British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After [Hardcover]

Norman Friedman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2006

Very well known author with a real following. The most comprehensive design history yet of modern British surface warships. Full technical details, with much new information and insight; many plans and photographs Since the Second World War the old categories of destroyer and frigate have tended to merge, a process that this book traces back to the radically different 'Tribal' class destroyers of 1936. It deals with the development of all the modern destroyer classes that fought the war, looks at the emergency programmes that produced vast numbers of trade protection vessels - sloops, corvettes and frigates - then analyses the pressures that shaped the post-war fleet, and continued to dominate design down to recent years. Norman Friedman is renowned for his ability to explain the policy and strategy changes that drive design decisions, and his latest book lives up to this reputation. Not content to merely describe the many classes in full technical detail, he uses previously unpublished material from his research in many archives to draw a new and convincing picture of British naval policy over the previous half-century and more. This is a book that everyone with a more than passing interest in British warships will want to read, and nobody professionally involved with navies can afford to miss.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Greenhill Books; First edition (July 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861761376
• ISBN-13: 978-1861761378
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 10 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,796,806 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great history of naval design, January 4, 2007

By 

D. George Peles (Delta, BC Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: British Destroyers & Frigates: The Second World War and After (Hardcover)

This book appears to be an exhaustive history of Royal Navy design since 1935 for all destroyer and frigate type ships. It is good reading and very informative. The pictures are good and contain many photos that I have not seen before. Recommended for anyone interested in naval design or history.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 5 star technical history, 1 star for operational and strategic context, November 4, 2011

By 

Koba (Reston, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BRITISH DESTROYERS AND FRIGATES: The Second World War and After (Hardcover)

This is a highly detailed technical history, with ample photographs and line drawings. As far as I can tell, it is faultless on that score.

One problem is the nearly total lack of strategic context. A little more discussion at the front of each chapter about British defense strategy (and what *strategic* as opposed to *technical* problems the Royal Navy was trying to solve) would have been very helpful.

More important is the lack of discussion of what British destroyers and frigates actually DID. There is very little operational history included in this book at all. We know what the ships were designed to do - but did they do it? Who knows! Chronologically, this book covers WW2, Korea, Suez, the Indonesian confrontation, the Falklands, the Gulf War, Kosovo, and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Royal Navy destroyers and frigates did important things in all those wars, but Friedman barely alludes to these naval activities at all. He goes to a great deal of effort to lay out British design choices, and then almost completely fails to show whether or not these choices were validated or invalidated by events.

In sum, he gets five stars for presenting technical details, but only one star for strategic context and operational history. The net result is three stars.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Evolution of The British Navy From 1936, August 6, 2010

By 

Tony Marquise Jr. - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: BRITISH DESTROYERS AND FRIGATES: The Second World War and After (Hardcover)

This book goes into the drsign of British destroyers from 1936 to the most modern designs. The book goes into extreme detail and is an essentail book for thosr interested in this subject.