rockets.
By the end of
the year it seemed that our enemies knew they were beaten, but
would not lie
down.
So we arrive
into 1945. The war in Europe ended on
the 8thMay and in Japan
on 15thAugust.
In the meantime we continued to lose ships on convoys and
would continue
to do so until the very last days of the war. The fighting in the Pacific
continued, as
island by island the allies fought their way towards Japan. It only
took the
Japanese six months to achieve their aims, it took the allies three years
to get it back
again.
Destroyer
losses during the war amounted to 154. The areas in which the
losses
occurred were: Mediterranean 63, Home Waters 50, North Atlantic 21,
Arctic 10,
Pacific 7 and Indian Ocean 3.
Ian Hawkins
has collated the recollections of the men who fought this war in a way
that has not
been done factually before. The stories are told without glamorisation,
yet as Len
Deighton so succinctly puts it "Here is a book which matches
and
complements that bestseller 'The Cruel Sea' "
The appendices
are full and informative, containing a history of the ships
and Naval
Obituaries amongst a wealth of other information.
I am sure this
book will in time become a classic in its own right.
John Whatling
Rescue At Sea
An International History of Lifesaving &
Coastal Rescue Craft
Author: Clayton Evans
ISBN:0851779344
Publishers Conway Maritime Press (Chrysalis
Books Group)
Price: £35 RRP UK
Publication Date: 25th Sept 2003
Published with the full support of the International
Lifeboat Federation and the RNLI.
Provides an unprecedented international
perspective on rescue at sea.
Numerous dramatic accounts of wreck, tragedy
and rescue.
Highly illustrated with photographs, scale
plans and historical engravings.
Rescue at Sea is a highly illustrated
reference and general interest book which deals with all elements of coastal
lifesaving and rescue at sea from the earliest times to the present day.
The book is broken into four principle
sections.
The first section deals with the history of
coastal lifesaving, how lifesaving organizations developed (principally in
China, Great Britain and continental Europe) and how the humanitarian ideal
would eventually spread to other parts of the world.
The second section, on the development of
rescue craft, deals with the more technical elements of coastal lifesaving and
provides a chronology of lifeboat and rescue craft design by profiling
milestones in the evolution of these vessels from the earliest pulling and
sailing lifeboats to the high-tech, high speed heavy weather motor lifeboats of
today.
The third section of the book profiles many
of the prominent countries and maritime rescue organizations now in operation;
their development, their rescue craft and their coastal operating environments.
Finally, section four provides information
on aspects of coastal and oceanic search and rescue (SAR) network, including
radio and satellite communications and the roles of aircraft and offshore
patrol vessels in the international maritime SAR structure.
Special interest chapters tell the stories
of the coastal heroes, and the tragic side of coastal lifesaving, the losses of
lifeboats and their crews throughout history. On the technical side there is a
chapter dealing with current trends in lifeboat and rescue craft design and
technology. Rescue story sidebars are featured in most chapters, these describe
some of the most awe inspiring, and harrowing, tales of rescue at sea
throughout the ages.
RESCUE AT SEA is both a reference and a
general interest book that deals with all elements of organised coastal
lifesaving and rescue at sea from the earliest times to the present day.
Since mankind first took to the sea in boats
the waters have claimed a heavy toll. For many centuries there were no organised
efforts to offer assistance to shipwrecked mariners, and hapless victims died
in appalling conditions within sight and sound of horrified bystanders ashore.
The earliest known attempts at rescue and recovery were undertaken in China
where the use of river lifeboats was first recorded in 1708. It would be more
than 50 years before such organised humanitarian efforts emerged in Europe but
in 1767 the 'Institution for the Recovery of Drowned Persons' was established
in The Netherlands while in 1774 the English took up the cause with the
establishment of the 'Royal Humane Society'.
From these early beginnings came such
organisations as the Shipwreck Institution (UK), the Societye Humaine de
Boulogne (France), the Asilo dos Naufragos (Portugal) and The Massachusetts
Humane Society (USA).
