British Warship Recognition

British Warship Recognition
Author: Richard Perkins
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2017-03-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781473891456

"In the inter-war years Richard Perkins, an amateur photographer and avid collector, amassed one of the world's largest personal collections of warship negatives. He eventually donated the collection to the National Maritime Museum, where it still forms the core of the historic photos naval section. While he was actively acquiring photos, Perkins found that many were neither identified nor accurately dated, so he began to compile an album of his own drawings, which incorporated as much detail as possible on individual ships that could be amended as he discovered more information. This project grew into an enormous resource covering virtually every Royal Navy ship from 1860 to 1939, when security restrictions forced Perkins to stop work. This project material was also donated to the National Maritime Museum, where it was bound into eight large folio volumes that became a key reference for the curators of historic photos, but unknown and almost inaccessible to the interested public. As a result, the actual publication of the volumes is an event of utmost importance for every enthusiast and ship modeler." -- publisher.

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums
Author: Richard Perkins
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2016-07-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848323840

In the inter-war years Richard Perkins, a keen amateur photographer and avid collector, amassed one of the worlds largest personal collections of warship negatives. This he eventually bequeathed to the National Maritime Museum, where it still forms the core of the historic photos naval section. While he was actively acquiring photos, he found that many were neither identified nor accurately dated, so he began to compile an album of his own drawings, which incorporated as much detail as possible on individual ships that could be amended as he discovered more information. His main concentration was on features differentiating ships of the same class and, wherever possible, precisely dating alterations to their appearance, all portrayed in exquisite multi-coloured annotated line drawings. This project grew into an enormous resource covering virtually every Royal Navy ship from 1860 to 1939, when security restrictions forced Perkins to stop work. This material was also donated to the NMM, where it was bound into eight large folio volumes that became a key reference for the curators of historic photos, but unknown and almost inaccessible to the interested public. This makes this first publication an event of the utmost importance for every enthusiast and ship modeller it reproduces all the drawings at full size and in colour, and will eventually form a multi-volume set of unique reference value.

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums
Author: Richard Perkins
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 191
Release: 2017-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473891523

The Richard Perkins warship identification albums form one of the most detailed studies ever undertaken of the changes to the appearance of Royal Navy ships. However, it is a unique hand-drawn manuscript artefact in the care of the National Maritime Museum, so despite its value it is rarely seen by anyone besides the museum's curators, for whom it is a precious resource, used on an almost daily basis. In collaboration with the Museum, Seaforth is undertaking the first publication of this monumental work in a superbly produced multi-volume edition that captures all the qualities of the original. Every page is reproduced at full size, making the extensive hand-written annotation readable, while the fine-line drawings retain all the colours that Perkins used to denote appearance differences and alterations. Following the Museum's binding arrangement, the fourth volume of the series completes the coverage of all cruiser-type ships down to the Belfast class of 1939 begun in Volume III. This second part includes most of the smaller cruisers from about 1916 back to the Amazon class corvettes of 1865. This is a publishing event of the utmost importance for every enthusiast and ship modeller, who for the first time will be able to own a copy of a unique and invaluable reference work.

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums
Author: Richard Perkins
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2017-03-31
Genre: History
ISBN: 1473891485

The Richard Perkins warship identification albums form one of the most detailed studies ever undertaken of the changes to the appearance of Royal Navy ships. However, it is a unique hand-drawn manuscript artifact in the care of the National Maritime Museum, so despite its value it is rarely seen by anyone besides the museum's curators, for whom it is a precious resource, used on an almost daily basis. In collaboration with the Museum, Seaforth is undertaking the first publication of this monumental work in a superbly produced multi-volume edition that captures all the qualities of the original. Every page is reproduced at full size, making the extensive handwritten annotation readable, while the fine-line drawings retain all the colors that Perkins used to denote appearance differences and alterations. Following the Museum's binding arrangement, the third volume of the series is the first half of the coverage of all cruisers from the Amazon class corvettes of 1865 to the Belfast class of 1939; the second half constitutes Volume IV. Highlights of this first part include armored cruisers, the so-called large light cruisers, and the cruisers of the inter-war period. This is a publishing event of the utmost importance for every enthusiast and ship modeler, who for the first time will be able to own a copy of a unique and invaluable reference work.

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums

British Warship Recognition: The Perkins Identification Albums
Author: Richard Perkins
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2018-02-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526711184

The Richard Perkins warship identification albums form one of the most detailed studies ever undertaken of the changes to the appearance of Royal Navy ships. However, it is a unique hand-drawn manuscript artefact in the care of the National Maritime Museum, so despite its value it is rarely seen by anyone besides the museum’s curators, for whom it is a precious resource, used on an almost daily basis. In collaboration with the Museum, Seaforth is undertaking the first publication of this monumental work in a superbly produced multi-volume edition that captures all the qualities of the original. Every page is reproduced at full size, making the extensive hand-written annotation readable, while the fine-line drawings retain all the colours that Perkins used to denote appearance differences and alterations. The sixth volume of the series covers all submarines up to 1939, torpedo gun vessels, the diverse types of gunboat (from masted gun vessels through coastal ‘flat-irons’ to river patrol craft), and sloops of various descriptions. This is a publishing event of the utmost importance for every enthusiast and ship modeller, who for the first time will be able to own a copy of a unique and invaluable reference work.

