Naval history books and books on naval battles and ships can be purchased from Cranston Fine Arts. Naval books by leading authors and naval book publishers.

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Brasseys Seapower Volume 10: Coastal Forces by Barry Clarke, Jurgen Fielitz and Malcolm Touchin.

An authoritative study, and part of Brasseys prestigious Sea Power series, this book explains the nature of contemporary offshore operations in both war and peacetime.  With more and more countries concerned about the security of their offshore waters, Coastal Forces explains the nature of maritime operations in this specialised area.  It is the only recent study of its kind to examine the deployment of forces specially designed to operate in coastal waters.

Illustrated paperback with 162 pages.

Order code BK9863. Book price £15.95.

Blood in the Sea - HMS Dunedin and the Enigma Code by Stuart Gill.

The Dunedin disaster: the untold story of a tragedy at sea - by the son of one of the survivors.  Acting on Enigma intelligence, the cruiser Dunedin sailed for the South Atlantic.  She fell victim to a lone U-boat far away from the shipping lanes.  An old warship dating from the First World War, she was torn open by the two torpedoes and sank in a matter of minutes.  Only half the crew managed to escape and over 200 sailors were trapped below decks as she went down.  For those who did make it into the sea, their ordeal had only just begun.  These were shark infested waters and there had not been time to report their position.  No-one knew she was lost.  No-one was coming to the rescue.

Illustrated hardback with 239 pages.

Order code BK6659. Book price £20.00.

Beware Raiders! - German Surface Raiders in the Second World War by Bernard Edwards.

Beware Raiders is the fascinating story of two very different German surface raiders and the havoc they caused amongst Allied shipping in the Second World War.  One was the 8-inch gun cruiser Admiral Hipper, fast, powerful and Navy-manned; the other a converted merchantman, Hansa Lines Kandelfels armed with a few 5.9s, crewed largely by reservists, and sailing under the nom de guerre of Pinguin.  Contrary to all expectations, the amateur man-o-war reaped a rich harvest and went out in a blaze of glory.  Her purpose-built sister, on the other hand, was hard-pressed to make her mark on the war and ended her days in ignominy.  There was also a striking contrast between the conduct of Ernst Kruder, captain of the Pinguin, whose concern it was to cause as little loss of life as possible, and the indifferent Captain Meisel of the Admiral Hipper, who had scant regard for the crews of his victims.  The author describes in detail Kruders most audacious coup, namely the capture, rather than the sinking, of the entire Norwegian Atlantic Whaling Fleet, which he calls a disaster of major proportions.

Illustrated hardback with 216 pages.

Order code BK8039. Book price £19.95.

The Armys Navy : British Military Vessels and their History Since Henry VIII by David Habesch.

The author shows that as long as Britain has had a Navy - whose origins he traces to the reign of Henry VIII - it has had specialised vessels to support its land armies. This book lays claim to being the first history of such units and ships. Proceeding at a fast trot until the Great War, we learn about such specialised units as the Submarine Mining service - designed to keep submarines out of harbours with mines and torpedoes - through both world wars and into contemporary times. Illustrated by many never previously published photographs, this is a book to interest fans of Naval History and the British army alike in one compact volume.

Illustrated hardback with 240 pages.

Order code NMP8202. Book price £18.00.

The War at Sea 1939 - 1945 Volume I. The Defensive, by Captain S W Roskill DSC, RN

Contents: Maritime War and Maritime Strategy - MaritimeWar -The British Shore Organisation -The Development of Sea-Air Co-operation-Allied and Enemy War Plans and Dispositions-Opening Moves in Home Waters 3rd September-31st December 1939-Ocean Warfare 3rd September-31st December 1939-The Sea Approaches and Coastal Waters 1st January-31st May 1940-The Home Fleet 1st January-9th April 1940-The Norwegian Campaign 8th April-15th June 1940-The Control of the Narrow Seas 10th May-4th June 1940-The Withdrawal from Europe 5th-25th June 1940-The Control of Home Waters 30th May-31st December 1940-Ocean Warfare 1st January-31st December 1940-Coastal Warfare 1st June 1940-31st March 1941-The Campaign of the North-West Approaches 1st June 1940-31st March 1941-Ocean Warfare 1st January-31st May 1941-The Home Fleet 1st January-31st May 1941-The African Campaigns 1st January-31st May 1941-The Battle of the Atlantic 1st April-31st December 1941-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st June-31st December 1941-Coastal Warfare 1st April-31st December 1941-The African Campaigns 1st June-31st December 1941-Ocean Warfare 1st June-31st December 1941-Disaster in the Pacific December 1941

Order code NMP7225. 664 pages.  Book price £32.00.

The War at Sea 1939 - 1945 Volume II. The Period of Balance, by Captain S W Roskill DSC, RN

Contents: Chronological Summary of Principal Events;The Pacific and Indian Oceans 1st January -31st July 1942-The African Campaigns 1st January-31st July 1942-The Priority of Maritime Air Operations 1942-The Battle of the Atlantic. The Campaign in American Waters 1st January--31st July 1942-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st January -31st July 1942-Coastal Warfare 1st January-31st July 1942-Ocean Warfare 1st January-31st July 1942-The Battle of the Atlantic. The Second Campaign on the Convoy Routes 1st August-31st December 1942-The Pacific and Indian Oceans 1st August-31st December 1942-Coastal Warfare 1st August-31st December 1942-Ocean Warfare 1st August-31st December 1942-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st August-31st December 1942-The African Campaigns 1st August-31st December 1942-The Battle of the Atlantic. The Triumph of the Escorts 1st January-31st May 1943-Coastal Warfare 1st January-31st May1943-Home Waters and the Arctic1st January-31st May 1943-Ocean Warfare1st January-31st May1943-The Pacific and Indian Oceans 1st January-31st May 1943-The African Campaigns 1st January-31st May 1943 The Mediterranean Re-opened.

Order code NMP7226. 523 pages.  Book price £32.00.

