The Empire Ships: A Record of British-Built and Acquired Merchant Ships During the Second World War [Hardcover]

W. H. Mitchell (Author), L. A. Sawyer (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Informa Pub; 2 Sub edition (November 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1850442754
• ISBN-13: 978-1850442752
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,913,290 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grab a copy while you can., May 26, 2007

By 

Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Empire Ships: A Record of British-Built and Acquired Merchant Ships During the Second World War (Hardcover)

There are very few books which cover ships of yesterday in great detail. Now that I have a copy of this excellent publication, it really will become well-thumbed over the next few years. It is essential that all those with an interest in the subject have access to this book and I am already wondering how I managed without a copy before today.

"The Empire Ships" is a thick book written by two experts and produced by a company (Lloyd's of London) whose business is ships. From the very beginning, therefore, you just know you are able to trust the information given.

The book itself is a record of all British Merchant ships either built or acquired during World War Two. This was a time when, of course, many were sunk by enemy activity - making this book also essential for those scuba divers who enjoy researching their shipwrecks.

Whilst the information on each subject vessel is limited to; Yard Number, gross tonnage, length, breadth, engines, builders, owners, date of completion and fate (plus similar details for captured ships), this is more than enough to get any research pointed in the right direction.

Listed by builder under various ship types, this book contains the details of several thousand vessels, 118 photographs (many of which I had not seen before) and many line illustrations.

Altogether, great reference material.

NM