The middle history (1850s to 1950s) of
lifesaving at sea is well documented and read but here, for the first time, the
whole story, from the 1700s to 2003, is presented in one volume that
encompasses the history of coastal lifesaving, the evolution of coastal rescue
craft, and the development of a world-wide network of rescue services. Of
particular significance is the comprehensive profiling of the most prominent of
today's sea rescue organisations around the world from the Aland islands to
Uruguay.
Canadian Coast Guard coxswain Clayton Evans
has spent a decade researching, sourcing and bringing together material from
all over the world to create a reference book like none other that successfully
handles both the wonders of modern lifeboat technology and the emotive stories
of heroism and tragedy from all eras.
The Author Clayton Evans has been involved
in maritime rescue for over 20 years, working primarily as coxswain on the
Canadian Coast Guard's fast rescue craft and lifeboats along the coast of
British Columbia. He has also served on the CCG's larger ships, as a rescue coordinator
at JRCC Victoria and as a SAR instructor at the Canadian rigid hull inflatable
(RHIOT) training centre (Pacific). He holds a degree in history from the
University of Victoria as well as a Master of Laws (Maritime) from the
University of Wales, Cardiff.
A proportion of the author's royalty income
from the sales of this book has been donated to the International Lifeboat
Federation.
This is truly an International book, I feel
certain that all ex-RN will find this a fascinating book, if you spend any time
at all at sea in the Royal Navy, you cannot fail to take part in some “Rescues
at Sea” In former days we only had very small cheap cameras, these photos were
taken from HMS Chichester in 1958, with a Kodak 127, off the Welsh Coast when
we attempted to put out fire on this ship, our only method was to take a
portable pump in the whaler and play hosepipes at her, she finally sunk in tow
to harbour.
Rob Jerrard
Jack
Aubrey Commands - An Historical Companion to the Naval World of Patrick O’Brian
Author:
Brian Lavery
ISBN: 0851779468
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £19.99 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 10 Oct 2003
The
Cover illustration on the book cover is: ‘Patrick O'Brian's Dispatches for
Admiral Thornton' by Geoff Hunt RSMA. This Mediterranean scene depicts Jack
Aubrey's frigate HMS Surprise arriving with dispatches for Admiral Thornton in
the 110-gun ship HMS Ocean. (It is reproduced on the book cover by kind
permission of the artist.)
As
the Publishers tell us, “No fiction writer of the modern period has captured
the world of wooden walls, broadsides and the press gang in quite the same way
as the late Patrick O'Brian. The twenty books in the O'Brian canon, featuring
the lives and adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and his friend and confidant,
the naval surgeon, Stephen Maturin, are read and lauded across the world for
their blend of classic storytelling, historical scholarly accuracy and
consistently inspired characterisation.
In
Jack Aubrey Commands Brian Lavery, one of the most respected naval historians
of his generation, relates the naval fiction of Patrick O'Brian and C S
Forester to the real world inhabited by famous Royal Navy heroes such as Lord
Nelson, Sir Sidney Smith and Thomas Cochrane. It draws on the experiences and
activities of men such as Frederick Marryat, the founder of naval fiction, the
Austen brothers whose sister Jane created our most intimate picture of shore
life in the period, and Nelson's chaplain Alexander Scott, who also served as a
part-time spy. All these individuals and others provided inspiration for
Patrick O'Brian's character of Jack Aubrey. The historical naval facts behind
the great works of naval fiction are fully explored while the text fully
contextualises a number of key episodes and characters as well as the minutiae
of naval life in the era of Nelson, as it input forward in these enduring sea
stories.”
The
book includes a foreword by Peter Weir, director of Master and Commander.- The
Far Side of the World, where he outlines the challenges posed by, and encountered
in, the dramatisation of the O'Brian novels.
The Author Brian Lavery is Curator of Ship
Technology at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and a renowned expert on
the sailing navy.
His
other published titles include: Nelson's Navy, The Ships, Men and Organisation
1793-1815, the two-volume The Ship of the Line; The Arming and Fitting of
English Ships of War 1600-1815 and The 74-gun Ship Bellona and The Colonial
Merchantman Susan Constant 1605 in Conway's Anatomy of the Ship series.
This
is a very well written book packed with good illustrations and will certainly
appeal to many ex-RN who enjoy reading books on the age of sail, highly
recommended.
