Customer Reviews

Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development, 1923-1945

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If you want a fun, quick-reading, concise description of British Navy ships in World War II, look elsewhere. If, however, you want a detailed, arcane, at times even parenthetical discussion of British warship design 1923-1945, this is THE source. Here's an example. Did you know that the problem with the 14-inch guns in the King George V class battleships owed to the turret's transfer ring, an overly-sensitive mechanism configured to allow loading at any angle of elevation? This problem, which dogged Prince of Wales in combat with Bismarck in 1941, still plagued Duke of York when firing on Scharnhorst more than two years later, reducing rate of fire well below the optimum.

While reaching this exquisite level of detail, the author still manages to ground his text in the vital strategic and tactical questions that determined the naval war's outcome. Mr. Brown gives a thoughtful assessment of everything from habitability to damage control, gunnery rate of fire to the impact of the Washington Treaty on British cruiser design, and much, much more. The title covers all classes of warships, from battleships to armed trawlers.

The most provocative section is Chapter Ten, "Wartime Damage." Here the author considers damage statistics from the war, and evaluates the protection of different classes of British warships. His discussions of the loss of Hood, Prince of Wales and Ark Royal contained insights that were new to me, and I have studied these questions for years.

Illustrations are ample, with provocative captions that enhance the text. There are diagrams and photographs, all black and white, many of them seldom shown elsewhere. Mr. Brown's writing style is dense but quite readable - assuming you like exhaustive details on ship design and performance. This book is not a fast read, but it is a very good read that belongs on the bookshelf of any writer or researcher with a serious interest in British warship design in World War II.

This book was a great overview of the design concepts underlying the Royal Navy's ships built after WWI. I enjoyed it and learned from it, and it will help in my modeling activities.