The War at Sea 1939 - 1945 Volume III Part I. The Offensive 1st June 1943 - 31st May 1944, by Captain S W Roskill DSC, RN

Contents: Chronological Summary of Principal Events; The Background to the Maritime Offensive-The Battle of the Atlantic 1st June-31st August 1943 The Bay of Biscay Offensive-The Battle of the Atlantic 1st September-31st December 1943; The Final Defeat of the Wolf Packs-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st June-31st December 1943-Coastal Warfare 1st June-31st December 1943-The Mediterranean Campaigns 1st June-15th August 1943; The Invasion of Sicily-The Mediterranean Campaigns 16th August-31st December 1943; The Landing at Salerno and the Submission of the Italian Fleet-The Pacific and Indian Oceans 1st June-31st December 1943-The Battle of the Atlantic 1st January-31st May 1944; The Second Campaign in the Western Approaches-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st January-31st May 1944-Coastal Warfare 1st January-31st May 1944-The Mediterranean Campaigns 1st January-31st May 1944-The Pacific and Indian Oceans 1st January-31st May 1944.

Order code NMP7227. 413 pages.  Book price £32.00.

The War at Sea 1939 - 1945 Volume III Part II. The Offensive 1st June 1944 - 14th August 1945, by Captain S W Roskill DSC, RN

Contents: Chronological Summary of Prncipal Events; Prelude to Neptune-The Assault on Normandy 6th June-3rd July 1944-The Mediterranean Campaigns 1st June-31st December 1944-Coastal Warfare 4th July-31st December 1944-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st June-31st December 1944-The Battle of the Atlantic 1st June-31st December 1944-The Indian Ocean and Pacific 1st June-31st December 1944-The End of the Mediterranean Campaigns 1st January -8th May 1945-Home Waters and the Arctic 1st January-8th May 1945; The Climax of the Anti-Shipping Offensive-The Battle of the Atlantic The Final Phase and the Surrender of the U-Boats 1st January-8th May 1945-The Offensive in the Indian Ocean 1st January-30th June 1945-The Pacific War and the Arrival of the British Pacific Fleet 1st January-31st March 1945-The Offensive in the Pacific1stApril-30thJune1945-The Setting of the Rising Sun 1st July-14th August 1945-Conclusion and Inquiry.

Order code NMP7228. 502 pages.  Book price £32.00.

Red Sky in the Morning - The Battle of the Barents Sea 1942 by Michael Pearson.

That an enemy force of at least one pocket battleship, one heavy cruiser and six destroyers, with all the advantage of surprise and concentration, should be held off for four hours by five destroyers and driven from the area by two six-inch cruisers, without any loss to the convoy, is most creditable and satisfactory. Thus was the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief Home Fleet, Admiral Tovey of the action that has become known as the Battle of the Barents Sea. It was a naval engagement that had far-reaching consequences and resulted in many capital ships of the Kriegsmarine being de-commissioned for the rest of World War II.

Order code NMP8280.  154 pages.  Hardback book price £16.99.

Royal Navy Trawlers.  Part One : Admiralty Trawlers by Gerard Toghill.

In the early days of the twentieth century the simple contact mine was becoming the cheap weapon of choice for many navies.  Countering this threat eventually fell to the humble trawler - the similarity between trawling for fish and trawling for mines having quickly been realised.  By 1916 however, the Admiralty were facing a famine of commercially available trawlers - so they went into the trawler building business.  By the time the Armistice. was signed, the RNR Trawler Section, originally a little force of 1200 men and 150 vessels for sweeping UK waters, had expanded to a massive 39,000 men, manning more than 700 vessels which started life as humble minesweepers but soon became the jack of all trades in two World Wars and beyond.

Order code BK1951.  227 pages.  Hardback book price £19.99.

Royal Navy Trawlers.  Part Two : Requisitioned Trawlers, by Gerard Toghill.

Six years before the outbreak of the First World War the Admiralty, in their search for a means to counteract the increasing menace of the sea mine, had purchased into the Royal Navy two commercial trawlers.  These had been attached to the naval establishment at Portland to carry out evaluation tests regarding their suitability for minesweeping tasks and then, suitably confirmed, to carry out experiments in minesweeping methods.  Impressed with the capabilities of these vessels the Admiralty purchased several more of their kind, and set them to work on yet more trials.  Plans for the requisitioning of commercial vessels from the fishing fleet, should the need arise, were put into place.  Shortly after, in 1910, the first plans were laid for the recruitment or call up of men from the fishing industry to man such vessels, an organization which was to be known as the Royal Naval Patrol Service.  During the subsequent two World Wars over 3000 vessels were requisitioned by the Admiralty.

Order code BK9026.  568 pages.  Hardback book price £24.95.

Heligoland.  The true Story of German Bight and the Island Britain Betrayed by George Drower.

The tiny North Sea island of Heligoland had a strategic importance in both World Wars belied by its size. Under British rule after the Napoleonic Wars, the ‘Gibraltar of the north’ was foolishly given to Germany in 1890 by Lord Salisbury, despite the wishes of the islanders and the energetic protests of Queen Victoria. Britain regretted this decision through both world wars when German control of Heligoland gave her a crucial advantage in the area. George Drower has written an excellent book which does belated justice to ‘the island that Britain betrayed’.

Order code NMP8099.  334 pages.  Book price £.

The Cruise of the Pearl.  With an Account of the Operations of the Naval Brigade in India 1857 - 1858 by Rev E A Williams.

An exciting account of a unique episode in the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58. As the author, who was naval Chaplain aboard ‘H.M.S Pearl’, says in his introduction: ‘This is, I believe, the only example in English history of officers and seamen of the Royal Navy leaving their ships, and taking their guns seven or eight hundred miles into the interior of a great continent, to serve as soldiers, marching and counter-marching for fifteen months...and taking an active part in upwards of twenty actions’. The crews of the ‘Pearl’ and the ‘Shannon’ were in Calcutta on a round-the-world show the flag tour when the Mutiny broke out. Pressed into shore service as the Naval Brigade, and serving alongside Gurkha regiments and the Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry, the sailors took part in the Battles of Phoolpore,Belwa, Amorha, Hurrreah and Toolseepore and other exhausting actions. In Williams’ words ‘It was a brutalizing war in which quarter was neither given nor received’

Order code NMP5902. 310 pages.  Book price £14.

