Britain's Future Navy

By Nick Childs Pen and Sword Books Hardback 192 pages ISBN: 9781848842915 Published: 14 March 2012

Author Nick Childs has put together a thorough examination of of current Royal Navy (RN) equipment after the 2010 massacre of the fleet with the infamous SDSR cuts. 
Childs presents many useful ideas and suggestions for the RN of the future. 
Not examined is the glut of senior officers, a problem afflicting most navies in the industrialized world as they are loathe to give of their positions despite having much smaller forces to command. In the UK, the cost of these officers includes the education of their children in private schools at taxpayer expense.

This book should be required reading for politicians bent of further military cuts.

The Hunters and the Hunted

By Bryan Perrett Pen and Sword Books Hardback 150 pages ISBN: 9781848846388 Published: 31 August 2012

1914 was probably the last year of the traditional chase and engagement of enemy ships on a large scale. This had little changed from the days of sail except for employing newer technologies. 
In addition, 1914 was probably the height of international ambitions for colonialism with most industrialized nations and some not (Russia) hoping to add overseas territories. To this end, one of the major roles of naval forces was to protect these colonial interests and this is the thrust of this book.
Author Perrett, is an experience writer on historical matters and here he does a good job of bringing not only 1914, but the rest of the First World War (albeit in limited scale compared to 1914). After 1915, the improvements in aircraft saw them employed in naval operations and these actions employed the technology when they could.
These actions take place off the Falkland Islands, Dutch East Indies, Pacific, Africa and the Mediterranean. 
Thanks for the author and publisher for putting out this important addition to naval history.

Infamous Aircraft

By Robert Jackson

ISBN 9781848846586 Paperback 176 pages March 2012


Everyone has a good idea about the history of the famous aircraft of the 20th Century, but about the ones that were, to be polite, not so great.
Author Jackson has done a commendable job of telling the story of some the quirky and novel designs. These range from dirigibles and aircraft, combat and civil, from biplanes to jets.
The text is fairly well written and flows quite well.
Great work and we hope Mr Jackson puts out another book.

U-108 At War

By Alistair Smith

ISBN 9781848846678 Paperback 144 pages Pen and Sword Press July 2012


Smith has done a very good job attempting to make sense of this private photo collection illustrating just what life was like on a Second World War U-boat. Amazingly none of the subjects seem to mind which leads one to conclude that there was no censorship ban on photography as in most Allied navies. 
A few minor errors of note in the text:
-There was no Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1941
-Misidentifies the ubiquitous drifter, used by most European navies, as merchant vessels
- No Type XXI submarines went to France in German service
- Cam ship aircraft pilots would bail out near a ship and not just over land
- Allied Convoy commander was a Commodore not a Commander
- Confused a boat rope with boat lowering in one caption
- Photo on page 144 looks like a toilet seat and hence why the crewmember was in that awkward spot
Apart from this, the photos and most of the text gives one of the best looks at what it was like to have served in the U-boat force with one of the highest fatality rates of any service during this conflict.
Congratulations to Mr Smith and Pen and Sword on this worthwhile addition to the historical record.

Images of War Tirpitz The First Voyage Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

 

Images of War Tirpitz The First Voyage Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives

By Jonathan Sutherland and Diane Canwell

9781848846685 2011 Pen and Sword Barnsley, South Yorkshire

The photos in this book are taken from an unpublished album belonged to a member of the crew of famous German Battleship Tirpitz. It is a little known fact that before the start of World War Two the ship went on a shakedown voyage into the Atlantic, travelling north into Arctic waters and south into the more tropical climbs of the Caribbean. There are superb photos of the officers and crew both above and below decks, including some unique shots of the crew during their stint on a magnificent sail training vessel. Other stunning shots show the vessels mighty weapons during gunnery practice during her sea trials. This unique collection gives a close up view of one of the most powerful ships of World War Two, a ship that proved to be a persistent thorn in the side of the Royal Navy until sunk in Norway towards the end of the war.

This book is a fascinating look at the German Navy built around a collection of photographs from a Luftwaffe flight officer stationed on Tirpitz. The details of youth work, naval training, wartime service and postwar incarceration are displayed with detailed captions. One small error was noted on page 71, the photo shows a light cruiser built in the 1930s and not the training ship Schleswig-Holstein as indicated.

The fate of original photo album owner after his incarceration in France has not been discovered to date.

We are certainly happy his photographic work has survived for present day and future historians to study.

The Memoirs of Karl Doenitz Ten Years and Twenty Days

The Memoirs of Karl Doenitz Ten Years and Twenty Days

By Karl Doenitz 548 pages 9781848326446 2012 Pen and Sword £13.50

The story of the last world war, as told by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz himself. His memoir covers his early career with submarines in the First World War and follows both his successes and failures through the Second World War, with great detail on the way the U-boat campaign was waged, as told by the man who invented U-boat tactics.

Doenitz includes details of the U-boat campaigns during the Second World War as well as the opinions, ideas and commentary on the period. Of particular interest are the comments regarding British and American conduct during the war. An important social document, and an invaluable source for any student of the last war.

He became the last Führer of Germany after Hitler's suicide in May 1945 and the book’s subtitle, Ten Years and Twenty Days, is a direct reference to the time Karl Doenitz spent in Spandau Prison having been convicted of war crimes following trial at Nuremberg.

Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz, a First World War U-boat officer, stayed in the peacetime navy and was the flag officer in charge of submarines upon the commencement of hostilities in 1939. In 1943 he became navy commander and eventually succeeded Hitler after the latter’s suicide in 1945.

This book, first published in 1959, chronicles U-boat and naval operations as well as the political and organizational machinations at home. To do this to such an extent, only a senior officer could have compiled such a comprehensive record.

This book should be compulsory reading at naval and staff colleges and on the shelf of any student of naval history.