Book Review: Battlecruiser Repulse, John Roberts

This is the second one of these Seaforth 'original plans' books I've got, the first being on the German WWI-era battleship Helgoland. Like that, this is astonishingly detailed. Many stunning diagrams are beautifully reproduced, including several four page spreads. Some of the latter are, I believe, scaled down from original draughts as much as 12 feet in length!

I'm not an expert on matters maritime. Books like this are therefore, for me, both splendid, feeding a growing interest in naval warfare, and somewhat bewildering or overwhelming, in the degree of detail. This book is slightly easier to digest than the Helgoland one simply because the original draught sources are in English, not German.

Repulse, 1916.*

Two sets of draughts detail how Repulse was fitted out at two points in her life, the first in 1916 (with later amendments taking her up to 1921), and the second in 1936. A Renown class vessel, built according to the visions of Admiral Lord Fisher, she was intended to be fast and heavily armed. This was accomplished, however, at cost of overly light armour. Indeed, the draughts are very largely a record of the continual up-armouring of this WWI-vintage ship.

As with the Helgoland book, this is mainly a technical description, both textually and visually, with the emphasis on the latter, via the diagrams. There's plenty about the historical context as well, especially re the naval philosophies that lead to the Repulse being designed and built as she was. But, again as with Helgoland, there's less about her actual service; it'd certainly have been nice to have had a few images of her in action.

Repulse, 1936.*

Whereas Helgoland was scrapped after WWI, Repulse was subjected to the renovations covered herein. She even took part in the famous pursuit that lead to the eventual loss of the Bismarck. But, due to that infamous lack of armour, and despite all the upgrades, she was sunk in '41 by the Japanese. This book shows her in incredible detail, and is a real gem reference wise. Definitely recommended.

* Neither of these images appear in the book; it's all just 'Admiralty draughts', i.e. diagrams.

Book Review: Battleship Bismarck, Garzke, Dulin, Jurens

When this weighty tome arrived I was tremendously excited. Around about A4 portrait size - as tall, roughly, but slightly wider - this handsome hardback, just shy of 500 pages, looks terrific. I'm gradually growing ever more fascinated with war at sea, with a special focus on WWII and the Napoleonic era, i.e. in conjunction with my other main areas of mini-military modelmaking and figure collecting.

My very small WWII naval collection is slowly growing: I have models of Bismarck and a U-Boat, several films, such as Sink The Bismarck, Battle of theAriver Plate, Das Boot, etc, and a number of books, ranging from general histories such as Jonathan Dimbleby's War in the Atlantic, through to more specific titles, such as this handsome new one from Seaforth.

It's interesting to note the involvement of film-maker James Cameron, of Titanic and Avatar fame [1]. His interest in nautical and naval subjects is longstanding: he filmed Bellard's discivery of the Bismarck wreck for National Geographic, and then some years later explored the wreck himself. His research, drawing and many images from this latter expedition are a part of this new work.

Anyway, on to the meat of the issue: the book itself. Well, first off I started this review whilst only part way through the book - at the time of first penning this segment I was at the point where Bismarck, Prinz Eugen and several other vessels are embarking on Operation Rheinübung, heading for the northern Atlantic to engage in commerce raiding.

So far the book has been heavily weighted towards a textual rendering of the history of the Bismarck. And much more besides. The plus side of this is a great deal of detail, not just about the Bismarck, but about naval warfare in WWI, post-/inter-War developments, the Kriegsmarine at large, and even the Royal Navy and beyond. The down side of this is that it can be heavy going, especially when information is repeated.

I estimate that the text could fairly easily have been judiciously trimmed by somewhere around 10-25%, without losing any detail. This would in turn free up more space for more/better pictures. There are lots of photos, many of them of the 1:50 Blohm and Voss shipbuilders' model of Bismarck. But there could - indeed, I think should - have been more from, for example, the Bundesarchiv. 

For example, whilst the text goes into great detail about the building and modifications made (both to Bismarck and many other vessels, British and German), there are very few corresponding images of the building or maintenance of Bismarck. It would also have been nice to have had more use made of builder's plans, of the type that appear in the 'from original drawings' series that Seaforth gave published.