Cruisers of World War Two by M J Whitley.

Illustrated with hundreds of archive photographs and line drawings, Cruisers of World War Two is the large format, comprehensive reference on the subject.  Within one volume, it describes all the cruisers extant, completed or laid down during the period 1939 - 1945 by the nations of the World.  Each class is featured with full coverage of its design, construction and subsequent modifications, together with tabulated details of builder, dates, specification data notes on the fate of each ship.  

Hardback book with 288 pages.

Order number BK8747. Book price £30.00.

Iraq Campaign 2003. Royal Navy and Royal Marines by Robert Fox.

 The Iraq campaign of 2003 saw the largest deployment of British armed forces since the Gulf War of 1990 and the biggest allied amphibious operation since Suez in 1956.  The challenge was daunting, but the men and women of the Royal Navy and their Marines and Fleet Air Arm, supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, rose to it magnificently.  This book sets out the key stages of the war as it was experienced  by the Navy and the Marines.  For its preparation, the Navy has given unique access to the archive of remarkable pictures taken by its own photographers during the campaign.  The Navy has also given the author special access to the servicemen and servicewomen who took part.  In these pages, they tell the story of their campaign in their own words.  They tell it with the modesty and humour for which the British armed forces are renowned.

Paperback book with 157 pages.

Order number BK7214. Book price £16.99.

Destroyers, Frigates and Corvettes by Camil Busquets

 Destroyers, Frigates and Corvettes covers what are known as escort vessels.  They have developed so much that they now bear little relation to those of only a few years ago.  Their sizes and displacements are increasing so dramatically that in recent years, ships with these characteristics are being classified in higher categories, even as cruisers.

Paperback book with 96 pages.

Order number BK3132. Book price £9.95.

The Illustrated Directory of Warships, from 1860 to the present day, by David Miller.

Spectacularly illustrated details of all major aircraft carriers, battleships, battlecruisers, cruisers, destroyers and escorts from 1860 to the present.

Paperback book with 480 pages.

Order number BK6776. Book price £9.99.

Malta Convoys 1940 - 1943 by Richard Woodman

From the day Mussolinis Italy declared war on Britain in June 1940, the island of Malta was under siege.  Its strategic importance was obvious to both sides, blocking as it did the supply route across the Mediterranean from Italy to the Axis armies in North Africa.  It had to be bombed out of existence by the Axis powers, and preserved at all costs by the British.  That Malta survived was due to the courage and fortitude of her people, and to the dauntless determination of the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy.  Here Richard Woodman tells the full, terrifying story of how - at fearsome cost - the impossible was achieved. 

Paperback book with 532 pages.

Order number BK4086. Book price £18.00.

Battle for Empire - The Very First World War 1756 - 63 by Tom Pocock

On the morning of 8th July 1758 - three years to the day since Braddock's little army had been cut to pieces in the woods before Fort Duquesne - the powerful British and American army before Ticonderoga waited in the mounting heat of the summer sun, bemused and virtually leaderless, for their commanding general to make his decision.  Finally, he did so.  There was to be a frontal assault by infantry without waiting for artillery support; it was to be made with bayonet and sword and 'the troops... received strict orders that no one should presume to fire till he was within the breastwork'.  The whole army excepting the artillery, which remained on the beach, paraded by regimetns and divisions and marched to the tap of drums toward the foot of the wooded heights.'

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Book serial number BK3241.  

price £20. 

Hard back with 272 pages.

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Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition.   Admiral Sir George Cockburn 1772 - 1853.  By Roger Morriss.

Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition documents the experience of service under Nelson during the French Revolutionary War, diplomacy and combined operations during the Napoleonic War and War of 1812 with the United States, and administrative, political and technological change during the first half of the nineteenth century.  It focuses on Sir George Cockburn who, while maintaining the interests and professionalism of the officer corps, presided over much of the British Navy's transition from sail to steam.  Sir George Cockburn emerged from the Napoleonic War as the best known British admiral, renowned for his part in the attack on Washington in 1814 and for escorting Napoleon to St Helena.  But his greatest impact was at the Admiralty between 1818 and 1846 where, more than any man, he steered the British Navy through some of the most disruptive periods of political and technological change it has ever faced.  This book examines Cockburn's attitude to the development of more seaworthy sailing warships and his key role in the introduction of the screw propeller, placing these developments alongside the decline of flogging, impressment and personal patronage in the management of the navy.  Though Cockburn was regarded as a reactionary, this book reveals the liberalism that enlightened his policies in the navy; this enlightenment is revealed in his own earlier experiences.  By providing a unique insight into a deeply influential figure and into the many facets of Admiralty administration Roger Morriss makes a valuable new contribution to naval history. 

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Book serial number BK5262.  

Published Price £46

Special price £26. 

 Hard back with 338 pages.

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German Navy Handbook 1939 - 1945 by Jak P Mallmann Showell

Synonymous with such infamous Second World War battleships as the Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Tirpitz, the German Navy (or Reichsmarine) was renamed the Kriegsmarine in 1935 shortly after the mergence of the Nazi state, and went through a major re-organisation in 1939.  During the Second World War it became a much feared adversary both on and beneath the high seas, with its marauding U-boat 'wolf packs' coming close to defeating Britain in the Battle of the Atlantic.  In German Navy Handbook 1939 - 1945 Jak Mallmann Showell examines the different roles of the Fleet, its organisation and training activities during the war years.  Incidents and operations are also described, together with technical data for ships, U-boats and their weaponry.  A useful guide to German Navy uniforms and insignia is included, together with full details of rank structure and specialist trades.  Fully illustrated with photographs, maps and diagrams, this authoritative study of the formidable Kriegsmarine in the Second World War will appeal to all with an interest in the armed forces of the Third Reich.

