This design history of post-war British warship development, based on both declassified documentation and personal experience, is the fourth and final volume in the author s masterly account of development of Royal Navy s ships from the 1850s to the Falklands War. In this volume the author covers the period in which he himself worked as a Naval Constructor, while this personal knowledge is augmented by George Moore s in-depth archival research on recently declassified material. The RN fleet in 1945 was old and worn out, while new threats and technologies, and post-war austerity called for new solutions. How designers responded to these unprecedented challenges is the central theme of this book. It covers the ambitious plans for the conversion or replacement of the bigger ships; looks at all the new construction, from aircraft carriers, through destroyers and frigates, to submarines (including nuclear and strategic), to minesweepers and small craft. The authors pay particular attention to the innovations introduced, and analyses the impact of the Falklands War. At the start of the twenty-first century the Royal Navy is still a powerful and potent force with new and a number of innovative classes, both surface and sub-surface, coming on stream. This book offers a fascinating insight into how the post-war fleet developed and adapted to the changing role of the Navy.
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About the Author
D K BROWN had an eminent career as a warship designer with Royal Corps of Naval Constructors. His highly-praised series also includes Warrior to Dreadnought, The Grand Fleet and Nelson to Vanguard. He died in 2008. GEORGE MOORE devoted his time to naval research and has published a major work wartime naval construction, Building for Victory.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By CrystalEye
Format:Hardcover
This book delves into the history of Royal Navy warship design since 1945. It starts off be briefly mentioning projects afoot at the end of WWII before moving onto the early postwar proposals and rebuilds, and then followed by warship design from the 1950s onwards in their various categories by type.
Parts of the book such as the final WWII programs have been covered in detail elsewhere (including its previous sister volumn 'Nelson to Vangaurd') while the rest covers much new ground talking about the various warship proposals, partly from the authors experience and partly from the little information that has been leaked officially.
Even given official restrictions, I personally feel that the volumn could have been nearly twice as thick as what it was (it is a little thinner than the previous volumns from the series - 'Nelson to Vangaurd', 'The Grand Fleet' and 'Warrior to Dreadnought'). There were so many new and un-discovered projects in there that one was left begging for further basic information such as Dimensions, Displacements etc. The line drawings are all very nice, but since many are new and not mentioned elsewhere then even an appendix dedicated to their particulars would have been welcomed. Sadly for further information on a design, one is forced to trace the original source for details.
Despite this complaint, the book covers much undiscovered ground and will make a welcome addition to the postwar naval historian, certainly a good companion or compliment with Eric Groves 'Vangaurd to Trident'.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By R. Beedall
Format:Paperback
I was immensely looking forward to this book when it was first published in 2003, but was slightly disappointed when I got my copy. I suspect that the personal involvement of DK Brown as a ship designer during the period covered has hindered rather than helped the book. The book is also quite short - nominally 208 pages but with about 190 of actual content, and this is further reduced by the B&W photos which often take up most two pages. The book really only covers designs up to the 1970's - it has a few pages called a 'Glimpse of the Future' and 'The Future Aircraft Carrier' but they are already very dated. The book is useful as an overview of the development of RN warship designs from 1945 to the '70's - but it's certainly not the definitive work. Pending that appearing, books by Norman Friedman offer a very valuable supplement in regards to RN post-WW2 aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book continues the excellent series on warship development in the RN. Whereas in previous volumes, the author could use his insight and experience to cast a lot of new light (at least for non-expert readers like me), this volume describes the period he was actually working in the MoD. At times the limitations imposed by Official Secrets (and, no doubt, loyalty to former colleagues) are painfully clear.
Usually, Brown goes over very well-worn ground with a fresh approach that I find very rewarding, but here there is much less novelty whilst the subject matter is no less well-worn. I'm still glad I bought this book, but it isn't the best in the series.
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