Maritime books of the histories of battleships, aircraft carriers and cruisers by leading maritime book publishers and naval authors. These great value naval books are available from war-art.com books division.

The Ship that Changed the World, the Escape of the Goeben to the Dardanelles in 1914, by Dan Van Der Vat.

With the Black Sea closed, her exports dropped ninety-eight per cent and her imports by ninety-five percent.  The cutting off of Russia, with all its consequences, the vain and sanguinary tragedy of Gallipoli, the diversion of Allied strength in the campaigns of Mesopotamia, Suez and Palestine, the ultimate break up of the Ottoman Empire, the subsequent history of the Middle East, followed from the voyage of the Goeben - Barbara Tuchman, August 1914.  The escape of the German battlecruiser Goeben to Turkey in the early  days of the First World War is one of the most under-reported turning points in twentieth century history.  In 1914 the German Navys Mediterranean Division comprised just two ships: the Goeben and light cruiser Breslau.  Despite having to run the gauntlet of the French Navy and the British Mediterranean fleet, the pair, ruthlessly commanded by Rear-Admiral Wilhelm Souchin, eluded a tired and irresolute French Commander-in-Chief and then an incompetent British admiral to arrive in Constantinople and bring Turkey into the war.

Paperback book with 252 pages.

Order number BK0623. Book price £9.99.

The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War by Donald Collingwood.

The Battle of the Atlantic was Winston Churchills area greatest of concern during the Second World War.  By 1943 new tactics and technology, developed out of bitter experience, combined with the effect of long range maritime patrol aircraft were beginning to tip the balance in the Allies favour.  But the dearth of modern escort vessels was still potentially disastrous; over 160 U-Boats were still at large to attack vital convoys of men and material.  The Captain Class Frigates, seventy-eight sturdy, modern destroyer escorts, known affectionately by all who sailed in them as the DEs, built in the United States and leased to the Royal Navy, began to come into commission in January of that year and to fill that desperate, long felt need.  

Hardback book with 208 pages.

Order number BK6158. Book price £25.00.

The Commission of HMS Terrible 1898 -1902. by G Crowe (1903)

A commentary of the principal events in connection with HMS Terrible and of Naval Brigade participation in the South African and North China wars.  The Boer War section includes accounts of defence preparations at Durban and the Ladysmith Relief Operations.  Appendices include nominal rolls and a list of officers and men mentioned in despatches.

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Order code BK1266.

Post: UK- £3.00 (max post for multiple books £7.00).

For Europe £5.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

HMS Cavalier Past & Present by Patrick Boniface

Few would have thought in 1944 as HMS Cavalier entered service with the Royal Navy that over six decades later she would still be in existence.  HMS Cavalier is the last example of the classic British wartime destroyer and is now preserved as a memorial to all who lost their lives in destroyers throughout World War Two.  It is fitting that she is at Chatham Dockyard as this was the Cavalier's homeport for a large part of her service career.  HMS Cavalier was built by Samuel White at Cowes on the Isle of Wight and served the early part of her career in the bitter cold of the Arctic protecting the vital convoys to and from Russia.  With the end of the war in Europe in 1945, Cavalier was dispatched to the Far East where she was involved in the closing stages of the war against Japan.  After the war Cavalier continued in service until finally being decommissioned in 1972.  Then the hardest battle of all came at the end of an illustrious Royal Navy career, the battle to save the destroyer from the scrap yard.  HMS Cavalier is the last of the British Wartime destroyers and is a fitting tribute to those men who gave their lives to protect their country.

Order code BK5306.

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Battlescruisers by John Roberts

The battlescruisers, brainchild of Admiral Sir John Fisher, combined heavy guns and high speed in the largest hulls of their era.  Conceived as 'super-cruisers', to hunt down and destroy commerce raiders, their size and gun-power led to their inclusion in the battlefleet as a fast squadron of capital ships.  This book traces the development of Fisher's original idea into the first battlecruiser Invincible  of 1908, through to the 'Splendid Cats' of the Lion class, and culminating in HMS Hood in 1918, the largest warship in the world for the next twenty years.  The origins of the unusual 'light battlecruisers' Courageous, glorious and Furious , later to find fame as aircraft carriers, are also covered.  The problems the class suffered are also examined, including the catastrophic loss of three battlecruisers at Jutland in 1916.  The developmental history of the battlecruisers is complemented by chapters covering machinery, armament and armour with a full listing of important technical information.  With its superb plans and drawings and entirely original research, this book is essential reference for all naval historians, enthusiasts and modelmakers with an interest in the most charismatic and controversial warships of the battleship era.

Order code BK5290.