Having made these critical observations, this book remains a fantastic resource, and a beautiful object, clearly the work of men who are both passionate about and deeply knowledgeable on this very interesting subject. I've also now more or less finished reading the vast bulk of the text - and it is, like Bismarck herself, a vast bulk of text! - admittedly skimming through certain parts; probably around 10% of the text was either speed read, or skipped altogether.

With the keel laid down in '36, the incomplete hull launched in '39, and being officially commission in 1940, Bismarck's genesis was far lengthier than her active operational life. This latter, comprising the sole effort of Operation Rheinübung was to last just eight days! So, just over a week of active service, to be followed by nearing eighty years on the seabed. It's an amazing, exciting and tragic tale.

This book has helped deepen my interest in WWII naval history. And as a result of reading it I've subsequently watched several superb documentaries on the subject, ranging from Cameron's film of Ballard's discovery of the wreck (perhaps the best of the docs on the subject I've seen so far?), to Cameron's own exploration of the wreck. It's also caused me to re-watch several movies in WWII at sea, including both Battle of River Plate and Sink The Bismarck. And I'm hoping to find the time to build my Bismarck model over the summer as well. So it's not just been an informative and stimulating read in itself, but has also been the ctatlust for further activity.

For my Amazon review I gave it the full fuve stars, as they font give the option to award half-stars. But here on my own blog I can do half-increments, and have therefore scored this magnificent boom four and a half balkenkreuz. I dock the half star for a variety of reasons, the major ones being that there could and should have been more photographs, in particular of the building of Bismarck. There should also have been more technical/plan type illustrations. And some hardheaded textual editing, removing repeated material in particular, could've created space for this extra visual material.

But this is a stunning book, chock-full of a staggering degree of information, including a good deal of info on and testimony from survivors and adversaries. Not quite the total and thorough history of its subject that I'd anticipated, in receiving it, but nonetheless an exhaustively thorough analysis within its own more limited and largely technical terms of reference. And definitely recommended to those interested in such subjects.

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NOTES:

[1] I've seen the former, but not the latter.

Book Review: Liberty's Provenance, John Henshaw

Subtitled The Evolution of the Liberty Ship from its Sunderland Origins, John Henshaw's new book on these vitally historically important vessels aims, in his own words, to 'once and for all' settle the issue of their provenance. Whether or not he succeeds in this once and for all aim, this is without doubt a fascinating and beautifully presented account of the evolution of a particular maritime lineage, during a very generally exciting and interesting period of world history.

I'm no expert on things nautical, but I'm finding my interest in the logistical side of both real military history and my mini-military stuff is leading me, seemingly inexorably, towards a deeper interest in sea warfare generally, and The Battle of the Atlantic in particular. As Henshaw notes, Churchill said the war on the oceans was the 'dominating factor throughout the war. Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land, at sea, or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome.'

And in keeping with this perspective, it's salutory to remember that whilst other theatres of conflict would have short periods of intense activity and longer periods of stasis or inactivity, the war at sea lasted the entire duration.

The fantastically named Hog Island shipyard. [1]

The level of detail here is quite daunting to a landlubber like me. Fortunately there's a glossary. The glossary is very helpful - they should be a mandatory standard feature in specialist books, in my view - but could've been better. E.g. the nautical meaning of terms such as beam and draught are given, but sheer isn't. And whilst many of the acronyms used are expanded and defined, not all are.

The book begins by looking at how in WWI a similar project was undertaken at more or less wars end, the ships made not seeing wartime service at all, and overproduction contributing to postwar shipbuilding slumps. Also late in coming was the adoption of convoys. In contrast, in WWII these projects were set in motion much earlier, and a mission to the US headed by the very young Cyril Thompson, of Sunderland shipbuilders Thompson's, was integral to the story told here, of the development of the Liberty ships.

Henshaw dedicates his book to Cyril Thompson, the 'unsung hero in the evolution of the Liberty ship', and extols their virtues by not only clearly tracing their lineage, but also highlighting how they not only met but exceeded their original brief, doing the job intended for them, and then going beyond that, forming the basis of numerous variants, and often surviving and serving long after WWII.

Liberty ship EC2-SC1.

There are plenty of photographs, liberally sprinkled throughout, many of which are great. There are also a good number of relatively poor quality. But as Henshaw explains, they're as good as he could find, and illustrate important points. Using such surprisingly scant reference material - scant when you consider over 2,700 of Liberty ships were built - Henshaw has produced what is probably the most attractive aspect of this book, the numerous line drawings.

