Book Review: Warship 2005

Author

Jeffrey, Vic

Subjects

Ship design and development, Ship histories and stories, Book reviews, Royal Navy

Tags

Warship design

RAN Ships

None noted.

Publication

December 2005 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)

Editor John Jordan. Conway Maritime Press, London W10 CSI’, UK.

Sadly the founding editor of this excellent series, Antony Preston, passed away as this edition, the 27th volume, was going to press.

Warship will remain a fitting tribute to Preston (known to us who knew him, as “The Admiral“) a man I was privileged to meet, collaborate with, and greatly admire for his vibrant enthusiasm and immense contribution to naval history, especially the Victorian era. This latest hardcover 208 page volume contains nine feature articles and that superb much-awaited 52 page Review Section covering World Navies in Review 2004, Warship Notes, Naval Books of the Year and Warship Gallery.

Among the excellent articles is Steam Torpedo Boats of the Royal Navy by David K. Brown; From Daring to Devonshire by George Moore, which covers the last Royal Navy destroyers designed in WW2 and the first destroyers to be designed in the post-war era; Lord Nelson and Agamemnon, the Royal Navy’s last and most formidable pre-Dreadnought battleships.

Warship Notes is always one of my favourites, covering news stories, short articles and notes, generally highlighting less well-known aspects of warship history. Two of the articles cover the campaign to preserve the former Royal Navy sloop HMS Whimbrel, a survivor of the famous Black Swan class and a veteran of the Battle of the Atlantic, and a tour of the newly-opened Aircraft Carrier Museum centred aboard the former USS Midway.

Cruisers of the Royal Australian Navy are the focus of Warship Gallery this year, with five pages devoted to the subject. Profusely illustrated, overall the book contains 176 photographs, plans, maps and high quality drawings of ships. I have in the past described the Warship series as “a treasure trove for anyone with an interest in naval history” and the latest volume lives up to this fine tradition.