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Book serial number BK5564B. Book price £25.  Illustrated hard back with 275 pages.

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The Royal Navy.  An Illustrated Social History 1870 - 1982 by Captain John Wells

From 1870 to 1982 the lives of the men and women employed by the Royal Navy have been affected by more critical events and unforeseen changes than in any comparable period. This book is the first attempt to record the social history of the Royal Navy during this time of transformation, covering everything from recruitment and training to behaviour in battle, discipline, food and drink, pay and clothing.  This unique study begins with the imperial splendour of Queen Victoria's ships and concludes with the professional fighting force that saw service in the Falklands campaign of 1982 - seen by many as the last gasp of empire.  Captain John Wells CBE, DSC, who saw service in the Royal Navy from 1929 to 1964, describes how the Navy has reflected the social attitudes of the day in the character and behaviour of its people.

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Book serial number BK8337. Book price £14.99.   306 pages.

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Midget Submarines of the Second World War by Paul Kemp

The history of midget submarines, submersibles and human torpedoes is one of the most fascinating areas of naval warfare in the Second World War.  Originating with the Italian Mignatta human torpedo of the First World War, designed to attack enemy ships lying in defended harbours, by 1945 almost all the major combatants had made some use of craft of this type, ranging from the British X-Craft, which crippled the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord and sank the Japanese cruiser Takao, to the Japanese Kaiten suicide weapon, the equally desperate German submersibles the Neger and Marder, and the slightly more successful Seebund midget submarine.  This book deals with each type of craft separately, dividing them into human torpedoes, submersibles, and true midget submarines.  The author examines the reasons why the belligerents engaged in midget submarine construction and operations, and details all the classes of craft that were built, also examining postwar developments.  Together with its superb plans and drawings, this book is essential reference for all naval historians, enthusiasts and modelmakers with an interest in one of the most daring and dangerous forms of naval warfare.

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Book serial number NMP6806. Book price £30. Large format illustrated hard back with 125 pages.

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The Grand Fleet.  Warship Design and Development 1906 - 1922 by D K Brown

The launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 ushered in one of the most rapid periods of warship development in history, and only ten years after the world's first all-big-gun, turbine powered battleship was completed, two entire fleets of dreadnoughts would meet in battle at Jutland, where the work of the prewar ship designers was to meet its ultimate test.  David Brown examines the development of British warships up to 1914, the responses to the demands of the First World War, and finally how the lessons of wartime experience affected warship development in the immediate postwar period.  As well as the battleships and battlecruisers, for the first time the developmental history of smaller vessels such as minesweepers, monitors and escort vessels, built as direct responses to wartime needs, is described, as is that of the submarine and the aircraft carrier.  A detailed study is made of battle damage, including the role played by ammunition explosions in the loss of three British battlecruisers at Jutland.  Also described are the postwar capital ship designs, killed off by the Washington Treaty, which are among the most fascinating 'might have beens' of naval history.

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Book serial number NMP6804. Book price £35. Large format illustrated hard back with 204 pages.

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The Battleships by Ian Johnston and Rob McAuley

Before the nuclear bomb, no weapon on earth had evoked so much fear, veneration and passion as the battleship.  In destructive power it had no equal.  Accompanying a four-part Channel 4 series of the same name, The Battleships unveils the epic saga of power, international politics, and one-upmanship that led to the titanic wars of the twentieth century.  It is a story involving rulers, war lords and admirals who all became intoxicated by the grandeur, majesty and sheer power of these floating fortresses.

Enriched with eye-witness accounts and contributions from naval experts around the globe, The Battleships explores the rapid evolution of firepower and battleship design from canvas to steam, timber to steel, muzzle-loading cannon to 18-inch guns, and beyond, to rocket launchers and missiles.  As the spearhead of colonial expansion and in defence of the great empires the battleship reigned supreme, and in the wake of World War 1, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the US competed in an arms race which focused on building maritime muscle.

It was a reign, however, that could not offset the technological advancements taking place in the way wars were fought.  In the face of submarines and air warfare, the battleship would have to fight to prove itself an effective weapon.  Crippling defeats during World War 2, such as the loss of the famous British ship Hood and all but three of its crew by the guns of the German ship Bismarck and the destruction wrought by a Japanese air attack on the US fleet in Pearl Harbor, were turning points for the battleship.  With the major powers rethinking their arsenals, only the four US Iowa class battleships would survive to play a significant role in the wars of the latter part of the twentieth century.

Book serial number BK8472. Book price £20. Illustrated hard back with 190 pages.

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The Long Arm of Empire.  Naval Brigades from the Crimea to the Boxer Rebellion by Richard Brooks.

This is the first full history of Naval Brigades - the intrepid sailors of the Royal Navy who brought their unique skills ashore in support of the army in a wide variety of 'small wars' and larger campaigns.  Since there were no major ship-to-ship actions during the period of Pax Britannica, Naval Brigades were at the heart of the action in the Victorian period, providing heavy artillery and machine gun support as well as an opportunity for Royal Navy officers to gain combat experience and earn promotion.  The Brigades constituted a flexible means of imperial intervention wherever the navy could take its ships or gunboats.   Richard Brooks analyses the strategic importance of Naval Brigades drawing on first hand accounts to evoke the experiences of the officers and men who formed them.  He vividly describes the reckless daring of Sir William Peel who led Brigades in both the Crimea (where they won ten Victoria Crosses) and the Indian Mutiny as well as the dogged courage and sense of humour that was to characterise Naval Brigades in Zululand, Egypt, the Second Boer War, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and other conflicts.  This highly readable book, accompanied by maps and illustrations, not only throws much light on how the Victorian Navy functioned as a fighting service, but also provides a new and refreshing angle on a remarkably popular period of British imperial history.

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Book serial number BK8404. Book price £25. Hard back with 330 pages.