Rob
Jerrard
Title:
D-Day Ships The Allied Invasion Fleet June 1944
Author:
Yves Buffetaut
ISBN: ISBN 0851776396
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £25.00
Publication
Date: May 2004
From the eclipse of the galley in the sixteenth century until the
widespread introduction of steam This appraisal of the Normandy landings of
June 1944, history's largest amphibious undertaking, is a unique account of the
naval contribution to the Allied effort as well as a detailed analysis of the
craft involved. Buffetaut not only
examines the ships themselves, the strategic and tactical planning, the Channel
voyage, the landings on both American and British beaches, the Mulberry Harbours
and the great storm, but looks at the Allied invasion from the perspective of
amphibious operations throughout World War Two to provide a complete guide to
why, where, how and with what the Allied armies began the liberation of
occupied Europe.
With its clear and detailed listings of the fleet - landing craft,
bombardment ships, support vessels, and the Mulberry harbour ships - and
extensive illustrations, this is the best available account of the Normandy
landings.
There are some superb photographs and plans in this book that I found
fascinating, the naval bombardment plans show exactly which targets were
allocated to a particular ship. My
Uncle who was lost with the sinking of HMS Barham, also served on the Cruiser
Hawkins. At the end of my Naval career
I served on HMS Belfast; both Hawkins and Belfast were allocated targets, and
with all the TV coverage it is interesting to know which one.
This really is a great book with photographs on almost every page.
The Author:
Yves Buffetaut was a university lecturer in modern history and is now a
full-time writer and historian; his works include The 1917 Spring Offensives: Arras, Vimy, Le Chemin des Dames (Histoire et
Collections, 1997); EI Alamein (Histoire
et Collections, 1995); and Objective
Moscow! (1998).
Rob Jerrard
Title:
Warship 2004
Edition:
2004
ISBN: 0851779484
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £30 RRP UK
Publication
Date: June 2004
Contents
THE RIDDLE OF THE SHELLS:
THE TEST OF BATTLE, HELIGOLAND TO THE DARDANELLES
In the second part of his trilogy, lain McCallum
reviews the nature of the heavy shell supplied to the Royal Navy's capital
ships during the early phases of the First World War. With the notable
exception of the attack at the Dardanelles, actions at sea were generally
successful, but gunnery officers were increasingly inclined to question the
effectiveness of their projectiles.
THE MINELAYING CRUISER PLUTON
After the First World War naval planning by the
French envisaged minelaying as an important element in their strategy for
containing future German naval operations. John Jordan examines the cruiser
Pluton, the first purpose-built minelayer for the Marine Nationale.
NANIWA AND TAKACHIHO:
ELSWICK-BUILT PROTECTED CRUISERS OF THE IMPERIAL
JAPANESE NAVY
Perhaps two of the most interesting warships
constructed on the River Tyne were the cruisers Naniwa and Takachiho, built for
the Imperial Japanese Navy. Both saw action at Tsushima in 1905. Kathrin
Milanovich details their background, construction and careers.
ARMSTRONGS' CONTRIBUTION TO THE NEW UNITED STATES
NAVY
America's `New Navy' began in 1883 with the
so-called ABCD ships. Their antiquated designs were much criticized, and the
navy turned to Armstrongs for the latest practice. Peter Brook's last article
traces the influence of the Tyneside firm's cruiser drawings and, more than a
decade later, the Navy's acquisition of actual Armstrong-built ships.
A CENTURY-LONG DREAM:
SINGLE PURPOSE ENGINE SUBMARINES OF THE ITALIAN NAVY
In 2003 Italy launched Salvatore Todam, the
culmination of the nation's century-long quest to build a true underwater
warship. Enrico Cernuschi and Vincent O'Hara tell the story of the design
innovations and technological accomplishments that marked attempts to build a
single purpose engine submarine.
MINELAYER CLASS FLEMING: AN EARLY GAS TURBINE SHIP
The Swedish minelayer Class Fleming was built in 1914, laid up in 1917 and saw
little service after that date, but underwent several refurbishments. Daniel G.
Harris describes this example of extensively modernising an old hull when funds
for new ships were not available.
