By Andrew C. A. Jampoler
ISBN 1591144124 Hard cover 240 pages, 11 photos & 5 drawings
Published on the twenty-fifth anniversary of Alfa Foxtrot 586’s fatal mission as a tribute to those lost, the account was written by a naval aviator who has flown the same aircraft on the same mission from the same air base. The aircraft is a P-3 Orion on station during a sensitive mission off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the north Pacific. The time is mid-day on 26 October 1978. Andy Jampoler takes readers into the cockpit of the turboprop as a propeller malfunction turns into an engine fire, eventually forcing aircraft commander Jerry Grigsby to ditch his patrol plane into the empty, mountainous seas west of the Aleutian Islands. His fourteen crewmembers, strapped in their seats, expect the worst—and get it. The aircraft goes down in just ninety seconds, taking one of the three rafts with it. A second raft, terribly overcrowded, soon begins to leak.The flight crew’s desperate battle to survive is told with the authority, drama, and sensitivity that only someone with the author’s background could provide. He draws on interviews with survivors, searchers, and even the master of the Soviet fishing trawler that saved the living and recovered the bodies of the dead. He also draws on recordings of radio communications, messages in the files of the state and defense departments, and the patrol squadron’s own investigation of the ditching.The work of the patrol squadrons was mostly shrouded in secrecy during the Cold War. Hopefully more news of these operations will gradually come to light and this book is an excellent offering.
Author Jampoler is a retired naval aviator and former commanding officer of Patrol Squadron 19 and of Naval Air Station Moffett Field. Only someone who was there could've accurately imparted the feeling of being inside a P-3 operating over desolate stretches of the North Pacific.
The writing style is unique. During the course of the text, passages from the report of the official inquiry into the ditching are inserted to put the narrative time frame into context.
One minor quibble with the book is on page 136 where the author misidentifies the water survival training school at Comox BC as "arctic survival techniques on land." In fact the school at Comox is for training crews in sea survival and employs both a large tower, unofficially known as "Terror Tower" and having students towed through the water behind a 75 foot yard craft wearing simulated parachute gear.
The subsequent rescue of the aircraft survivors and their transport to the USSR at the height of the Cold War made for fascinating reading.
What was the saddest point of the book was the treatment of the survivors and their families after the tragedy. The survivors had their pay reduced to offset their time not on deployment; which is surely one of the saddest examples ever of an unfeeling bureaucracy.
This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in naval aviation and Cold War history. (DS)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Command at Sea: Naval Command and Control since the Sixteenth Century
Michael A. Palmer, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. $29.95.
Within these pages, in a masterful control of subject matter, Dr. Michael Palmer analyzes the evolution of naval fleet command and control from the Anglo-Spanish battle in the English Channel in 1588 to the Persian Gulf War. The essence of the book is the struggle of two opposing philosophies of naval (and military) command, that of the centralizers vs. the decentralizers. He takes as his benchmark the guidance and techniques used by Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson in his classic action at the Battle of the Nile in 1801 where he waged a battle of annihilation against the fleet of French Vice Admiral Francois Paul Brueys.
There, in conflict, were the prevailing theories of battle, the Frenchman favoring one scientifically controlled from above, using preplanned maneuvers and controlled by the commander using a well developed set of signals, in which subordinates would execute the plan in obedience to orders. The captains of the British fleet, having absorbed Nelson’s carefully taught doctrine emphasizing the initiative of the subordinate, knew they should not expect to see flags signaling what they were to do. Nelson was willing to accept a certain amount of confusion, disorder and even chaos in battle because he trusted his commanders to do what was expected of them. The main idea being that if trained ship commanders knew what to expect, they could prevail even in the "fog of war" where uncertainty is a constant. In Palmer’s view, this is still the central principle for success in battle.Despite revolutionary improvements in communications, the central crisis of command remains. From the firing of signal guns, the lowering of a topsail, the hoisting of elaborate flag signals, and the advent of continuous wave radio and voice communications, and even computer-driven data systems, technological improvements have not eased the dilemma. In fact, the impact of steam-driven ships, heavy armor, steam torpedoes, breech-loading guns, gas turbine engines, and ship-launched missiles have accelerated the need for rapid command decisions and greatly reduced the time required to make them. By the same token, the advent of the telegraph, submarine cables, wireless telegraphy, and satellite communications have only induced the naval commander’s worst nightmare, the tendency of headquarters staffs who are out of touch with local conditions to micromanage the battle space.This work is deeply researched, written concisely and with flair, and the author’s opinions are not hidden. This is an essential book for the libraries of navy officers, policy makers, naval scholars and military history buffs.
Reviewed by William S. Dudley, Ph.D.
Former Director of Naval History
Within these pages, in a masterful control of subject matter, Dr. Michael Palmer analyzes the evolution of naval fleet command and control from the Anglo-Spanish battle in the English Channel in 1588 to the Persian Gulf War. The essence of the book is the struggle of two opposing philosophies of naval (and military) command, that of the centralizers vs. the decentralizers. He takes as his benchmark the guidance and techniques used by Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson in his classic action at the Battle of the Nile in 1801 where he waged a battle of annihilation against the fleet of French Vice Admiral Francois Paul Brueys.
