The Battleship Dreadnought (Anatomy of the Ship) [Hardcover]

John Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003

Launched in 1906, HMS Dreadnought was the first 'all-big-gun' battleship and as such revolutionised battleship design for more than a generation. She was built at Portsmouth in 14 months, a record which has never been equalled, and when she was launched she was superior in both firepower and speed to anything then afloat. Perhaps even more radical than her design was the proposal to adopt Parsons turbines which at the time had been hardly tested. Though she saw little action during her career, her influence was profound and she gave her name to a class of ship that dominated the high seas for more than a generation.

The 'Anatomy of the Ship' series aims to provide the finest documentation of individual ships and ship types ever published. What makes the series unique is a complete set of superbly executed line drawings, both the conventional type of plan as well as explanatory views, with fully descriptive keys. These are supported by technical details and a record of the ship's service history.

John Roberts is widely recognised for his contributions to warship literature. He was editor of Warship for six years and is the co-author of the standard works on British battleships and cruisers of the Second World War period. His superb warship plans led one authority to describe him as 'the best draughtsman in the UK' and so he is the ideal author to contribute to the Anatomy series. His two previous volumes, on Hood and Intrepid, were widely acclaimed.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Conway Maritime Press; Revised edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 085177895X
• ISBN-13: 978-0851778952
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,708,720 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Treatment for Historic and Revolutionary Ship, January 31, 2003

By 

Peter Brase (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battleship Dreadnought (Anatomy of the Ship) (Hardcover)

This volume measures up to the superb standards of the Anatomy of a Ship series, and it is high time we had such a comprehensive and attractive guide to HMS Dreadnought, the prototype for all 20th century battleships. The book includes a narrative history of the ship and description of its features, full technical data, and superb drawings of virtually every detail of the ship's construction and equipment. The one request I would ask only for more interior photos. Highly recommended to historians, naval buffs and serious modellers.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very unusal book that you don't expect to find, July 8, 2005

By 

Kyle A. Wiegers "Kyle" (Lincoln, Nebraska, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battleship Dreadnought (Anatomy of the Ship) (Hardcover)

In a nutshell this book is detailed blueprints for the HMS Dreadnought. There is a small amount of text at the beginning, as well as unusually in depth statistical details such as how much the ship cost to be built as well.

The majority of the book after that first chapter are all schematics. You will see deck by deck plans for every toom in the ship, with many rooms even more detailed in their own chapters. Who would have guessed the ship's prison was in the same room as the toilets at the rear of the ship? Did you know that the ammunition bunkers have air conditioning to keep the gunpowder/cordite a consistant temperature for consistant gunnery? Did you know that the boiler rooms have air forced into them in the steam age equivalent of turbo charging?

Where the book does fall flat however is explaining all these details. You had better already have a good idea of what the components of a battleship are, because the schematics do not explain what it is you are looking at.

I still give it a 5 out of 5 because you will not find this level of detail in any other book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed Description- Limited analysis, October 19, 2005

By 

N. Doyle (WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battleship Dreadnought (Anatomy of the Ship) (Hardcover)

The book can be broken into three parts, the first is relatively brief and gives the background to how the ship came about, its costs, major issues etc.
There then follows an extensive collection of photograhs showing the ship during it's construction.
The remainder of the book (probably about 60% of it) consists of plans and construction drawings of the ship. These provide a wealth of detail on all aspects of the ship ranging from construction of the ships boilers to the attachment arrangement of steel girders.
If you want to see how an early dreadnought is put together you'll love this book. However it doesn't give the designers reasoning for the decisions made (or the issues they had to resolve). Therefore if you want to know what was built it's a good chioce; if you want to know why they built it the way they did you'll need to look elsewhere (Battleship Design & Development 1905-1945 by Friedman gives a much more detailed assessment of the conflicting engineering issues facing any battleship designer).