PROJECT 69: THE KRONSHTADT CLASS BATTLECRUISERS
Starting in the mid-1930s the Soviet Union embarked
upon an ambitious shipbuilding programme. A central element in these plans was
the construction of large cruisers, described as battlecruisers in western
publications. Stephen McLaughlin describes the tortuous design history of these
ships.
THE DAWN OF THE SALISBURY, LEOPARD AND WHITBY CLASS FRIGATES
The new first-class frigates constructed for the
Royal Navy in the mid-twentieth century embodied the hard-won experience gained
during the Second World War, and technical developments which evolved in the
immediate post-war era. George Moore describes the story of their evolution.
THE SHIPS NAMED ANZAC
The valour shown by the ANZAC troops during the
First World War is legendary. Colin Jones details the story of the four
warships to bear that honoured name in the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Navy.
NAVIES IN REVIEW
A summary of the significant naval events and
developments.
WARSHIP NOTES Short articles on interesting aspects
of worldwide warship history, heritage and research.
THE WORLD'S WORST WARSHIPS
Readers take up the challenge to comment on Antony
Preston's controversial book The World's Worst Warships.
NAVAL BOOKS OF THE YEAR
Reviews of some of the latest publications on naval
history.
Once again this year’s volume makes interesting
reading, for the second year running I have been lucky to find an article on a
class of ship that I served in, (some say on) THE DAWN OF THE SALISBURY,
LEOPARD AND WHITBY CLASS FRIGATES brought back memories of HMS Chichester 1st
Commission 1958 see 
www.rjerrard.co.uk/royalnavy/chicrn/chicrn.htm for my web page on the ship. I took these photos of Chichester in Dry
Dock.
I spent a day or so? in HMS Salisbury ( Some Radar ratings were transferred over from Chichester)and remember being in company with many other ships of this class during my service from 1956 to 1968.
Readers take up the challenge to comment on Antony
Preston's controversial book, The World's Worst Warships. There were times when I could happily have
given this title to HMS Aisne in 1966 when I remember the flooded messdeck, but
perhaps that would be unfair because she was on her last legs.
A good book to add to your Naval Collection.
Rob Jerrard
Title:
The Flower Class Corvette Agassiz
Edition:
1st
Authors:
John McKay & John Harland:
ISBN: 0851779751
Publishers
Conway Maritime Press
Price: £25 RRP UK
Publication
Date: July 2004
In
the Introduction the authors themselves explain this book. "The subject of
this book is a Flower class corvette built in Vancouver and commissioned in
January 1941. Agassiz is pronounced
Aga-see. She was built, with a short
forecastle configuration and differed considerably from the common conception
of the long-forecastle 'Flower', such as the museum ship HMCS Sackville in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, or the Greek corvette Kriezis (ex-Coreopsis) which
represented HMS Compass Rose in the film The Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat,
or 1/72 scale models from the popular Matchbox/Revell kit.
It
was, however, the short-forecastle configuration that was in the mind's eye of
Nicholas Monsarrat when he wrote The Cruel Sea, HM Corvette, East Coast
Corvette and others, 
and this version best represents the Canadian Flowers as they
were flung into the thick of the bitter Atlantic convoy battles of 1941-2,
described in James Lamb's The Corvette Navy and Alan Easton s 50 North:
Canada's Atlantic Battleground.
In
1939, like the other combatants, Canada plunged into a war for which her naval
staff were ill prepared. Despite the U-boat campaign waged by Germany in World
War I, little attention had been paid in the 1920s and 1930s to the problems of
anti-submarine warfare, since it was widely believed that the future threat to
merchantmen would come from surface raiders and from aircraft. The RCN had
investigated the possibility of building escorts based on the handsome RN
Halcyon class sloops, but these plans had not reached fruition by the time
hostilities broke out. The timely arrival of plans for a 'Patrol Vessel of
Whaler Type' from the British Admiralty in 1939 thus offered a solution to a
very serious weakness in Canadian naval preparations for the new war. The
corvette (as the new vessel became known) was widely seen as a stopgap until
more sophisticated escorts were available, but in the event was built in great
numbers"
This
is a fantastic book with 29 really good Photographs of the class with a full
colour guide and over 350 isometric and 3-view drawings. This has always been a class of ship that
interested me, probably because my generation grew up with the "Cruel
Sea" often on the TV, something which I never tire of seeing, even if I
think it does not do justice to what many believe to be the best Naval Novel of
WW2. I have always found it difficult
to find good photographs of "Flowers", 
to me even their names seem magic,
probably not a word that came easily to the crews in these small ships that
must have been hell to serve in. In Nicholas
Monsarrat’s book "Three Corvettes", HB Edition 6th Edition
Sept 1953 there is a photograph on page 38 which bears the caption "We are
the smallest ships", it shows a corvette with its bow out of the water,
and I really mean out - another photograph on page 88 is captioned "She
was elegant".