There, in conflict, were the prevailing theories of battle, the Frenchman favoring one scientifically controlled from above, using preplanned maneuvers and controlled by the commander using a well developed set of signals, in which subordinates would execute the plan in obedience to orders. The captains of the British fleet, having absorbed Nelson’s carefully taught doctrine emphasizing the initiative of the subordinate, knew they should not expect to see flags signaling what they were to do. Nelson was willing to accept a certain amount of confusion, disorder and even chaos in battle because he trusted his commanders to do what was expected of them. The main idea being that if trained ship commanders knew what to expect, they could prevail even in the "fog of war" where uncertainty is a constant. In Palmer’s view, this is still the central principle for success in battle.Despite revolutionary improvements in communications, the central crisis of command remains. From the firing of signal guns, the lowering of a topsail, the hoisting of elaborate flag signals, and the advent of continuous wave radio and voice communications, and even computer-driven data systems, technological improvements have not eased the dilemma. In fact, the impact of steam-driven ships, heavy armor, steam torpedoes, breech-loading guns, gas turbine engines, and ship-launched missiles have accelerated the need for rapid command decisions and greatly reduced the time required to make them. By the same token, the advent of the telegraph, submarine cables, wireless telegraphy, and satellite communications have only induced the naval commander’s worst nightmare, the tendency of headquarters staffs who are out of touch with local conditions to micromanage the battle space.This work is deeply researched, written concisely and with flair, and the author’s opinions are not hidden. This is an essential book for the libraries of navy officers, policy makers, naval scholars and military history buffs.
Reviewed by William S. Dudley, Ph.D.
Former Director of Naval History
Castles of Steel
Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea
Written by Robert K. Massie
Category: History - Military - WW I
Imprint: Random House
Format: Hardcover, 880 pages
Pub Date: October 2003
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 0-679-45671-6
Massie, author of such works as Nicholas and Alexandra, Dreadnought and others, is probably the assumed the mantle of preeminent early 20th Century historian after the death of Barbara W Tuchman. Hence this latest work was eagerly awaited.
And it doesn't disappoint! Massie has a superb knack of getting his readers to know that they personally know the subjects he is writing about. In this book, all the major figures of the naval sphere of the First World War are covered.
Great detail is gone into the naval actions from Coronel to the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet in 1919.
This superbly written book is a must for the book is a must for every bookshelf on naval history.
Written by Robert K. Massie
Category: History - Military - WW I
Imprint: Random House
Format: Hardcover, 880 pages
Pub Date: October 2003
Price: $35.00
ISBN: 0-679-45671-6
Massie, author of such works as Nicholas and Alexandra, Dreadnought and others, is probably the assumed the mantle of preeminent early 20th Century historian after the death of Barbara W Tuchman. Hence this latest work was eagerly awaited.
And it doesn't disappoint! Massie has a superb knack of getting his readers to know that they personally know the subjects he is writing about. In this book, all the major figures of the naval sphere of the First World War are covered.
Great detail is gone into the naval actions from Coronel to the scuttling of the High Seas Fleet in 1919.
This superbly written book is a must for the book is a must for every bookshelf on naval history.
The Captain Class Frigates in the Second World War
by Donald CollingwoodThe Captain-class frigates included seventy-eight sturdy destroyer escorts built in the United States and leased to Great Britain in 1943. A member of the Royal Navy who served on one of these combat vessels in the Atlantic has written this engaging narrative of their operations. As a participant, he describes the close teamwork and comradeship that existed within the escort groups of the Captains as they faced the lethal submarine threat, in all weather, week in week out, with all too little opportunity for rest between operations. It is a story of vigilance, determination, and fortitude combined with high skill and unfailing courage. These "Yankee frigates," as they were affectionately known, and the men who manned them saved many thousands of lives and millions of tons of vital supplies needed to keep Britain and the Allies in the war.
Every so often a book comes along which is a true labor of love by the author. This book is one such instance.
Written by a former crewman of HMS Cubbitt, one gets the true sense of feel that others could not have imparted.
Some excellent material is contained in the narrative about the conditions at the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, which was a beehive of activity at that time.
As per British custom with ships received under Lend-Lease, creature comforts for the crew such as ice cream machines and laundry facilities were removed. However as an improvement performed in UK yards, proper toilets replaced the as built US style latrine style facilities.
The ships came off the Boston area production lines so fast that Royal Navy crews were not always ready for them. Some of the crews came from RN ships under repair in US yards such as HMS Uganda at Charleston. A number of the ships were sailed up to Halifax and stored at the RCN base there until such time a RN crews could be made available. One of the ships in Halifax sailed to the UK with a Canadian civilian crew and a number of others were sailed over by crews going to get ships being built in UK yards.
The author groups the ships together by the Royal Navy group to which they were assigned. A career history while engaged in these activities is provided for each ship.
