Author: Angus Konstam Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472825802 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 49
Book Description
Packed with photos and stunning new artwork, this is a concise history of the Royal Navy's wartime-built destroyers, the backbone of the fleet.
Author: Angus Konstam Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472816374 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 49
Book Description
The Royal Navy entered World War II with a large but eclectic fleet of destroyers. Some of these were veterans of World War I, fit only for escort duties. Most though, had been built during the inter-war period, and were regarded as both reliable and versatile. Danger though lurked across the seas as new destroyers being built in Germany, Italy and Japan were larger and better armoured. So, until the new, larger Tribal-class destroyers could enter service, these vessels would have to hold the line. Used mainly to hunt submarines, protect convoys from aerial attack, and take out other destroyers, these ships served across the globe during the war. This fully illustrated study is the first in a two-part series on the real workhorses of the wartime Royal Navy, focusing on how these ageing ships took on the formidable navies of the Axis powers.
Author: Angus Konstam Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472858093 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 49
Book Description
A history of the small, mass-produced warships that defended the Atlantic convoys from U-boats and secured Britain's lifeline to the United States. As the Battle of the Atlantic grew fiercer, Britain and the Commonwealth needed large quantities of new warships to defend their shipping which could be produced cheaply. The two largest type of ship produced were the escort destroyer and the frigate. Escort destroyers were essentially small destroyers optimized for anti-submarine warfare, with speed and anti-surface weaponry sacrificed, while frigates were simpler, designed so they could be built quickly in civilian shipyards. Nearly 200 were built. These warships were key to protecting convoys in the Atlantic Ocean where their range and seagoing qualities made them well-suited for operations. They were also used to form hunting groups, and collectively accounted for the destruction of scores of German U-boats. Their arrival came at a critical time for the Royal Navy, when the Battle of the Atlantic was reaching its climax, and losses among both merchant ships and escorts were mounting. In this book, naval expert Angus Konstam outlines the history of the Hunt-, Loch-, Bay-, and River-class escort destroyers and frigates, revealing how crews fought, and what life was like on board. Using archive photos, detailed colour profiles, a Hunt-class cutaway, and battlescenes of the ships at war, he explores the key role played by these small but deadly escorts.
Author: Gordon Williamson Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1780966679 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 50
Book Description
The German destroyer fleet of World War II consisted of nine classes: the Diether Von Roeder Class, the Leberecht Maas Class and the wartime classes Z23, Z35, Z37, Z40, Z43, Z46 and Z52. These vessels, though fewer in number than the British destroyer fleet, tended to be much bigger and more powerful than their allied counterparts. They served their country well in operations in the Channel, North Sea, the Far North and in the rescue of civilians from East Prussia during the final days of the war. This title describes their design, development and operational use from the fjords of Narvik to the final days of the war.
Author: Angus Konstam Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1782008411 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 78
Book Description
With war against Germany looming, Britain pushed forward its carrier program in the late 1930s. In 1938, the Royal Navy launched the HMS Ark Royal, its first-ever purpose-built aircraft carrier. This was quickly followed by others, including the highly-successful Illustrious class. Smaller and tougher than their American cousins, the British carriers were designed to fight in the tight confines of the North Sea and the Mediterranean. Over the next six years, these carriers battled the Axis powers in every theatre, attacking Italian naval bases, hunting the Bismark, and even joining the fight in the Pacific. This book tells the story of the small, but resilient, carriers and the crucial role they played in the British war effort.
Author: Mark Lardas Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472839757 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 49
Book Description
The Destroyer Escort was the smallest ocean-going escort built for the United States Navy – a downsized destroyer with less speed, fewer guns, and fewer torpedoes than its big brother, the fleet destroyer. Destroyer escorts first went into production because the Royal Navy needed an escort warship which was larger than a corvette, but which could be built faster than a destroyer. Lacking the shipyards to build these types of ships in Britain, they ordered them in the US. Once the US unexpectedly entered World War II, its navy suddenly also needed more escort warships, even warships less capable than destroyers, and the destroyer escort was reluctantly picked to fill the gap. Despite the Navy's initial reservations, these ships did yeoman service during World War II, fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific, taking on both U-boat and Japanese submarines and serving as the early warning pickets against kamikazes later in the war. They also participated in such dramatic actions as the Battle of Samar (where a group of destroyers and destroyer escorts fought Japanese battleships and cruisers to protect the escort carriers they were shielding) and the capture of the U-505 (the only major naval vessel captured at sea by the US Navy). The destroyer escorts soldiered on after World War II in both the United States Navy and a large number of navies throughout the world, with several serving into the twenty-first century. This book tells the full story of these plucky ships, from their design and development to their service around the world, complete with stunning illustrations and contemporary photographs.