British Warship Recognition: the Perkins Identification Albums

British Warship Recognition: the Perkins Identification Albums
Author: Richard PERKINS
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781526711168

The sixth volume of the series covers all submarines up to 1939, the diverse types of gunboat (from masted gun vessels through coastal "flat-irons" to river patrol craft), and sloops of various descriptions--small masted cruisers, convoy and minesweeping sloops of the Great War era, and interwar escort vessels. Also available: Volume I: Capital Ships 1895-1939 ISBN: 978-1-84832-382-7 | $85.00 | Member: $68.00 Volume II: Armoured Ships 1860-1895, Monitors and Aviation Ships ISBN: 978-1-84832-386-5 | $85.00 | Member: $68.00 Volume III: Cruisers 1865-1939, Part 1 ISBN: 978-1-47389-145-6 | $85.00 | Member: $68.00 Volume IV: Cruisers 1865-1939, Part 2 ISBN: 978-1-47389-149-4 | $85.00 | Member: $68.00

Royal Navy Torpedo Vessels

Royal Navy Torpedo Vessels
Author: Les Brown
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2023-02-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1399022881

The self-propelled or locomotive torpedo was probably the greatest game-changer in the history of naval warfare. For the first time the largest warship could be sunk by a weapon carried by the smallest, and most navies were quick to see the potential. Although the 19th-century Royal Navy had a reputation for technological conservatism, it was an ‘early adopter’ of the torpedo and was instrumental in the development of the small fast craft that became the delivery system of choice, the steam torpedo boat. Britain’s most important contribution to torpedo warfare, however, was the invention of its antidote, the torpedo boat destroyer, or ‘destroyer’ as it came to be called. This often-told story has overshadowed the earlier but no less significant history of the torpedo boat itself in the Royal Navy, an injustice set to right by this new book. Torpedoes were derived from earlier underwater explosive devices – mines, spar and towed torpedoes, and the like – so the first chapter briefly reviews their history before moving on to Robert Whitehead’s revolutionary invention that made the self-propelled torpedo a practical weapon. The Admiralty was so impressed it purchased the rights to Whitehead’s device, and thereafter the Royal Navy made much of the early running in torpedo boat design. In this they were greatly assisted by existing boatbuilders like Thornycroft and Yarrow who already specialized in small fast craft. The core of this book is a detailed developmental history of British torpedo craft, from the early experiments like Vesuvius and Polyphemus, through the 1st Class TBs to the so-called Coastal Destroyers of the early 20th century. There are also separate chapters on 2nd Class boats, on Torpedo Gunboats and on the ‘Torpedo Depot Ships’ Hecla and Vulcan. The book concludes with a number of appendices devoted to background issues like quick-firing guns and reports on performance of the boats in various circumstances. As it fills a surprising gap in the technical history of British warships, this book will be welcomed by naval enthusiasts, modelmakers and historians.

British Aircraft Carriers

British Aircraft Carriers
Author: David Hobbs
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2014-09-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848321384

This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarise related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full colour, one on a magnificent gatefold.??Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.

Very Special Ships

Very Special Ships
Author: Arthur Nicholson
Publisher: Seaforth Publishing
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2015-10-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1848322356

Very Special Ships is the first full-length book about the six Abdiel-class fast minelayers, the fastest and most versatile ships to serve in the Royal Navy in the Second World War. They operated not only as offensive minelayers – dashing into enemy waters under cover of darkness – but in many other roles, most famously as blockade runners to Malta. In lieu of mines, they transported items as diverse as ammunition, condensed milk, gold, and VIPs. Distinguished by their three funnels, the Abdiels were attractive, well-designed ships, and they were also unique – no other navy had such ships, and so they were sought-after commands and blessed with fine captains. To give the fullest picture of this important class of ships, the book details the origins and history of mines, minelayers, and minelaying; covers the origins and design of the class; describes the construction of each of the six ships, and the modified design of the last two; tells in detail of the operational careers of the ships in the second World War, when they played vital roles in the battle of Crete and the siege of Malta, plied the hazardous route to Tobruk, and laid mines off the Italian coast. The post-war careers of the surviving ships is also documented. Written to appeal to naval enthusiasts, students of World War II and modelmakers, the author tells the story of these ships through first-hand accounts, official sources, and specially- commissioned drawings and photographs.