| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £4.00
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Warrior to Dreadnought: Warship Development 1860-1905 for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £4.00, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Synopsis
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
The main object of this book is NOT to serve as a detailed reference on the designs themselves (the Conway series already serves this function) but to discuss how design decisions were made and whether they made the right one - both from a point of view of at the time and with hindsight. The Author was a warship designer himself and even served a few years in the Royal Navy proper, and so provides many insights, explaining much of the technology in a way that most of us will understand.
Not instantly visible is that this book is in fact part of a series covering warship design of the past 200 years. This work is clearly well researched and cross referenced and should be considered a must for the serious naval historian (into warship design) and anyone considering a career designing ships (as much re-inventing the wheel can be quickly avoided).
Some no doubt, may find this book pricey, but naval history, particulary that covering warship design, does not come much better than this.
All engineering aspects are covered in a wealth of detail, from the development of the marine steam engine and the introduction of the steam turbine, to the fantastic changes in armament, the question of layout and the essential polarisation in design styles between the 'British' and 'French' styles which were eventually compared in action during the Russo Japanese War. Extensive pieces on the Spanish American and Russo Japanese wars show how a particular aspect of design stood up to action.
A commonly held belief is that the Admiralty fiercely resisted change. This myth is thoroughly dismissed ands instead the Royal Navy is shown to have been a hotbed of innovation, with no good idea (and, it must be said, one or two bad ones) refused.
There is a risk with a book such as this that the result will be a highly technical piece, of interest only to those 'in the know'. This is definitely not the case; 'Warrior to Dreadnought' is an exceptionally well written book which will appeal to the expert, whilst also bringing the subject alive to those with an interest but little or no technical knowledge (unlike the reviewer above I've found that my colleagues without a Constructor's background are well able to comprehend the technical content). Highly recommended.
The book is well laid out and cross-referenced, with excellent illustrations and diagrams, and would be of interest both to the serious naval designer wishing to expand his historical knowledge and to those with a passing interest in naval technology or naval history. It is quite technical in part, but written clearly and with direct reference to the actual ships being produced. It may be necessary to read associated historical summaries to understand more of the political, engineering and cultural background that drove many aspects of the developments, but the book stands alone extremely well.
A thoroughly enjoyable book to dip into or to read from cover to cover for those with an interest in naval technology.
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Maritime History > Battleships
- Books > History > Military History > Armed Forces > Naval Forces
- Books > Reference > Transport > Ships > Pictorial
- Books > Travel & Holiday > Countries & Regions > Canada
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
