Royal Yachts Under Sail

Royal Yachts Under Sail written by Brian Lavery and published

by Seaforth Publishing - £50 - Hardback - Pages 160

From the time of the Restoration of Charles II, when he returned to England from Breda

and was presented with the yacht Mary by the burgomaster of Amsterdam, Royal yachts

began to be defined as such in England and built with that special purpose in mind.

They were built luxuriously and used for royal visits to the fleet, for diplomacy and for

racing and cruising for pleasure.

Charles II took more of an interest in the sea than any other English monarch. He built a fleet of royal yachts, fine examples of ship design and decorative art, and he can be said to have been the father of yachting and of royal yachts. His successors were less keen on the sea but travelled to Europe on missions of peace and war; and royal yachts took part in regime change several times. In 1689 Queen Mary was bought over to join her husband William of Orange and complete the ‘Glorious Revolution’. In 1714 George I arrived from Hanover to establish a new dynasty. And in 1814, in a reverse process, King Louis XVIII was taken back to France to restore the monarchy after the defeat of Napoleon.

This important new book is the first to describe the building and decoration of the yachts in such detail, using many newly discovered sources; and it is the first to describe their uses and exploits, often taking their royal passengers into controversy or danger. Besides the yachts themselves, it reveals much about the character of the kings, queens and princes involved – the impetuousness of the future William IV for example, or his brother George IV’s surprising love of sailing. It describes the design, accommodation, and sailing of the yachts, as well as their captains and crews.

Royal Yachts Under Sail is a beautiful-looking book, it’s a coffee table size book, so one that’s not so easy to read laid in bed. I have to start with the fact that this book is choc full of brilliant and beautiful artwork of fantastic royal ships, scenes, sailors and ports of interest. The pictures in my opinion really bring the book and subject to life, and the standard of art is just very beautiful. The book also contains maps, diagrams, illustrations and plans which are of equally high standard too. 

The book explains the story of the start of the Royal Yacht era with the return of

Charles II, but these boats were not just your standard boat, these boats were

vessels of high luxury, style and expense. Their opulence would bring stature,

standing and status to the monarch and his country. This is a fascinating book

if you're into learning about boat building, with much talk about plans, ease of

building, standards of building and work. This book was a fascinating read I

have enjoyed reading and would easily please anyone who loves to read about

early sailing or model makers.

The Steep Atlantick Stream

The Steep Atlantick Stream written by Robert Harling and published by

Seaforth Publishing - £14.99 - Hardback - Pages 232

First published in 1946, this atmospheric memoir of the Battle of the Atlantic offers one of

the most original accounts of war at sea aboard a corvette, escorting convoys in both the

North and South Atlantic. The author, an RNVR lieutenant, experienced the terrors of

U-boat attacks and the hardships of autumn gales as well as the relief of shore runs in

ports as far apart as Halifax and Freetown.

The narrative begins with Harling’s voyage from the Clyde to New York on the Queen Mary (or QM, as she was known during her martial career), on route to join a newly-built corvette in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was to be her First Lieutenant, and his service at sea started in the spring of 1941, just as the battle of the Atlantic was entering its most crucial stage. During the first east-bound convoy he was to experience attacks by U-boats, the loss of merchant vessels and a steep learning curve as the ship’s crew struggled to live in the harsh wartime conditions. Later that summer they made return voyages to Iceland where runs ashore offered some solace from dangerous days at sea. Time was also spent in the South Atlantic with voyages to Freetown and Lagos, before a short interlude when he experienced the excitement of fighting with Coastal Forces. The corvette subsequently returned to escorting convoys from Halifax to Europe.

His narrative is both serious and humorous, and his picture of wartime Britain, his descriptions of being buffeted by great storm-tossed seas in the ‘cockleshell corvettes’, and the recounting of grim losses are all too real and authentic. His story ends as he leaves his ship after a violent cold developed into pneumonia, and soon afterwards he hears the heart-breaking news of her loss, along with the captain and half the crew, after being torpedoed. He is left to ponder on the many tombless dead consigned by the war to the Steep Atlantick Stream.

This is a small book but reflects the small world of these ships that the sailors had to live in. A story about a small corvette having to join forces with other likely crews to help face down the threat of U-boats in the Atlantic in WW2. This book is written by the crewman on board and conveys the ups and downs of being at sea during the lively times and the down times. This book was first published in 1946, but the book holds up well and I really enjoyed the camaraderie and humour within the book.

The Ocean Class of the Second World War

The Ocean Class of the Second World War written by Malcolm Cooper

and published by Seaforth Publishing - £30 - Hardback - Pages 216

They entered the vanguard of the Allied shipping effort at a time when the German U-boat

threat was at its most dangerous, and British shipping resources were stretched to the limit.