Author: David Greentree Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN: 1472828593 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 81
Book Description
The opening months of World War II saw Britain's Royal Navy facing a resurgent German navy, the Kriegsmarine. Following the German invasion of Denmark and Norway in early April 1940, British and German destroyers would clash in a series of battles for control of the Norwegian coast. The operational environment was especially challenging, with destroyer crews having to contend with variable weather, narrow coastal tracts and possibility of fog and ship breakdowns. In two engagements at Narvik, the Royal Navy entered the harbour and attacked the loitering German destroyers who had dropped off mountain troops to support the German invasion. The raids were devastating, halving at a stroke the number at Hitler's disposal. Employing specially commissioned artwork and drawing upon a range of sources, this absorbing study traces the evolving technology and tactics employed by the British and German destroyer forces, and assesses the impact of the Narvik clashes on both sides' subsequent development and deployment of destroyers in a range of roles across the world's oceans.
Author: Peter C. Smith Publisher: Casemate Publishers ISBN: 1781596352 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 526
Book Description
This WWII history examines how the Royal Navy defended the English Channel from the first Dover Patrols to the liberation of the Channel Islands. The English Channel has always provided Great Britain with a natural defensive barrier, but it was never more vital than in the early days of World War Two. This book relates how the Royal Navy maintained control of that vital seaway throughout the war. Military historian Peter Smith takes readers from the early days of the Dover Patrols, through the traumas of the Dunkirk evacuation and the battles of the Channel convoys; the war against the E-boats and U-boats; the tragic raids at Dieppe and St Nazaire; the escape of the German battle-fleet; coastal convoys; the Normandy landings and the final liberation of the Channel Islands. Many wartime photographs, charts and tables add to this superb account of this bitterly contested narrow sea.
Author: William B. Kirkland Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 1786257653 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 138
Book Description
Includes numerous maps and illustrations. This monograph provides first-hand accounts of Destroyer Squadron 18 during this critical battle upon which so much of the success of our campaign in Europe would depend. Their experience at Omaha Beach can be looked upon as typical of most U.S. warships engaged at Normandy. On the other hand, from the author’s research it appears evident that this destroyer squadron, with their British counterparts, may have had a more pivotal influence on the breakout from the beachhead and the success of the subsequent campaign than was heretofore realized. Its contributions certainly provide a basis for discussion among veterans and research by historians, as well as a solid, professional account of naval action in support of the Normandy landings.
Author: Norman Friedman Publisher: Seaforth Publishing ISBN: 1783469188 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 680
Book Description
“An extraordinarily detailed account of the development of Royal Navy cruisers . . . a towering work” from the author of Fighting the Great War at Sea (Warship 2012). For most of the twentieth century, Britain possessed both the world’s largest merchant fleet and its most extensive overseas territories. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Royal Navy always showed a particular interest in the cruiser—a multipurpose warship needed in large numbers to defend trade routes and police the empire. Above all other types, the cruiser’s competing demands of quality and quantity placed a heavy burden on designers, and for most of the interwar period, Britain sought to square this circle through international treaties restricting both size and numbers. In the process, she virtually invented the heavy cruiser and inspired the large 6in-armed cruiser, neither of which, ironically, served her best interests. This book seeks to comprehend, for the first time, the full policy background—from which a different and entirely original picture of British cruiser development emerges. After the war, the cruiser’s role was reconsidered, and the final chapters of the book cover modernizations, the plans for missile-armed ships, and the convoluted process that turned the “through-deck cruiser” into the Invincible class light carriers. With detailed appendices of ship data, and illustrated in depth with photos and A.D. Baker’s specially commissioned plans, British Cruisers truly matches the lofty standards set by Friedman’s previous books on British destroyers. “Wow! . . . Lavishly illustrated with a photograph or line plan on almost every page. The text is packed with technical information, detail, and description of design, construction and application of these important ships.” —Clash of Steel
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Author: Angus Konstam
Author: Angus Konstam
Author: Angus Konstam
Author: Gordon Williamson
Author: Angus Konstam
Author: Mark Lardas
Author: David Greentree
Author: Peter C. Smith![Destroyers At Normandy: Naval Gunfire Support At Omaha Beach [Illustrated Edition] PDF](https://books.google.com/books/content/images/frontcover/6tVvCwAAQBAJ?fife=w150-h200)
Author: William B. Kirkland
Author: Norman Friedman