I
am sure all their crew’s thought them "Elegant"; it’s something about
us matelots that makes us refer to a ship as she and call "her"
elegant. A fine book which I am very
pleased to own.
Rob
Jerrard
The
Heavy Cruiser Takao
Author:
Janusz Skulski
ISBN:0851779743
Publishers:
Conway Maritime
Price
£30 RRP UK
Publication
Date: 1994, this edition 2004
Anatomy
of the ship
Complete
with 1/450 Scale Fold-out Plan
From
the Introduction
The
origins of the modern Japanese cruiser can be traced back to the early 1920s.
On 31 July 1923 the light cruiser Yubari entered service in the imperial
Japanese Navy. This ship differed greatly in her appearance, profile and in
innovatory technical features from light cruisers of the earlier Tenryu, Kurna,
Nagara and Sendai classes. She was not a large vessel, even compared to
contemporary light cruisers, with a standard displacement of 3387 tons (4075
tons at two-thirds trial displacement). Officially described as an
'experimental light cruiser', the ship was built to test the concept of a
cruiser of high speed and relatively high firepower, on the smallest possible
displacement.
The
originator of this new cruiser design was Naval Constructor Hiraga Yuzuru, head
of Fundamental Design, part of the 4th Shipbuilding, Section of the Navy
Technical Department. In the summer of 1921 he proposed the building of a
cruiser with a standard displacement of 7500 tons, 35kts speed, armed with six
new type 20.3cm (8in) 50ca1 guns in single mountings, and six twin 61cm
broadside torpedo tubes. The installation of such a large armament in relation
to the displacement was made possible because of the following radical weight
reduction measures:
-
the side and deck armour was worked as longitudinal strength members for the
hull,
-
a flush deck from bow to stern with an unusual undulating sheer line, -
continuous upper deck, which made the longitudinal strength members very
effective and, at the same time, reduced structural weight. However, such a
complex structure necessarily complicated the construction of the hull.
In
October 1921 the building of an experimental ‘small’ cruiser was approved by
the Naval General Staff, based on the design of the proposed 7500-ton cruiser.
Under Hiraga's supervision, Fujimoto Kikud, Hiraga's assistant, worked out the
design of Yubari. Construction took fourteen months, from June 1922 to July
1923. At the same time, the general outline of the basic design of the 7500-ton
cruiser (known later as the Furutaka class) was approved by the naval
authorities in August 1921. As for Yubari, the design was the work of Hiraga
Yuzuru, assisted by Fujimoto Kikuo, and was intended to surpass the US Omaha
and British Hawkins classes. The building of two cruisers was approved in
February-March 1922, and work commenced in November-December 1922.
In
the meantime an important conference took place, which increased interest in
the cruisers' building. This was the Washington Naval Conference of 12
November 1921 to 6 February 1922. The resulting treaty limited the number of
capital ships -battleships and aircraft carriers -but did not limit the number
of ships up to 10,000 tons (10,160 tonnes), which were defined as 'auxiliary
surface combat craft'. This placed a limit of 10,000 tons standard on the
displacement of cruisers. The standard, or Washington, displacement was the
tonnage of the ship ready for sea, with full stores, ammunition and complement
but without fuel, reserve feed water and lubricating oil.