Warrior to Dreadnought by D K Brown

Warship Development 1860 - 1905

In the half century which separated Warrior  from Dreadnought there occurred a revolution in warship design quite unparalleled in naval history.  This book traces all the technological changes which transformed warships from the fully-rigged broadside ironclads of the mid-nineteenth century, through the centre battery ships, early turret vessels and barbette ships, to the turbine-powered Dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers which were to fight in the First World War.   The author D K Brown, a warship designer himself, shows how the nineteenth-century designers responded to developments in engine technology, armour protection and armament in their attempts to produce the best possible fighting ships,  He details the development of more efficient engines which finally brought an end to the age of the sailing warship, and the competition between armour and armament, with every increase in the hitting power of guns stimulating the development of tougher and more sophisticated systems of protection.  Importantly, he challenges the traditional perception of the Victorian Royal Navy as being reactionary and obstructive to technological change, showing that it was in fact at the forefront of such change, for example in the development and employment of torpedoes and of countermeasures to them.   Full accounts are given of the famous events of the period, such as the loss of the turret ship Captain , the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882, the ramming of the Victoria by the Camperdown in 1893, the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05.  Illustrated throughout with many rare contemporary photographs, this is an indispensable study of one of the most exciting periods in warship development.

Order code BK5344.

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Birth of the Battleship.  British Capital Ship Design 1870 - 1881

The 1870s and 1880s have traditionally been seen as the 'Dark Ages' of British warship design, where technological conservatism and a lack of any definite design policy produced a confusing mix of ship types, with armament and machinery which were outmoded before the ships were even completed.  This new book, however, is a powerful refutation of that view, expanding the scope of its study of the ships of the period beyond the narrowly technological to reveal the full range of strategic, logistical and administrative factors which influenced warship development, arguing that it is here that the origins of the modern battleship can be found.   The author gives an insight into the difficulties faced by warship designers in an age of rapid technological change, and sets out the valid strategic and technical reasons that lay behind such seemingly 'reactionary' policies as the fitting of sails in cruising ironclads, and the Navy's retention of muzzle-loading guns well into the 1880s.  Far from having no plan, it is shown that the warship designers of this period had a very clear idea of the types of ship required to meet the range of roles the Royal Navy was called upon to fulfill in defence of a global empire, and that the problems that the ships of this period had owed more to political, financial and administrative pressures than any lack of competence on the part of their designers.  This fascinating study, based on primary sources, tackles a misunderstood aspect of warship history with sufficient rigour to satisfy professional historians while providing enough new detail to please the enthusiast, and as such is indispensable for any true understanding of the revolution in warship design that took place in the later nineteenth century.

Order code BK4587.

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Leander Class Frigates by Jim Allaway

Following on from the successful formula of The Navy in the News and More Navy in the News, both also published by HMSO, Jim Allaway has selected milestones in the career of the Royal Navy's most successful post-war frigate design.  Some of the finest of all warship photographs are included here, covering the four decades since they made headlines in Navy News, the newspaper of the Royal Navy since 1954.

Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1692.    Price £14.95

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Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1760.    Price £14.95

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Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1777.    Price £14.95

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Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1784.    Price £14.95

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Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK1876.    Price £14.95

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Full illustrated paperback with 96 pages.

Order Code BK883.    Price £14.95

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Full illustrated paperback with 128 pages.

Order Code BK1890.    Price £9.95

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Warspite by Iain Ballantyne

Book serial number BK7791.  Hardback with 224 pages.   sold out

Order code BK1998

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Rest of World £9.00 (each plus one charge of £3.00 recorded fee per total shipment)

Royal Navy Escort Carriers by Cdr David Hobbs MBE Royal Navy.

In the autumn of 1940 the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill announced his Battle of the Atlantic Directive.  In this he gave top priority to the defeat of the U-Boats and a series of important developments resulted.  The need to fill the mid-Atlantic gap with aircraft was imperative and so the Escort Carrier was conceived, a merchant hull fitted with the simplest of flight decks and arrestor wires.  The arrival of the first vessel in service led Admiral Donitz, the German Flag Officer U-Boats, to record in his war diary that "Small fast aircraft circled the convoy continuously, so that when they were sighted, U-Boats were repeatedly forced to submerge or withdraw.  The presence of enemy aircraft prevented any protracted shadowing or homing by German aircraft.  The sinking of the aircraft carrier is therefore, of particular importance in every future convoy action."  This book looks at the background to the Escort Carrier concept and details the service history of each of the 44 Escort Carriers that served with the Royal Navy.

Illustrated Hardback book with 232 pages.

Order code BK0352

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Hood and Bismarck by David Mearns and Rob White.

In May 1941 the most dramatic sea battle of the Second World War took place.  Its protagonists were the two mightiest capital ships of the era - the German Bismarck, and the British battlecruiser Hood.  Their confrontation resulted in the destruction of both warships and the loss of over 3,500 lives.  In 2001 - the sixtieth anniversary of this apocalyptic battle - David Mearns led an expedition that discovered the wreck of Hood for the very first time and revisited the wreck of Bismarck.  With Rob White tracing the history of these awe-inspiring vessels and the events that led to their fatal clash, Hood and Bismarck chronicles the progress and findings of this incredible mission.

Illustrated Hardback book with 216 pages.

Order code BK1739

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The Bismarck by Robert Jackson

The Bismarck is an in depth examination of this classic ship, which represented the pinnacle of the Nazi war machine at sea.  It includes every aspect of the ship's development and construction with detailed sections on her design, armament, powerplant, crew and armour; and a chapter devoted to the Bismarck in action, her successful sinking of HMS Hood and the ship's final showdown 300 miles west of Ushant when she was torpedoed and then finished off by the guns of the Royal Navy.  

Order code BN1903.

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Modern Combat Ships: Type 21  by Capt John Lippiett RN

The type 21 frigate broke new ground in warship design when it entered service in the early 1970s. Its novel propulsion system of four gas turbines produced a speed and dash which rapidly engendered a spirit in the class that has remained ever since. The ships have served in many roles worldwide, and in 1982 seven out of the eight members of the class served with distinction in the Falklands conflict.

Captain Lippiett traces the background and development of the class including details on weapons, sensors and machinery.

Order code BN7152.

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HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy by Andrew Norman

This book not only tells the well-known story of the May 24th, 1941 encounter with the German battleship Bismarck that sunk the Hood, but also recounts the stories of those whose lives were touched by the great ship, both prior to and during the ship's service in World War II.

Hardback book with 160 pages illustrated with black and white photographs.

Great Value at only £14.95

Post: £4 UK post (max. UK post for multiple book orders is £6) 

Rest of the world £9 rest of world). 

Ark Royal A Flagship for the 21st Century (Contains Free CD-Rom)

To celebrate the recommissioning of the latest HMS Ark Royal, this superb book contains many superb photographs and illustrations of the history of this magnificent carrier. The book also contains a free CD-ROM about HMS Ark Royal.

Paperback book with 93 pages illustrated by black and white and colour photographs and illustrations.

Order code BK0352

Fearless & Intrepid 1965 - 2002 by Neil McCart.

Twelve chapters of highly readable text tell the story of two of the Royal Navys longest serving warships from their beginnings in the early 1960s to the final weeks of operational service in the twenty first century, when Fearless was finally decommissioned and joined her sister at lay-up berths in Portsmouth Dockyard.  The in depth research has allowed the author to cover the careers of Fearless and Intrepid in great detail through each year of their service from the disengagement from Empire, when both vessels assisted with the withdrawal from Aden in the mid 1960s, through the Falklands war when they led the amphibious fleet, to the twenty first century troubles in the Middle East.  Foreword by Commodore A.J.S. Taylor CBE RN, who served as Executive Officer in Intrepid and as Commanding Officer of Fearless.

Illustrated Hardback book with 176 pages.

Great Value at only £19.95

HMS Glory 1945-1961 by Neil McCart in association with the Fleet Air Arm Museum

HMS Glory arrived in the Far East too late to take part in active combat during World War Two although she accepted the surrender of Japanese forces in New Guinea in 1945 and participated in the operation to repatriate ex-Japanese POWs following the war. She conducted several tours of duty during the Korean War in the early 1950s before finally being put up for sale in 1957. This book details her career from builders yard to shipbreakers, drawing on first hand accounts and many previously unpublished photographs.

Hard back book with 119 pages illustrated by black and white photographs and illustrations.

Great Value at only £24.00

HMS Hermes 1923 & 1959 by Neil McCart with foreword by Rear-Admiral K A Snow

For the first time in one volume, here are the comprehensive histories of the two aircraft carriers named Hermes. The stories take the reader from the 1920s into the Second World War, the late 1950s and 60s, through the Falklands campaign and into the Indian Navy where the last Hermes still serves as INS Viraat. The in-depth research has allowed the author to cover the career through each year of their operational service and the stories are enlivened by memories from ex members of their ships companies.

Hard back book with 192 pages illustrated by black and white photographs and illustrations.

Great Value at only £21.00

HMS Victorious 1937 - 1969 by Neil McCart with foreword by Vice-Admiral Sir Ian McIntosh

Fifteen chapters of highly readable text tell the story of the Royal Navys most remarkable aircraft carrier, from the laying of the first keel plates in 1937 to her controversial decommissioning in 1967 and her departure to the shipbreakers yard in the summer of 1969.

The in-depth research has allowed the author to cover the Victorious' long career through each year of her operational service with the Royal Navy, and the story is enlivened by memories from ex members of her ship's company, from senior officers to junior seamen, as well as reminiscences from the late 1940s when the Victorious, after a distinguished wartime career, acted as a troop transport and passenger ship.

The Illustrious & Implacable Classes of Aircraft Carrier 1940 - 1969 by Neil McCart

For the first time in one volume, here are the comprehensive histories of the six fleet aircraft carriers of the Illustrious and Implacable classes which dominated the Royal Navys aviation between 1940 and the early 1950s: Illustrious, Formidable, Victorious, Indomitable, Indefatigable and Implacable. The in-depth research has allowed the author to cover the careers of all six carriers through each year of their operational service with the Royal Navy. The career of each vessel is described in detail, and each of the 17 chapters is well illustrated with top quality photographs which depict each of the vessels at the various stages of their careers.

Hard back book with 191 pages illustrated by black and white photographs.

Price £21.95  SOLD OUT

HMS Centaur 1943-1972 by Neil McCart

Nine chapters of highly readable text tell the story of one of the Royal Navys major post-war warships from the date that the Admiralty ordered the ship in the summer of 1943 to the last weeks of 1972, when she lay at the shipbreakers yard in Scotland.

The in-depth research has allowed the author to cover the Centaur's career in great detail through each commission, and the story is enlivened by memories from ex-members of her ship's company. There are over 120 illustrations covering the Centaur's career from her launch up to her arrival at the breaker's yard.

    SOLD OUT

HMS Vanguard 1944 - 1960 by Neil McCart

HMS Vanguard marked the pinnacle of British battleship design. Completed at the end of the second world war, she was too late to see active service and joined the fleet at a time when the battleship had been superceded by the aircraft carrier as the capital ship of the modern navy. Despite her short career the name Vanguard still evokes pride in all those who served on her or who were associated with her. This book details her career from builders yard to shipbreakers, drawing on first hand accounts and many previously unpublished photographs.

Book serial number BK2506. Price £24.

The Colossus Class Aircraft Carriers 1944-1972 by Neil McHart

Tiger, Lion and Blake 1942-1986 - The Royal Navys Last Cruisers by Neil McCart

For 20 years between 1959 and 1979 the cruisers Tiger, Lion and Blake took their place in the fleet as the last big gun warships. This is the first book to tell the full stories of all three ships in detail. In-depth research has allowed the author to cover their careers through each year of their operational service, and the story is enlivened by memories from ex-members of their ships companies from senior officers to junior seamen.

There are 125 photographs covering the careers of the three cruisers from their early days at the ship building yards, to their departure for the breakers' yards.

Book serial number BK5038. Book price £21.50. Illustrated hard back with 160 pages.

HMS Eagle 1942-78 by Neil McCart

Thirteen chapters of highly readable text tell the story of the Royal Navys biggest post-war warship from the date that the Admiralty ordered the ship in the spring of 1942 to the first week of 1979, when she lay at the shipbreakers yard in Scotland.

The in depth research has allowed the author to cover the Eagle's career in great detail through each commission, and the story is enlivened by memories of ex-members of the ship's company. There are over 170 photographs covering the Eagle's career from her launch up to her arrival at the breaker's yard.

Price £21.95

Over 280 pages packed with photos of the Ships and The Crews.

 Soft back Book Price £20.00.  Book Order Code BK88  SOLD OUT

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Book serial number BK8435. Book price £19.95. Fully illustrated hard back with 217 pages.

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The Second World War cruiser HMS London was also tasked with hunting down the German battleship Bismarck's supply ships, using information provided by Bletchley Park after it cracked the Enigma Code.  Later she made a brave attempt to rescue HMS Amethyst during the famous Yangtze Incident which gripped the world's attention.  The last HMS London, a Type 22 frigate, was flagship of the British Task Group in the Gulf War of 1991.

Shiny Sheff - The Story of Sheffield's Fighting Ships by Alistair Lofthouse

In 1937 a new cruiser entered service with the Royal Navy. One of the highly successful Southampton Class it was the first Royal Navy ship to bear the name Sheffield. During her 30 year career she distinguished herself in some of the most important battles of the Second World War, gaining 12 battle honours.

The second Sheffield was not so lucky. Entering service in 1975 she was to be the first Royal Navy vessel sunk in action since the Second World War. Many will remember the day well, May 4th 1982, during the Falklands War.

This book tells the story of the Shiny Sheff's from 60 years ago to today's third HMS Sheffield.

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Book serial number BAL1. Price £8.95.

Book Price £8.99.  Book Order Code Osprey NV75.

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German Pocket Battleships 1939-45 by Gordon Williamson.

Book Price £8.99.  Book Order Code Osprey NV71.

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German Battleships 1939-45 by Gordon Williamson.

Book Price £8.99.  Book Order Code Osprey NV74.

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British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45 by Angus Konstam