Customer Reviews

British and Empire Warships of the Second World War

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is good to see H.T. Lenton's classic still available in print as it is surely a must for all those serious about having a complete reference to the British Empire fleet of WW2. The detail in which the book covers is truly staggering and this must be the result of years of research recording every technical detail available on each vessel. I first came across this definitive work while studying at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, London and ever since then I have used the book as my main source of reference.

I was very pleased to see that the section on the British trawlers and other 'minor vessels' remains in this edition and disagree totally with Tom Johnson's review preferring, "that Lenton repeat his first work and cover all the major navies in one book, at the expense of leaving off minor British trawlers and landing craft". It was thanks to Lenton's original work that I was able to carry out a comprehensive study on the anti-submarrine and minesweeping vessels used by the Royal Naval Patrol Service. This service lost more vessels than any other branch of the Royal Navy and therefore these small fighting ships should always be included.

I congratulate the author on this fine work and look forward to new editions of his books.

The most complete reference book about the RN I have never seen. When you own this book you do not need reading anymore about the Royal and Commonwealth Navies, because all the relevant informations can be found in this super reference book. Lots of data, very fine photographs, details concerning even the smallest craft (and this can be seen by someone as a fault). Just to pick holes Lenton could insert sections dealing with naval ordnance, mines, radar and so on. But anyway his work is an excellent one: a must-have book for the naval enthusiast's shelf.

As the author's son I would of course highly recommend this book to you all. I assisted my father with its production which took nearly three years. The work is the result of over thirty years of research and provides a mass of new detail and information not previously published. The photographs are excellent some of which are very rare and form only 20% of our overall warship collection. Quite simply this book has no equal, the previous definitive work was also written by my father.

I am pleased to be able to announce that work has already commenced on British and Empire Warships since 1945 which of course will bring us up to date. In addition we shall also be updating and republishing all former works in a better more complete format especially the works on the US Navy. Amazon list most of the former works which are now out of print. We shall now put this right.

The author can be contacted at trevor.lenton@virgin.net and I can be contacted at chrislenton@cim.co.uk for further information.

The most complete reference book about the RN I have never seen. When you own this book you need reading anymore about the Royal and Commonwealth Navies, because all the relevant informations can be found in this super reference book. Lots of data, very fine photographs, details concerning even the smallest craft (and this can be seen by someone as a fault). Just to pick holes Lenton could insert sections dealing with naval ordnance, mines, radar and so on. But anyway his work is an excellent one: a must-have book for the naval enthusiast's shelf.

This book has it all - from battleships to each individual landing craft, all are included in this complete reference work. With a work of this size I am amazed at the wealth of detail about each type of vessel. If you're looking for one book describing the British and Commonwealth warships in this period this is it.

I have only one complaint - the list of abbreviations is far from complete. Many abbreviations are introduced in the text, but not included in the list. This is OK if you're reading the book from cover to cover (at over 750 pages of small type this is quite a task!), but if you're picking out details of individual ships it can become frustrating.

Despite this one complaint I have no hesitation in giving this a five star review, due to its comprehensive coverage in breadth and depth.

This is the most excellent book with regard to the Royal Navy`s ships at the second World War. Readers are able to understand about ships of the Royal Navy easily. And they can see many rare photographs of ships. If this book had contained drawings of ships, Many readers could regard it as the ultimate book for the Royal Navy.

Just purchased this book and for sure is the best and most complete I saw and read about the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Unfortunately there are no line drawings but this "fault" is largely compensated by the thousands of tons of technical details and informations regarding virtually all vessels which served the Royal Navy between 1939-45. It's an excellent source for research and studies about the British Naval Power of that time and I personally recommend this book to any Naval Military enthusiast.

Ted Johnston's review summed it up concisely. My small allowance and youth didn't allow me to acquire a set of Lenton's "Navies of the Second World War" while I was growing up in the 70's, so it was thrilling to see several of his books re-cast in a single volume. My complaint is that, like the original series, it lacks deck plans and profile line drawings that are now commonplace and essential; Lenton "semantically illustrates" but the book lacks the visual impact of current books on ship classes. I, too, would like to see his entire WWII series released as either a single book, or several volumes. I haven't seen a significant English language book on the Japanese, Italian and French Navies (not books on ship types like battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers, etc.) in twenty years.

02/2009 -- late last year, I learned that the author (Mr. Lenton) ceased work on his writings several years ago as he was advancing in age. Apparently, his entire collection of notes, research, photos, etc. were donated to one or more maritime societies. Thus, besides the loss of the author's own mobilities, the anticipation that his work would be re-leased in "modern form" is apparently not to be. It makes this book his last publication and the first & only of modern republication of his works and the naval historical society has truly suffered a tremendous loss. May Mr. Lenton rest easy.

This is an excellent addition to any book collectors library. It contains information on all ships and boats used by Great Britain and the Commonwealth during World War Two. I would suggest buying the expanded version with 766 pages.

At long last, Lenton's classic on Warships has reappeared, this time in a format that can be read and enjoyed. I have a set of Lenton's Navies of World War II, from which most of the material for this new work has been drawn. It was a classic series when published back in the 60's and has lost none of its power as an authority on the subject. The major difference is of course that the new book exclusively focuses on British warships (the Navies series covered all navies)and covers all warships regardless of type that served in WW2. That makes up 85% of its 800 page massive size. The other major improvement is that the Navies series was published in a 3"x6" format and printed in microscopic typeset. That problem is now solved with an 11"x9" format and big B&W photos. The dust cover is disappointing, but do what I did and discard it. The hardback is navy blue with beautiful gold lettering on the spine that looks great on the shelf. Why didn't I rate this book a "10"? Because, frankly I would have preferred that Lenton repeat his first work and cover all the major navies in one book, at the expense of leaving off minor British trawlers and landing craft. It would have been great to see American, German, and French major warships and rename the book "Navies of the Second World War". (By the way the original series had very disappointing coverage of Japanese warships). But purist that I am, I can appreciate Lenton's decision to focus exclusively on his country's own navy. The discussion on the design of the Town-class cruisers was especially good. My only other complaint is that Lenton wasn't able to uncover better information on the Lion class battleships during the intervening 30 years. I believe the design was recast to a more Vanguard-like appearance and it would have been a great add-on to his original coverage. That being noted, I was glad to see this material back in print; if you want detailed and exhaustive coverage of the Royal Navy's warships in WW2,! this book is a must-have.