Prior
to the Washington Naval Treaty the Japanese Navy used the normal displacement
(in British tons) corresponding to the ship ready for sea, but with only a
quarter of the fuel, three-quarters of the ammunition, a half to two-thirds of
the stores and lubricating oil, and no reserve feed water. After 1920, however,
ships were designed in trial condition: two thirds trial displacement (in
metric tonnes), that is, in full load condition minus a third of the full load
fuel oil, lubricating oil, potable and reserve feed water, and stores.
As
a signatory of the Treaty, Japan was forced to abandon her ambitious '8-8
Programme' - the construction of eight modern battleships and eight battlecruisers.
On 3 July 1922 the new 'Naval Limitation Programme' was approved. This
comprised fifty-nine ships, including the building of two cruisers with a
standard displacement of 7100 tons (medium type) and four with a standard
displacement of 10,000 tons (large type). Fujimoto Kikuo undertook the design
of the two medium-type cruisers, while Hiraga was abroad.
Under
pressure from the Naval General Staff, Fujimoto altered the armament of these
cruisers, installing three twin 20.3cm (8in) gun turrets (compared with six
single 20.3cm gun turrets in Furutaka and Kako), four single 12cm (4.7in) HA
gun mounts (four single 8cm (3.2in) HA gun mounts in Furutaka and Kako) and a
new type of catapult. The torpedo armament in both types of cruiser (twelve
broadside torpedo tubes) was not changed. Named Aoba and Kinugasa, the new
cruisers had an increased displacement at two-thirds trial of about 320 tons
(Kinugasa 9930 tons). The additional topside weight reduced stability compared
with the Furutaka type, and Hiraga protested strongly against that decision on
his return to Japan.
At
the end of 1922 the Naval General Staff presented Hiraga with the requirements
for a new cruiser design of 10,000 tons displacement and 20cm (7.8in) guns. The
requirements of the Naval General Staff were as follows:
1.
An armament of eight 20.3cm (Sin) guns in twin turrets, three turrets forward
and one aft.
2.
Anti-aircraft armament of four single 12cm (4.7in) HA guns. 3. Eight broadside
61cm (24in) torpedo tubes.
4.
Protection of ship's vitals against indirect hits by 20.3cm (Sin) cm shells and
both direct and indirect hits by 15cm (bin) shells.
5.
Protection along machinery space by 'bulges' (anti-torpedo and anti-mine).
6.
Maximum speed over 35kts. 7. Range 10,000nm at 14kts.
8.
Equipped to carry two floatplanes.
Hiraga
did not entirely agree with the basic requirements, suggesting an increase of
the main armament to ten 20.3cm (Sin) guns (the point being to obtain an
advantage over foreign equivalents, which usually had eight 20.3cm guns); an
extension of anti-torpedo protection by fitting longitudinal armoured
bulkheads inside the 'bulges'; a reduction of range to 8000nm at 14kts; and
omission of the torpedo tubes as both unnecessary and dangerous (the likelihood
of explosion if hit in action).
Early
in 1923 Fujimoto, under the supervision of Hiraga, began work on the design,
taking into account the changes suggested by Hiraga. However, during Hiraga's
next posting abroad Fujimoto bowed to the pressure of the Naval General Staff,
adding eight broadside 61cm (24in) torpedo tubes and increasing the number of
12cm (4.7in) HA guns from four to six (during construction the number of
torpedo tubes was further augmented to twelve). In 1924 building started on the
cruisers designated No 1 to No 4, later named Myoko, Nachi, Ashigara and
Haguro. The displacement of the Myoko class cruisers was as follows:
Standard 10,980 tons (11,156 tonnes) Two-thirds trial 13,071 tons
(13,280 tonnes) Nachi 13,090 tons (13,300 tonnes).
In
March 1927, after discussions with and under pressure from the Naval General
Staff, and as a result of the approval by the US Congress of a programme to
build eight new cruisers of 10,000 tons displacement, the new shipbuilding
programme (Showa 2 Nendo Kantei Seizo Shinhoju Keikaku - '1927 Shipbuilding
New Replenishment Programme') was signed during the 52nd session of Parliament,
held from 18 January to 26 March 1927. This programme comprised the building of
twenty-seven ships during 1927-32, including four 10,000-ton cruisers.