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 Fleet Battle and Blockade - The French Revolutionary War 1793 - 1797    by Chatham Pictorial Histories

Forgetting the setbacks of the American Revolutionary Wan, in 1793 the Royal Navy embarked on an almost unprecedented era of victories at sea, producing a considerable appetite for pictures of every incident, great or small.  A thriving trade in prints and engravings grew up, supplemented by watercolours and oils by celebrated artists.  Besides these 'public' works, many officers - and indeed members of the lower deck - kept personal journals and sketchbooks, illustrated with surprisingly accomplished drawings and watercolours, often depicting the everyday aspects of wartime life at sea that were ignored in the more celebratory media.  These sources form a rich vein that have been barely touched in previous publications, but which this book uses to full effect.  

Despite numerous defeats, the French navy continued to dispute command of the sea in the period 1793 - 1797, and the early years of the war abound with fleet engagements, including dramatic victories against the Spanish at St Vincent and the Dutch at Camperdown, between which the navy endured the shocking events of the Great Mutiny, potentially the most dangerous moment of the whole war.

This volume is the first of five covering the whole of the French Revolutionary, Napoleonic and 1812 Wars based on contemporary images , a series depicting the reality of warfare under sail in a depth never previously attained.

Book serial number BK0180. Book price £30. Illustrated hard back with 190 pages.

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Tiger, Lion and Blake 1942-1986 - The Royal Navy's Last Cruisers by Neil McCart

For 20 years between 1959 and 1979 the cruisers Tiger, Lion and Blake took their place in the fleet as the last big gun warships. This is the first book to tell the full stories of all three ships in detail. In-depth research has allowed the author to cover their careers through each year of their operational service, and the story is enlivened by memories from ex-members of their ships' companies from senior officers to junior seamen.

There are 125 photographs covering the careers of the three cruisers from their early days at the ship building yards, to their departure for the breakers' yards.

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Book serial number BK5038. Book price £21.50. Illustrated hard back with 160 pages.

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The Royal Navy 1790-1970 by R Wilkinson-Latham & Gerry Embleton

Book serial number Osprey MA65. Price £8.99. 

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War at Sea 1939-1945 by Jürgen Rohwer

This superb illustrated history of the naval operations of the Second World War recounts the events which took place in the Baltic and north Seas, in the Arctic, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. It covers strategies of the British, American, German, Italian and Japanese navies and also deals with the naval efforts of the smaller belligerents.

250 photographs from the archives of all the countries involves, many of them rare, bring new insight into events of 50 years ago. But this book is far more than a pictorial chronology of the War; the author, who was a witness to the terrible events of 1930-45, has created a stark picture of the realities of war at sea and one of his purposes in writing this book was to give succeeding generations - amongst them future historians- some idea of how the conflict was enacted and how it affected the men who took part in it.

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Book serial number BC3. Price £28.99.

Fully illustrated hard back with 253 pages.

Band of Brothers - Boy Seamen in the Royal Navy 1800-1956 by David Phillipson

This book is a revealing history of the boy seaman rating in the Royal Navy, beginning with its evolution from the 18th century 'Officer's Servant' through to its abolition in 1956. It tells of an astonishing Victorian Naval tradition which continued right into the modern age. HMS Ganges, a byword on the lower deck of the Royal Navy for rigorous - not to say harsh - discipline, was the hardest of the boy seaman training establishments.

The tradition, for which Ganges was widely regarded as the archetype, lasted almost to the threshold of the permissive society of the 1960s. Throughout those years the Royal Navy was a supremely conservative and traditionalist institution, and never more so than in its attitude to and treatment of its lower deck people - its boys in particular. This led a future First Sea Lord to describe HMS Ganges as late as the 1950s as 'the most feudal of the Navy's institutions.'

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Book serial number BS3. Price £10.99. Fully illustrated paperback with 253 pages.

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Naval Battles of the Twentieth Century by Richard Hough

The major naval powers: Britain, America, Russia and Japan have all played a part in the theatre of war at sea over the last 100 years. This book is a detailed study of the bloody and tragic battles that took place and of the shifting pattern in the status of the naval powers and its effect on our history today.

'He who controls the sea has command of everything', Themistocles was supposed to have uttered in about 500 BC; thus the principles of sea power have remained unchanged from century to century, right back to the Spanish Armada of 1588 and beyond. Principles unchanged aside, of course, from the revolutions in material, from wood and sail to iron and steam, and those in strategy and tactics.

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Book serial number BC1. Price £28.99.

Fully illustrated hard back with 253 pages.

To Sail No More by Ian Buxton and Warlow

Part One of the 'To Sail No More' series, featuring a collection of photographs, with extended captions, showing the Royal Navy's Reserve Fleets at home and abroad, mainly in the post WWII period.  These books also include pictures from UK scrapyards depicting the sad end for many of the giants of WWII as well as ships being sunk as targets. 

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Also available part 2,3,4, showing further ships of the Royal Navy, part 5 shows the Royal Australian Navy, part 6 the United States Navy and part 7 further ships of the Royal Navy.  Each Book priced at £15.95 each.

Book serial number BK1552. Book price £15.95.  96 pages with over 90 photos. (SB)

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RN Destroyers in Focus, Since 1945 by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow RN

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Book serial number BK1753. Book price £9.95.  96 pages with over 90 photos. (SB)

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The Royal Navy in Focus, 1960 - 69 

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Book serial number BK1333. Book price £8.95.  159 pages with over 100 photos. (SB)

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The Royal Navy in Focus, 1970 - 79 

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Book serial number BK1661. Book price £8.95.  160 pages with over 100 photos. (SB)

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The Royal Navy in Focus, 1930 - 39 

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Book serial number BK1043. Book price £8.95.  134 pages with over 100 photos. (SB)

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The Royal Navy in Focus, 1940 - 49 

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Book serial number BK1111. Book price £8.95.  176 pages with over 120 photos. (SB)

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Royal Navy Minor war Vessels in Focus

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Book serial number BK1814 Book price £8.95.  96 pages with over 80 photos. (SB)

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The Fleet Air Arm in Focus, Part Two by David Hobbs

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Book serial number BK1517. Book price £8.95.  Over 100 pages with over 90 photos. (SB)

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The Anglo-Dutch Naval Wars 1652-1674 by Roger Hainsworth & Christine Churches

During the course of the 17th century, England and the Netherlands three times found themselves at war in the North Sea. The first war, between 1652 and 1654, came about as a result of a mixture of causes: the rejection by the Dutch state of the English government's fledgling ideas of political union, the collusion of the Dutch Orangists with the exiled English royal family and the huge growth of English naval power during the Commonwealth; but, perhaps, chiefly the competition over trade, not only in the North Sea but across the world. In this, and the subsequent wars, both sides battled for control of the southern North Sea. Political changes in England brought about the end of the first war but in just over ten years' time war broke out again.