Some of these are quite accurate, where plentiful reference such as other detailed drawings could be sourced, whilst others, as Henshaw is at pains to point out, are educated guesses based on the available evidence. I love them, and hope they might one day help me build models.

A fascinating book, well worth having/reading. 

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NOTES:

[1] Built expressly for the construction of these ships, and now the site of Philadelphia International airport.

This looks like a great kit. Definitely on my wish list!

As usual, when I read a book like this and find it exciting and inspiring, I want to get a model to build to further explore the interests that have been aroused. Trumpeter do a couple of 1/350 Liberty Ship models. I'd love to get and build one of those. Perhaps the SS John W Brown? This is also one of the only surviving seaworthy examples some of this once numerous class.

The real McCoy.

Book Review: Large Scale Warship Models, Kerry Jang

Canadian modelmaker Kerry Jang has given us a very inspiring resource in this book. He starts off by telling us how he first came to build a big model boat, after an 'apprenticeship' making smaller more conventional kits. He then goes on to discuss how various skills acquired in these earlier periods can be harnessed to making more ambitious models.

In chapters entitled What's Out There and Tools Of The Trade he expands upon what products one might buy to get your project started, and what gear you need to undertake the work. The vast bulk of the book however, about 75% of it I reckon, is given over to step by step expositions of the building process, from the hull on upwards, including fitting radio-control electronics, up through the decking, to superstructure, and finally rigging, painting and finishing, etc. All of this is heavily illustrated with examples of his own works in progress.

Personally I'm yet to embark on even the first stage of my nautical modelling adventures - the only model I've built so far (since an awful scratch-built balsa wood man o'war in my childhood!*) is an unfinished 1/300 Rod Langton Dutch Gunboat of the Napoleonic era - with a small U-Boat and an even smaller scale model of Bismarck waiting to be built. 

And even if/when I do build any larger boats - something I'd definitely like to do - I think they'll probably be Napoleonic or WWII, whereas Jang's boats, as featured in this book, are (I think?) mostly more from the modern era. But despite this, the book is a great resource, full of inspiration and information, some very specific to the subject, and some - for example the stuff on making your own moulds and casting your own bits and bobs in resin - more suited to general use.

The book ends with a gallery showcasing four of Jang's extremely impressive large ship models. Beautifully illustrated, in crisp high-res full colour, this book is a feast for the eyes, supported by lots of useful info, including stuff about sourcing both reference and modelling materials and products. All in all? Very good.

* Inspired by The Unicorn in the Tintin books, and destroyed by 'Hurricane Hannah', aka my sister!

Book Review: German Destroyers, Robert Brown

Despite being a long-term 'dyed in the wool' 1/72 military modelmaker I'm currently flirting with the idea of making model ships (I have kits for a U-boat and the battleship Bismarck). I was offered this book for review, by the publishers (Pen & Sword, on their nautical imprint Seaforth), and thought 'why not?' 

Lavishly illustrated throughout, the book starts with a chapter on design. It's interesting to learn, given the German reputation for design and building excellence, that this class of ship fared pretty poorly. Many ideas that were good on paper failed to translate into real benefits. Indeed, a number of clever ideas wound up working against seaworthiness. The exposition on design is followed by a detailed look at Z39, which is done via images derived from its period of postwar American ownership.

But it's pages 17-45 that really form the core of the book, comprising two chunky, informative and well illustrated chapters, the first on available model products (both full kits and partial aftermarket detailing sets), and the second showcasing some very impressive modelmakers' works. Chris Flodberg's 1/350 Z30 (also pictured on the cover) is particularly impressive, in no small part due to the amazing rendering of a heavy sea.

Three further chapters - colour schemes, appearance and plans - add to the wealth of useful visual reference this slim but info-packed book offers. And the whole is finished with a small bibliography. I always think specialist books such as this should, as a matter of course, have a glossary (inc. any abbreviations, etc.). That's the only real omission here that a landlubbin' armour modeller like me really notices.

Anyway, all told, a very attractive and useful publication. Further grist to my mill of nautical modelmaking fantasies. Perhaps I will actually build a small Operation Sea-Lion flotilla one day... hmm!?