They were deployed in the North Atlantic, on the long supply routes around Africa to the

Middle East, in the Russian convoys, in operations in support of the invasions of North

Africa and Italy and the land campaigns which followed, in the D-Day landings and later

amphibious operations on the south coast of France. Finally, some of the class joined an

invasion force making its way towards Malaya when Japan surrendered in August 1945.

The Oceans paid a heavy price for these accomplishments, one third of the class being

lost to torpedoes, bombs or mines in places as far apart as the Florida coast, the Norwegian

Sea, the Bay of Algiers and the Gulf of Oman.

While these achievements alone would merit an important place in histories of the war at sea, the impact of the Oceans stretched far beyond the direct contribution of the ships themselves. The yards where they were built also served as models for a series of new American shipyards, designed to mass produce cargo vessels with such speed and in such volume as to completely reverse the mathematics of attrition, which had run so badly against the Allies into 1942. Even more important, the Oceans’ blueprints were used as the basis for the American Liberty ship, the 2,700-strong fleet which finally tilted the balance of the war at sea decisively in the Allies’ favour and went on to underpin the post-war renewal of the world merchant fleet.

This comprehensive new history, based on extensive archival research and lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs, restores the Oceans to their rightful place in history. The ships’ design antecedents are explained, and their ordering, financing and construction are analysed in full. Wartime operations are covered in depth, by theatre and with full details of war losses and other casualties. The book concludes with an assessment of their subsequent peacetime careers and a comparison to other war-built designs. This is a model history of a highly significant class of ship.

The Ocean Class of the Second World War was certainly an interesting book, and a very comprehensively published book. This book looks at the cargo type sea-going ships, the book goes on to explain how Britain had a minimum number of these and so had to try and get a good number of these made as the country headed into WWII. The problem was that Britain had specific specifications it wanted, and where the US was the place to go, they were reluctant to build such ships. This would lead to the UK purchasing a number of yards in the US & Canada to build what they wanted specifically, and eventually, the US would come round to the British way of thinking and would eventually build similar ships to similar designs. The book is fully illustrated with photographs, pictures, plans, drawings and diagrams, the history, story and text supporting all this is informative and detailed. This book is a very good and easy read, one I quite enjoyed learning more about. A certainly recommended read.

Republished from 9th September.

Warships of the Soviet Fleet 1939-1945 Vol I Major Combatants

Warships of the Soviet Fleet 1939-1945 Vol I Major Combatants written by

Przemyslaw Budzbon , Jan Radziemski, Marek Twardowski and published

by Seaforth Publishing - £45.00 - Hardback - Pages 352

Seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War the details of Soviet ships, their activities and fates remain an enigma to the West. In wartime such information was classified and after a brief period of glasnost (‘openness’) the Russian state has again restricted access to historical archives. Therefore, the value – and originality – of this work is difficult to exaggerate. It sees the first publication of reliable data on both the seagoing fleets and riverine flotillas of the Soviet Navy, listing over 6200 vessels from battleships to river gunboats, and mercantile conversions as well as purpose-built warships. Divided into three volumes, this first covers major surface warships down to MTBs and armoured gunboats, as well as submarines.

For every class there is a design history analysing strategic, tactical and technical considerations, and individual ship detail includes construction yard, key building dates, commissioning, fleet designations, relocations and ultimate fate. Once a closely guarded secret, the wartime loss of every ship and boat (over 1000) is described. Furthermore, the confusion caused by frequent name changes is clarified by indexes that run to 16,000 items.

By following the ships through both their wartime and earlier history, the book reveals many aspects of Russian history that remain highly sensitive: clandestine co-operation with Weimar Germany and fascist Italy, the NKVD-enforced closure of Soviet borders, the ‘Gulag Fleet’, the faked Metallist sinking that excused the military occupation of Estonia, and the ill-conceived pact with Nazi Germany. Restrictions recently imposed on historical publications in Russia mean this book could certainly not have been published there – as proven by the fact that most of the authors' Russian collaborators preferred not to disclose their identities.

This book has been a really informative and comprehensive read, a lot of time has been taken to present great detail for the reader, like what had been said detail has not often been made available to the west for secretive reasons. For a start I should just say that for some reason I just love a book with a map on the inside cover and this book does, I don’t know why, maybe it reminds me of old history books of the past. 

The book starts off with a great chapter that emphasises Organisation, Ship Types, Fleets, Ship Constructors, Ship Building Programmes, Quality and Performance. This was all really good to read because they set the scene for what was to come about the various ships. The book then goes into the individual types of ships and classes such as Cruisers, Torpedo Boats, Submarines, Monitors and Gunboats. Each ship gets a little history, pictures, plans, diagrams, specifications and any outstanding details that make that ships stand out. This is a fascinating and detailed book that kept me hooked and there is a big realisation as to how big the Russian Navy was and how the Navy was greatly built in reaction to what was going on in WW2. I would highly recommend this book and a brilliant encyclopedic read. In fact, I want to give it 5 Stars.