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Book serial number BS1. Price £20.00.

Fully illustrated hard back with 212 pages.

Shiny Sheff - The Story of Sheffield's Fighting Ships by Alistair Lofthouse

In 1937 a new cruiser entered service with the Royal Navy. One of the highly successful Southampton Class it was the first Royal Navy ship to bear the name Sheffield. During her 30 year career she distinguished herself in some of the most important battles of the Second World War, gaining 12 battle honours.

The second Sheffield was not so lucky. Entering service in 1975 she was to be the first Royal Navy vessel sunk in action since the Second World War. Many will remember the day well, May 4th 1982, during the Falklands War.

This book tells the story of the Shiny Sheff's from 60 years ago to today's third HMS Sheffield.

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Book serial number BAL1. Price £8.95.

Fully illustrated paperback with 162 pages.

The Navy At War 1939-1945 by Stephen Roskill.

Captain Roskill has long been recognised as the leading authority on the Royal Navys part in the Second World War. His official history for HMSO, the three volume The War at Sea presents a detailed history that is unlikely to be superseded, and this book sets out the broad outline of the policies, successes and failures of the British and Dominion navies in the worldwide struggle.

The author writes with the same simplicity and ease whether he is describing the movement of ships in a single action or the relation of a whole campaign to the strategy of total war. The narrative is thrilling and the analysis clear: Roskill describes the major sea battles such as the River Plate and Matapan as well as the characteristic convoy actions of the Battle of the Atlantic, Murmansk and Malta. He covers the contribution made by British technology in the shape of Asdic and Radar but the story is, above all, about the courage and skill of the officers and men who made the victory possible.

Illustrated paperback with 480 pages.

Book serial number W49. Price £7.99.

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The Devil's Device, Robert Whitehead and the History of the Torpedo by Edwyn Gray

With the invention of the self-propelled underwater torpedo, Robert Whithead exerted greater influence over naval warfare and the design of warships than all the world's top admirals and naval architects put together. This book tells the absorbing story of Whitehead's life and traces the development of the torpedo from its birth to its place in today's missile age.

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Book serial number BK68. Price £25.

Fully illustrated hard back with 309 pages.

Midway: The Incredible Victory by Walter Lord.

They had no right to win. Yet they did, and in doing so changed the course of the war. More than that, they added a new name - Midway - to that small list that inspires men by example - Marathon, the Marne, the Somme and Rorkes Drift. Even against the greatest odds there is something in the human spirit - a magic blend of skill, faith and valour that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory.

As Winston Churchill wrote, This memorable American victory was of cardinal importance, not only to the United States, but to the whole Allied cause ... At one stroke, the dominant position of Japan in the Pacific was reversed ... The annals of war at sea present no more intense, heart-shaking shock ... the qualities of the united States Navy and Air Force and the American race shone forth in splendour.

Illustrated paperback with 220 pages.

Book serial number W50. Price £7.99.

 Convoy! Drama in the Arctic Waters by Paul Kemp

Some of the most hard fought naval actions of World War Two took place in the most northerly waters of the world - the Arctic Ocean. Ships progressively covered in ice, their crews steadfast in the bitter cold, battled through heavy seas, all the while under threat from German submarines, aircraft and surface ships, as they braved the route from Britain to northern Russia.

The PQ/QP convoys began in late September 1941 and continued throughout the war. Despite pre-war ambivalence between Britain and Russia, the danger of the common enemy in Germany clearly dictated that all aid possible be provided - but the greatest challenge was yet again that of limited Allied naval resources being over-committed.

German forces were initially slow to react to the vulnerability of the regular, heavily laden convoys but quickly concentrated aircraft, submarines, destroyers and heavy ships in Norwegian bases. It was there, in her northern fiord lair, that Bismarck's powerful sister ship Tirpitz waited for the opportunity to intercept and prey upon the slow-moving convoys. Thus Britain was forced to retain large capital ship superiority close at hand to counter the threat of a heavy strike by these Kriegsmarine units.

Weather conditions made service on the PQ routes a constant battle to survive against the bitter wind, hard packed ice and sub-zero temperatures. Nevertheless, the supplies kept going through. And the cost to the Allies was high. For supplying the Russians with close on £600,000,000 worth of vital weapons, transport and ammunition, 18 warships and 104 merchant vessels were sunk. The material losses resulting from the debacle of Convoy PQ17 alone were the equivalent of a major land battle.

The Arctic convoys still exert a special fascination for the historian, and the exciting nature of the actions is well delivered in this new study by a popular naval writer. Paul Kemp sets the scene for the history of the convoys before a lively narrative covering their entire history. Highlights include a full section on PQ17 alone and a stirring account of the Battle of the North Cape. Meticulously researched from original operational orders and reports, this is an authoritative history as well as am entertaining narrative account of a fascinating period of naval history.

Book serial number BK55. Price £18.99. Fully illustrated hardback with 256 pages.

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The Battle of Jutland by Geoffrey Bennett.

There seems to be something wrong with our ships today, Chandler remarked Admiral Beatty to his Flag Captain at the height of the Battle of Jutland as yet another British ship blew up. At the end of May 1916 a chance encounter with Admiral Hippers battlecruisers enabled Beatty to lead the German Battle Fleet into the jaws of Jellicoes greatly superior force, but darkness had allowed Admiral Scheer to extricate his ships from a potentially disastrous situation. Though inconclusive, at the Battle of Jutland the German Fleet suffered so much damage that it made no further attempt to challenge the Grand Fleet, and the British blockade remained unbroken.

