HMS Cavalier


Book Description

Few would have thought in 1944 as HMS Cavalier entered service with the Royal Navy that over six decades later she would still be in existence. The last example of the classic British wartime destroyer, this book looks at the distinguished history of the vessel.




HMS Cavalier


Book Description

HMS Cavalier is a 'C'-Class destroyer, one of 96 War Emergency Programme destroyers that were ordered between 1940 and 1942. She saw action on convoy duty off Russia, and later, in 1945, was sent to the Far East where she provided naval gunfire support during the battle of Surabaya. She continued with the British Pacific Fleet until May 1946. Now designated as a war memorial to the 142 RN destroyers and 11,000 men lost during WWII, she is on display at Chatham Historic Dockyard.As is the case for many museum ships there is a surprising shortage of informative and well illustrated guides, for reference during a visit or for research by enthusiasts—ship modellers, naval buffs, historians or students. This book, in the Seaforth Historic Ship series, redresses the gap. Containing more than 200 specially commissioned photographs, the book takes the reader on a superbly illustrated tour of the ship, from bow to stern and deck by deck. Significant parts of the vessel for example, the gun turrets and engine rooms are given detailed coverage both in words and pictures, so that the reader has at hand the most complete visual record and explanation of the ship that exists. In addition, the importance of the ship, both in her own time and now as a museum vessel, is explained. No other book offers such superb visual impact nor brings the ship so vividly to life.




Waterline Warships


Book Description

Philip Reed, best known for his superb models of ships from the age of sail, here turns his attention to the other highly popular subject for ship modelers - the warships of the Second World War. The book is a step-by-step manual for building a scratch waterline model of the Ca Class destroyer HMS Caesar, the sistership of Cavalier now on display in drydock at Chatham Historical Dockyard. These emergency built ships were launched between 1943 and 1945 and Caesar herself was to see action in 1944 on the Russian convoys and then in defense of the Western Approaches. The model presented in the book is built to the scale of 16ft to the inch and is designed to be displayed as a waterline model in a diorama. Every aspect is covered from the construction of a bread and butter hull through to the the details of camouflage, bridge, funnel, mast, the 4.5in, Hazemeyer and Oerlikon guns, boats, davits, depth charge gear, torpedo tubes, searchlights, vents and lockers,and the sea itself. Ship’s plans and a picture gallery at the end of the book devoted to a whole array of the author’s WWII model warships complete the book. More than fifty years of modeling experience is passed on through wise and practical advice and thus each page will be of the utmost value to scratch builders and to any kit builders who may be setting out to construct a model of a WWII warship.




Warship 2017


Book Description

Warship 2017 is devoted to the design, development and service history of the world's combat ships. Featuring a broad range of articles from a select panel of distinguished international contributors, this latest volume combines original research, new book reviews, warship notes, an image gallery and much more to maintain the impressive standards of scholarship and research from the field of warship history. This 39th edition features the usual range of diverse articles spanning the subject by an international array of expert authors.




British Destroyers: J-C and Battle Classes


Book Description

“A terrific author . . . invaluable to the modeler wishing to reproduce these classes of destroyers, and also to those interested in naval history.”—IPMS Magazine The ShipCraft series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeler through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sisterships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring color profiles and highly detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modeling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic survey of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references—books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites. A follow-up to ShipCraft 11 on inter-war destroyers, this new volume deals with the later classes which were the most modern British destroyers of the Second World War. Marked by a common single-funneled silhouette, they were actually very varied, ranging from the large and powerful J to N flotillas, via the austere “War Emergency” classes that were built in large numbers, to the radically different “Battle” class, designed with a powerful AA armament for service in the Pacific. “This book will be of interest to those who want an easy reference book that covers the British and Australian destroyers of this period, especially with regard to camouflage and overall appearance in service.”—Australian Naval Institute




Britain's Historic Ships


Book Description

The British Isles have a long, rich and celebrated seafaring history stretching from the earliest times through the victories of Drake and Nelson, the voyages of discovery of Cabot and Cook and the defence of the realm by vessels of all types in the present century. Much of this history is recorded in literature and in museums but reaches its most tangible form in the large number of historical ships that have been preserved and are continually restored as monuments to a proud past. This lavish book explores 20 of the most celebrated and accessible ships and offers a comprehensive history of each vessel's design, construction, active service and subsequent restoration and preservation. Presented in order of each ship's launch date, each entry is written by the acknowledged expert on a particular vessel, gives full specification details and is sumptuously illustrated with contemporary photographs, historical illustrations and a full set of scale plans. In addition to the featured entries, an appendix presents all of the necessary contact details and opening times where applicable. The appendix also lists (and provides details for) other vessels of historical importance including a small number of working replicas such as the Matthew and the recently commissioned eighteenth-century frigate The Grand Turk, featured in the recent Hornblower television series. Principal vessels include: Mary Rose, HMS Victory, HMS Trincomalee, SS Great Britain, Cutty Sark, RRS Discovery, HMS Warrior, HMS Belfast, HMY Britannia, HMS Alliance, HMS Cavalier, Gypsy Moth IV and HMS Plymouth.




British and Commonwealth Warship Camouflage of WWII


Book Description

During the Second World War navies developed low visibility camouflage for their ships, on both the vertical and horizontal surfaces, in order reduce visibility by blending in with the sea, or confuse the identity of a ship by applying more obtrusive patters. In this new book by maritime artist Mal Wright both the official and unofficial paint schemes that adorned ships of the Royal Navy and Commonwealth are depicted in detail, along with discussion on changes of armament and electronics that effected the outward appearance of each ship.??Starting with destroyers from WW1 still in service during WW2, the book progressively covers ships below cruisers, class by class, to provide a detailed and easy-to-use guide to paint schemes in use. In some cases individual ships are shown in the several schemes they wore thus providing a source that covers various periods of service. With 740 full colour illustrations, all of named vessels, this book concentrates information into a single volume to provide a one-stop reference source, and, for the first time in a single volume, it covers not just the well-known ships, but also escort vessels, minesweepers, trawlers, coastal craft and auxiliaries in sequential format. ??Many schemes would be difficult for the reader to have found other than with the most intensive research so that historians, collectors, modelmakers and wargamers will find this unique reference source absolutely invaluable.




One of a Baker's Dozen


Book Description




Destroyer


Book Description

In this title, Ian Hawkins draws together numerous stories from those men who served on the B- and C-class destroyers, weaving them together using excerpts from books, news articles, speeches, and his own authoritative notes.




Passing Ships


Book Description

A fascinating and poignant account of one man’s life on the sea and the love it continues to inspire in him.