What Happened to the Battleship 1945 to the Present

What Happened to the Battleship 1945 to the Present written by Chris Baker and

published by Seaforth Publishing - £30 - Hardback - Pages 304

In the hundreds of books written about battleships, the authors tend to draw down

the curtain on the careers of these great vessels in September 1945, with the surrender

of Japan. Yet, on that day some ninety-eight battleships or ex-battleships might be

spotted around the world, and eleven of them were in or around Tokyo Bay for the

surrender itself. What happened to all those ships?

This new book takes a fresh look at the slow demise of the battleship. It examines the decisions made by the major world powers after 1945, and their aspirations to retain battleships in their navies, despite financial stringency. It places the history and role of battleships after 1945 in their geo-political context, centred around the Cold War and the need for the West to face down an aggressive Soviet Union. It also examines the impact on battleships of operational analysis of the Second World War and new technological developments, notably the atom bomb and the guided missile.

The book uses the wealth of information from ship’s books, ship’s logs and gun logs to document in considerable detail what the ships actually did after the Second World War, with a particular focus on those of the Royal Navy. It covers United States battleship operations in Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War, as well as the deterrent role played by battleships for NATO from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Finally, it brings the story up to date by documenting the preservation as museum ships of the eight dreadnoughts which still exist today in the United States.

Extensively illustrated with photographs of the huge range of activities of battleships after 1945, from their use as Fleet flagships to Royal or Presidential yachts and more poignantly as target ships, this new book will appeal equally to the historic ship enthusiast and naval specialist, and provide a novel perspective through a battleship–shaped lens on late twentieth-century history for the more general reader.

This book is a fascinating insight into the world of the Battleship with regards to all the major players in the world with strong Navies. Whereas the world you might think is now dominated by aircraft carriers from the major countries, when you look at the size of the American Navy but especially the Chinese in recent years. But there was always major importance in naval circles to always have a strong Battleship class because these were more easily adaptable, quick and could always be sent out to solve problems much quicker than an aircraft carrier. I found this book to be a little less about technical details and specifications, but I enjoyed this and enjoyed the fact there was more about educated opinion. Now I’m not going to claim to be an expert on Naval history, just a mere enthusiast, but I found this to be a very interesting book, one that would suit many levels of knowledge. As usual, there was great photography throughout the book and certainly one I’ll be reading again for all kinds of information.

The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe, 1939–1945

The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe, 1939–1945 written by David Hobbs and

published by Seaforth Publishing - £35.00 - Hardback - Pages 352

For the first time, this book tells the story of how naval air operations evolved into a vital

element of the Royal Navy’s ability to fight a three-dimensional war against both the Kriegsmarine

and Luftwaffe. An integral part of RN, the Fleet Air Arm was not a large organisation, with only

406 pilots and 232 front-line aircraft available for operations in September 1939. Nevertheless,

its impact far outweighed its numbers – it was an RN fighter that shot down the first enemy

aircraft of the war, and an RN pilot was the first British fighter 'ace' with 5 or more kills. The

Fleet Air Arm’s rollcall of achievements in northern waters went on to include the Norwegian

Campaign, the crippling of Bismarck, the gallant sortie against Scharnhorst and Gneisenau

as they passed through the Channel, air attacks on enemy E-boats in the narrow seas, air

cover for the Russian convoys, air attacks that disabled Tirpitz, and strikes and minelaying

operations against German shipping in the Norwegian littoral that continued until May 1945.

By the end of the war in Europe the FAA had grown to 3243 pilots and 1336 aircraft.

This book sets all these varied actions within their proper naval context and both technical and tactical aspects are explained with 'thumb-nail' descriptions of aircraft, their weapons and avionics. Cross reference with the Fleet Air Arm Roll of Honour has been made for the first time to put names to those aircrew killed in action wherever possible as a mark of respect for their determination against enemy forces on, above and below the sea surface which more often than not outnumbered them.

The Fleet Air Arm and the War in Europe completes David Hobbs’ much-praised six-volume series chronicling the operational history of British naval aviation from the earliest days to the present.

This book is part of a series of six, I was lucky enough to get to read his last book Taranto, and together with this book, I’ve just finished reading it is a very fine book and written with so much detail and comprehensive detail. These books are certainly ones to treasure as they are not just written by people who know the ‘knowledge’ of the subject, but they have lived their subject and been a part of it, which cements the brilliant knowledge being written. David Hobbs is a 30 year veteran of the Royal Navy serving as a pilot, and later became the curator of the Fleet Air Arm Museum.

The book explains various aspects of the Royal Navy from the planes used, the ships used, the special operations carried out along with the weapons, dynamics and strategies. It does all this very well by writing it in chapters dedicated to each year of the war. I also enjoyed the good retrospective section in the back which preceded the bibliography and the very detailed notes section. The book also contains a large number of good b/w photographs throughout. I really enjoyed this book and would happily recommend it to others and it’s nice to see more books being written in this way about the Navy.