Captain Bennett has used sources previously unavailable to historians in his reconstruction of this controversial battle, including the papers of Vice-Admiral Harper explaining why his official record of the battle was not published until 1927, and the secret Naval Staff Appreciation of 1922 whose criticisms were so scathing that it was never issued to the Fleet. There are numerous battle plans, photographs and a new introduction by the authors son.

Illustrated paperback with 220 pages.

Book serial number W9. Price £7.99.

Jutland, The German Perspective by V E Tarrant

On only one occasion during the four years of the First World War did the world's largest and most powerful navies meet in full battle. For so long the main indicator of the arms race between Britain and Germany - and according to some theories a major argument in the inevitability of the war itself - these two navies had long competed in construction, design and armament with each other and planned for that final battle which would decide the war at sea.

The reality of the naval war was far different to the single, decisive conflict strategists had hoped for. Instead a series of bold hit-and-run raids by German warships to bombard British coastal towns stung Royal Navy pride, and apart from fleeting chance encounters between isolated units of both fleets and the failed opportunities of Dogger Bank and Heligoland Bight the single, ultimate battle remained elusive. Until Jutland.

The Battle of Jutland took place on 31 May to 1 June 1916 as a plan to concentrate the German High Seas Fleet precisely against the numerically superior British Grand Fleet at a time and place of German choice, having lured the bulk of the Royal Navy into a trap in German waters. Bad luck, bad weather and the perennial weakness of such Great War battles - poor communications- meant the battle became a confused, rambling but desperately hard fought conflict. It also became a pyrrhic victory for Germany since although the Royal Navy suffered higher losses in men and ships, the German fleet never ventured out of harbour to seek battle again. The decisive battle that was claimed by each side as a victory was in reality a defeat of the German High Seas Fleet. 

Amazingly, this classic sea battle has never been studied from the enemy's view. Now for the first time in the English language a balanced and unique assessment of the German view of Jutland is possible. Drawing on many official sources, archives and translations of documents about the Battle of the Skaggerak (as Jutland is known to the Germans), the historian V E Tarrant has created this superb new study of the classic battle.

The author provides a complete review of Jutland using hitherto unseen German naval records: an inter-war appreciation by the German Office of Naval History, High Seas Fleet War Diaries, Chief of the High Seas Fleet Operations Staff papers plus action reports from individual commanders involved in the battle and the letters and papers of Tirpitz, Scheer and Hipper. As well as this wealth of untapped original source material on German views and accounts, the author also discusses the technical and material inferiority of the Royal Navy ships plus a unique revelation of the German code-breaking and signal interception played in their conduct of the battle.

Illustrated with detailed action charts representing ship movements and dispositions hour-by-hour throughout the battle, and with accurate scale drawings and silhouettes of all major warships and classes from both sides, Jutland: The German View fills an important gap in the history and understanding of this great action.

Book Price £20.  Hard back book with 318 pages with a variety of diagrams.

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Battleships and Carriers by Steve Crawford

Battleships and Carriers contains 300 of the most important and influential capital ships to have sailed the seas since the age of sail.  These include such famous battleships as the Admiral Graf Spee, Bismarck, Iowa and Dreadnought. The book also includes the greatest aircraft carriers that served during World Wars I and II, and those that are still in service, fighting vessels such as HMS Hermes, George Washington, Enterprise and Ark Royal.

Each of the 300 vessels featured in Battleships and Carriers is illustrated with the aid of a superb side-view artwork. In addition, the artwork is accompanied by a detailed specifications table giving displacement, dimensions, performance, date of launch and armament, plus accompanying text that summarises the career of the ship and its eventual fate.

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Book price £9.99. Order code BAC1.

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Aircraft Carriers of the World by Roger Chesneau

Aircraft Carriers of the World is the first comprehensive reference work to detail in one volume - with data, line drawings and photographs - the 360- plus carriers designed or projected by the world's navies. Although only five (and until recently only four) nations have ever completed the building of aircraft carriers, such vessels have seen service in twelve of the world's navies. Depending upon precisely how one defines the term 'aircraft carrier', some 329 ships of this type have been operated throughout the world, more than half by the US Navy; in addition, scores of carriers have been projected. All of these vessels are catalogued in Aircraft Carriers of the World, arranged chronologically according to country. Each basic design is discussed, and appearance notes and career summaries are presented for each individual carrier. In addition, each main entry is accompanied by a table giving design specifications, by a pair of constant-scale general arrangement line drawings, and by a selection of photographs carefully chosen to give as far as possible a comprehensive picture of each class and the variations within it.

The catalogue section of the book is preceded by a detailed narrative tracing the origins and evolution of the aircraft carrier as a viable fighting unit, with particular emphasis on the conflicting design requirements of, on the one hand, the ship, and, on the other, her aircraft - a problem that has proved to be one of the most taxing ever to face naval constructors. Flight deck operations and carrier tactics are also discussed, and an insight into the political argument that has continually accompanied carrier development is offered.

Containing over 400 photographs and line drawings, Aircraft Carriers of the World provides the reader with all the essential information he may wish to seek concerning what has become the largest and most complex fighting machine devised by man.

Book serial number BK22. Price £30. Hard back with 288 pages.

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The British in the Mediterranean by Peter Dietz 

Why did Britain seize or acquire bases in the Mediterranean, and for what reasons did she decide to give them up or keep them? As British power and interests changed so did her interests in the Mediterranean. Why were some bases retained rather than others? What is the future for Gibraltar and the sovereign bases in Cyprus? The British in the Mediterranean provides a brief description of the British military and naval involvement in such places as Tangier, Gibraltar, Malta and Cyprus. Peter Dietz gives an account of the gradual occupation of bases from west to east and the reasons for their acquisitions.

