- Author
- Book reviewer
- Subjects
- Ship histories and stories, Book reviews, Royal Navy
- Tags
- RAN Ships
- None noted.
- Publication
- December 2002 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
HMS Vanguard 1944 -1960 Britain’s Last Battleship
By Neil McCart
Published by Maritime Books.
The book is available through Maritime Press on e-mail: www.navybooks.com
Reviewed by Ross Gillett
Britain’s last battleship, the once mighty HMS Vanguard, was towed away to be scrapped just over 40 years ago. On 4 August 1960, the vestiges of a once great fleet of battleships was lost forever.
For, unlike the United States Navy, which retained their four Iowa class dreadnoughts into the 1990s (with two still in reserve in 2002) the Royal Navy quickly dispensed with its four surviving King George V class and finally, the one of a kind Vanguard.
This book is a superb combination of narrative and photographs that very effectively describes the entire 18 year career of Vanguard from her launching on 30 November 1944, through to her arrival and final demolition at the ship breaker’s yard when the last metal was cut in mid 1962.
Vanguard’s career is, in this book, very well-presented to the reader. Her active deployments, the periods alongside and the all important refits are all effectively described. And it’s not just an overview of these years, but detailed descriptions of the ship at sea and when idle.
The author has gathered a mass of excellent onboard and overall ship illustrations, including crew shots and Royal visits, weapons shoots, visits around the British Isles, foreign deployments, refits, open days and finally reserve and eventual scrapping. There is nothing more upsetting to the naval veteran or warship buff than to see such a proud man-o-war being towed away for breaking up in some backwater. If only she had survived into the 1980s, maybe she too may have been preserved, like Warrior.
Author Neil McCart has produced a number of similar histories of many large Royal Navy aircraft carriers. This, his latest effort, must be congratulated.