Mr Collingwood is to be commended for his fine work here. It is a must of any bookshelf of students of naval history. (DS)
Every so often a book comes along which is a true labor of love by the author. This book is one such instance.
Written by a former crewman of HMS Cubbitt, one gets the true sense of feel that others could not have imparted.
Some excellent material is contained in the narrative about the conditions at the Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown, which was a beehive of activity at that time.
As per British custom with ships received under Lend-Lease, creature comforts for the crew such as ice cream machines and laundry facilities were removed. However as an improvement performed in UK yards, proper toilets replaced the as built US style latrine style facilities.
The ships came off the Boston area production lines so fast that Royal Navy crews were not always ready for them. Some of the crews came from RN ships under repair in US yards such as HMS Uganda at Charleston. A number of the ships were sailed up to Halifax and stored at the RCN base there until such time a RN crews could be made available. One of the ships in Halifax sailed to the UK with a Canadian civilian crew and a number of others were sailed over by crews going to get ships being built in UK yards.
The author groups the ships together by the Royal Navy group to which they were assigned. A career history while engaged in these activities is provided for each ship.
Mr Collingwood is to be commended for his fine work here. It is a must of any bookshelf of students of naval history. (DS)
The Coast Guard in World War I An Untold Story
By Alex R. Larzelere
236 pp., illus., ISBN 1557504768
Naval Institute Press
This work is covers a little documented era in US Coast Guard history.
With the painful merger of the US Lighthouse Service with the Lifesaving service in 1915 followed two years later by the absorption of the Coast Guard by the much larger US Navy, this was a difficult time to grow and adapt.
But adapt the new service did quite well.
The U.S. Coast Guard suffered the highest percentage of losses of any American armed force in World War I, yet until now the extent of the Coast Guard’s involvement in that war remains little known to the public. The author, an experienced Coast Guardsmen himself, makes extensive use of such primary sources as personal journals and letters, cutter logs, reports of commanding officers, personnel records, and interviews to compile this historic, first-time-ever account. To bring the history to life Alex Larzelere draws on his extensive seagoing background and fills the book with action narratives that document the heroism of men like Lt. Fletcher Brown, Warrant Officer Midgett, and their crews, who went to the rescue of ships torpedoed by German U-boats.The Coast Guard was transferred to the Navy when war was declared in 1917. A small service of less than 5,000, it was made up of highly experienced cuttermen, sorely needed for the U.S. Navy’s rapidly expanding fleet. This book describes the activities of the guardsmen and their units in the war zone and at home, from the time they were mobilized and transferred until the service was returned to the treasury department in August 1919. As explained by Larzelere, their many operations give readers a full appreciation of their contributions to the war effort.Alex R. Larzelere is a retired captain in the U.S. Coast Guard. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia, he is also the author of The Coast Guard at War: Vietnam, 1965–1975.Larzelere is to be commended for attempting to document this period. Unfortunately it appears the work was not adequately proof-read or were the facts checked. A number of annoying errors detract from the text and makes one wonder on other mistakes.
Here a few examples
Armored cruiser USS Albany claimed to mount 18-inch guns
St John's, Newfoundland misspelled as St John
Royal Navy Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth England referred to as Davenport
HMCS Shearwater misidentified as HMS Shearwater
Troop transport Northern Pacific referred to as SS & USS on the same page
Another annoying tendency is the author's continual quoting verbatim diary or letter entries of officers of the period. While informative, they do nothing to create a smooth flow to the text.
This work is given a "just missed" the mark as an important historical work. Hopefully with better proofing and fact checking, Larzelere's next work will be sharper. (DS)
By Alex R. Larzelere
236 pp., illus., ISBN 1557504768
Naval Institute Press
This work is covers a little documented era in US Coast Guard history.
With the painful merger of the US Lighthouse Service with the Lifesaving service in 1915 followed two years later by the absorption of the Coast Guard by the much larger US Navy, this was a difficult time to grow and adapt.
But adapt the new service did quite well.
The U.S. Coast Guard suffered the highest percentage of losses of any American armed force in World War I, yet until now the extent of the Coast Guard’s involvement in that war remains little known to the public. The author, an experienced Coast Guardsmen himself, makes extensive use of such primary sources as personal journals and letters, cutter logs, reports of commanding officers, personnel records, and interviews to compile this historic, first-time-ever account. To bring the history to life Alex Larzelere draws on his extensive seagoing background and fills the book with action narratives that document the heroism of men like Lt. Fletcher Brown, Warrant Officer Midgett, and their crews, who went to the rescue of ships torpedoed by German U-boats.The Coast Guard was transferred to the Navy when war was declared in 1917. A small service of less than 5,000, it was made up of highly experienced cuttermen, sorely needed for the U.S. Navy’s rapidly expanding fleet. This book describes the activities of the guardsmen and their units in the war zone and at home, from the time they were mobilized and transferred until the service was returned to the treasury department in August 1919. As explained by Larzelere, their many operations give readers a full appreciation of their contributions to the war effort.Alex R. