During World War II, navies developed low-visibility camouflage for their ships on both vertical and horizontal surfaces. The result reduced visibility by blending in with the sea or confusing the identity of a ship by applying more obtrusive patterns. In this new book by maritime artist Malcolm Wright, both the official and unofficial paint schemes that adorned ships of the Royal Navy and Commonwealth are depicted in detail, along with discussion on changes of armament and electronics tha...

"[Young] immortalized his distinguished war service as a submariner in the bestselling autobiography, One of Our Submarines . . . [a] gripping memoir."— The Guardian"In the very highest rank of books about the last war. Submarines are thrilling beasts, and Edward Young tells of four years' adventures in them in a good stout book with excitement on every page. He writes beautifully, economically and with humor, and in the actions ...

"A gripping narrative" of the German submarines that nearly changed the outcome of World War II from the author of Dönitz and the Wolf Packs ( Naval Review).In essence, this is the story of U-223, commanded by Karl-Jurgen Wächter from the time of her commissioning in Kiel in January 1943 through a murderous career to her eventual but dramatic demise in the Mediterranean in March 1944. At the same time, the book covers the declining fortunes of the...

" A wonderfully illustrated biography" of one of history's greatest warships whose sinking "signaled the end of the surety that Britannia ruled the waves" ( War History Online).Unmatched for beauty, unequalled for size, for twenty years the HMS Hood was the glory ship of the Royal Navy, flying the flag across the world in the twilight years of the British Empire. Here, in words, photos and color illustrations, is the story of her ...

As she lay in dry dock, devastatingly damaged by one of Hitler’s newly deployed magnetic mines after barely two months in service, few could have predicted the illustrious career that lay ahead for the cruiser HMS Belfast. After three years of repairs to her broken keel, engine- and boiler-rooms, and extensive refitting, she would go on to play a critical role in the protection of the Arctic Convoys, would fire one of the opening shots at D-Day and continue supporting the Operation Overlor...

In April 1951, the disappearance of HM submarine Affray knocked news of the Korean War and Festival of Britain from the front pages. Affray had put to sea on a routine peacetime simulated war patrol in the English Channel. She radioed her last position at 2115hrs on 16 April, 30 miles south of the Isle of Wight - preparing to dive. This was the last signal ever received from the submarine. After months of searching, divers eventually discovered Affray...

"An extraordinarily detailed account of the development of Royal Navy cruisers . . . a towering work" from the author of Fighting the Great War at Sea ( Warship 2012).For most of the twentieth century, Britain possessed both the world's largest merchant fleet and its most extensive overseas territories. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Royal Navy always showed a particular interest in the cruiser—a multipurpose warship needed in large num...

A naval historian reveals the full story of the HMS Jervis Bay and the merchant ships that valiantly saved lives during the WWII Battle of the Atlantic.On November 5th, 1940, the thirty-eight merchant ships of Convoy HX84 were making their way across the North Atlantic, escorted by the armed cruiser HMS Jervis Bay. In mid-ocean, they were attacked by the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. Though the Jervis Bay charged at the...

Naval warfare in the Pacific changed completely with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.The strategic emphasis shifted from battleships to much more lethal, far-ranging weapons systems; one of these was the submarine. This book details the design and development, classes, weapons and equipment, tactics and operational history of the US submarine in World War II.Detailed tables, photographs, and superb color plates depict the force that had an effec...

"Altogether, a very detailed year-by-year account of escort development for anti-submarine work from the period between the wars to post World War II." —The Nautical MagazineWinston Churchill famously claimed that the submarine war in the Atlantic was the only campaign of the Second World War that really frightened him. If the lifeline to North America had been cut, Britain would never have survived; there could have been no build-up of US and Commonwealth forces, n...

The decorated Royal Navy submariner documents the history of the submarine he commanded during World War II.This is both the war memoir of a distinguished naval officer and the history of HMS Trenchant, a T Class submarine. Admiral Hezlet was appointed to command Trenchant from her completion in early 1944 until mid–1945 during which time she and her crew worked up, voyaged to the Far East and carried out five highly dangerous and successful opera...

One of the bleakest episodes in Royal Naval history. Here is the inside story as told by the men who survived. It is the story o a brutally hard convoy that, according to official records, was incident free. It is the convoy that, according to official records, was incident free. It is the convoy that the British Admiralty tried to cover up. The Royal Navy betrayed the men of convoy PQ17. An order was issued by the British Admiralty… scatter escorts. These were murderous orders that broke a p...