Historical in the main, this book also includes some account of the impact of the area on literary and social consciousness of the British visitors and settlers and the growth of British tourism in the Mediterranean is also examined. Filled with information on military architectural/archeological remains the British in the Mediterranean provides a novel approach for the tourist or the general reader, as well as for the military historian.

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Book Serial number BK11. Hardback 228 pages. Black and white photographs. Book price £29.95

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To see over 400 naval art prints  including art prints of HMS Hood go to www.naval-art.com 

British and Empire Warships by H T Lenton

British and Empire Warshps of the Second World War is the culmination of 37 years work by an experienced naval officer. The data accumulated far exceeds anything held in official records and has been painstakingly put together by a dedicated naval expert pre-eminent in his field. The book catalogues in encyclopaedic detail, the navies of Great Britain and what was its empire. No similar work exists, as other books tend to concentrate on particular classes of ships or a selection of warships from the navies.

In this comprehensive and definitive reference work H. T. Lenton has detailed all the warships of the British, Dominion and Colonial naval forces that participated in the Second World War. The background history of each category of warship is given, with extensive tables for the individual units, specifying the name, builder, engine manufacturer, building dates and ultimate fate of each vessel, where known. For each class of warship dimensions, displacements, armament and armour thicknesses are detailed. There are 634 photographs, some of which are unique, to provide the reader with a complete view.

A vast fleet came into existence under the powerful stimulus of war, and underwent a dramatic and sudden demise at the end of the conflict. British and Empire Warships of the Second World War covers all of the major surface warships, flotilla vessels, minelayers, minesweepers, trawlers, whalers, amphibious forces, coastal forces and miscellaneous vessels. In addition there are detailed appendices on radar, sonar equipment and pendant numbers, adding to the value of this magnificent and breathtaking study, destined to be the standard reference work on the subject for many years to come.

Book serial number BK30. Published price £100. Hard Back with 766 pages. Special price £85.

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Dreadnoughts in Camera by Roger D. Thomas and Brian Patterson

The construction of British Dreadnought warships between 1905 and 1920 was an enormous financial and industrial undertaking which involved all the major ship builders in Great Britain and two Royal Navy Dockyards. The speed at which these warships could be built became a matter of national importance as Britain was inexorably drawn into an accelerating naval race with Germany.

The massive dreadnought construction programme had to be mediated through the craft skills and working practices of a wide range of dock and shipyard workers. These leviathans of the sea were built at Portsmouth and Devonport naval dockyards and in the private shipyards of Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick; William Beardmore, Dalmuir; John Brown, Clydebank; Cammell Laird, Birkenhead; Harland and Wolff, Belfast; Palmers, Jarrow; Scotts, Greenock; the Thames Ironworks, Blackwall; and Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness.

A selection of more than 130 rare and carefully researched illustrations have been drawn from the archives of Beardmore, John Brown and Vickers, and support the authoritative text. Many of these photographs have come from the archives of the Business Record Centre at the University of Glasgow. They depict the various stages of dreadnought construction and are complemented by images of the gun and turbine shops and rolling mills of the major armament manufacturers employed in the dreadnought programme. Dreadnoughts in Camera provides a timely and important insight into this defining period in British naval history.

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Book serial number BK31. Price £19.99. Hard back with 180 pages.

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The Eclipse of the Big Gun

The Warship 1906-1945

Edited by D. K. Brown

This volume takes as its central theme the decline in the significance of the all-big-gun battleship, and describes the development of all the warship types of the period, from the aircraft carrier down to the smallest coastal forces vessels.

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Order number B5667, price £28. 224 page hardback. 275 photographs and drawings. 

Navies in the Nuclear Age

Warships since 1945

Edited by Dr Norman Friedman

By 1945 the threat to warships from above and below the surface had become to dominate the naval and strategies planning. Attempts to deal with the problem of aircraft and underwater weapons, the novel possibility of wartime operations in a nuclear environment, and the advent of more capable electronics, all helped to shape the development of the naval vessels which are described in detail in this volume.

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Order number B 5683, price £28. 224 page hardback. 260 illustrations. 

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Defiance at Sea - 

Stories of Dramatic Naval Warfare

by Jon Guttman 

Defiance at Sea presents fourteen true-life stories of 'last stands' afloat - valiant sea fights in the face of daunting odds. Here are tales of heroism and hard fighting, spanning the centuries of sea warfare from the sixteenth century to the present.

For this volume the author has chosen dramatic examples of such warfare, beginning with the Elizabethan age of sail, the daring of Nelson two hundred years later, through to the present century with underwater and surface events vividly described. Included are:

Grenville's Revenge at Flores, 1591

Barfleur and LA Hogue in 1692

Nelson at Cape St Vincent in 1797

USS Constitution, 1812-15

CSS Arkansas, 1862

SMS Emden, 1914

HM Submarine B11, 1914

The pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, 1940-1

Badoeng Strait, 1942

SS  Stephen Hopkins, 1942

HMIS Bengal in the Cocos Islands, 1942

Tassafaronga, 1942

Samar, 1944

ARA San Luis in the Falklands, 1982

In selecting these battles, the author, Jon Guttman, has borne in mind the various forms of daring and resolution needed by a naval commander when the situation is desperate - the tenacious obstinacy of Grenville in the Revenge, the sheer aggressiveness of Jervis and Nelson, counter-balancing the odds at St Vincent; the daring of other commanders while operating deep in enemy controlled waters - as exemplified in the stories of the Constitution, Emden, B11 and others.

He also explores just how the situations arose in which the ships were trapped or forced into the final defence - some by calculated risk, others by sheer bad luck. The principal thread running through all these stories, however, is the courage of the participants in the face of adversity.

Book price £16.99

Hardback book of 228 pages. Black & white photos. Book serial no. BK11

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Armada! by Robert Milne-Tyte.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was the greatest feat of English arms since the Battle of Agincourt a century and a half earlier. The poorly planned expedition with its huge galleons was ordered to join with the Spanish army in the Netherlands for an invasion of Queen Elizabeth Is Protestant England. But the Spaniards found that