HMS Royal Sovereign and Her Sister Ships
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This is the wartime history of the battleship HMS Royal Sovereign, along with the story of her four sister ships HMS Revenge, HMS Resolution, HMS Royal Oak and HMS Ramillies. These ships were built and launched during World War I and although old and slow, and bitterly criticised by Churchill and others as being "Coffin Ships", the Royal Sovereign class battleships in fact played a valiant and doughty role in World War II. The Royal Oak was an early loss, thanks mainly to pre-war Government parsimony, the other four ships played a full part, at Norway, bombarding the German invasion fleet in the Channel; escorting North Atlantic convoys; in the Mediterranean, in the Indian Ocean, the occupation of Madagascar and at Normandy and the South of France invasions. HMS Royal Sovereign herself, was handed over to the Soviet Union for several years and her service there is also detailed along with their final demise post-war. Many original eyewitness accounts and photographs enhance the book.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am an avid reader of naval history. I found this book very disappointing. There is very little detail on the design for this class of battleship at a time where there were significant consideration following on from the previous Queen Elizabeth class. The book uses extensive quotes from sailors and Royal Marines who served on her - whilst always a useful insight, the extent to which quotes are used gives the impression that there was a lack of material for the book. Unfortunately, the author makes too much use of the author's own opinion (often biased) on matters that happened 60-80 years ago and this detracts from the value of this book as record of this class of battleships.
2 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Picking all of the Royal Sovereign Class Battelships means that Peter Smith has plenty of action to choose from. They were involved all over the globe as Britain's lack of capital ships kept them in service for many years. Fascinating collection of eye witness accounts, and memories from those who served. A great read for those interested in WW2 naval activity.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The book is an operational history of the Royal Navy's five "R" class battleships in WW2; Royal Sovereign, Ramillies, Resolution, Revenge and Royal Oak. They were powerfully armed with eight 15" guns and heavily armoured. The Royal Oak was torpedoed and sunk by U47 in Scapa Flow in 1939. The other four had active careers in the early years of WW2 before being retired one by one in 1943-44. From 1939 to 1941 the surviving four ships protected Altantic convoys. Royal Sovereign and Ramillies served against the Italians in the eastern Mediterranean and Resolution bombarded the Vichy French fleet at Oran and Dakar. From 1942 the four surviving ships served in the eastern fleet in the Indian Ocean facing the Japanese. For most it was their last active service. In 1944 Royal Sovereign was loaned to the Soviet Union becoming the Archangelsk. Ramillies had the longest active service, providing fire support on D-Day and in the invasion of Southern France in mid 1944.
The book highlights the success of the class in protecting the Atlantic convoys from German capital ships and contrasts this with the stereotype of harbour bound battleships. Possibly the finest hour of the class was the sortie by the Revenge against invasion shipping in Cherbourg harbour in August 1940. The book provides a window on life and service afloat through quotes from crew members. There is a good set of photopgraphs. It is easy to read.
There are drawbacks. The book gives only brief coverage of encounters with the enemy. It is told solely from the British perspective. The 1988 edition has an index but no bibliography and is poorly footnoted.
Technical and design aspects are poorly treated. The author advocates sentimental and ill-considered views. He argues that the class was under rated and its potential was not realised as they did not receive extensive modification. In reality the "R" class were the least capable of the 12 battleships of the Royal Navy at the start of the war. They were slow and the range of the 15" guns was limited by the design of the turrets. As a result they could not engage enemy capital ships on favourable terms. Extensive modifications would have been a poor investment and diverted resources from building new better ships or modifying more capable existing ships. Arguably the Admiralty made sound use of the class's predominantly defensive capabilities and retired them as soon as possible. Anything else would have invited tragedy. As it was three "R" class battleships of the eastern fleet narrowly escaped annhiliation by the Japanese carrier fleet that devastated Pearl Harbour.
The "R" class was notable for several encounters with the Vichy French navy. For an excellent and in-depth treatment of the war against Vichy including these encounters, see England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-42 by Colin Smith.
The book highlights the success of the class in protecting the Atlantic convoys from German capital ships and contrasts this with the stereotype of harbour bound battleships. Possibly the finest hour of the class was the sortie by the Revenge against invasion shipping in Cherbourg harbour in August 1940. The book provides a window on life and service afloat through quotes from crew members. There is a good set of photopgraphs. It is easy to read.
There are drawbacks. The book gives only brief coverage of encounters with the enemy. It is told solely from the British perspective. The 1988 edition has an index but no bibliography and is poorly footnoted.
Technical and design aspects are poorly treated. The author advocates sentimental and ill-considered views. He argues that the class was under rated and its potential was not realised as they did not receive extensive modification. In reality the "R" class were the least capable of the 12 battleships of the Royal Navy at the start of the war. They were slow and the range of the 15" guns was limited by the design of the turrets. As a result they could not engage enemy capital ships on favourable terms. Extensive modifications would have been a poor investment and diverted resources from building new better ships or modifying more capable existing ships. Arguably the Admiralty made sound use of the class's predominantly defensive capabilities and retired them as soon as possible. Anything else would have invited tragedy. As it was three "R" class battleships of the eastern fleet narrowly escaped annhiliation by the Japanese carrier fleet that devastated Pearl Harbour.
The "R" class was notable for several encounters with the Vichy French navy. For an excellent and in-depth treatment of the war against Vichy including these encounters, see England's Last War Against France: Fighting Vichy 1940-42 by Colin Smith.
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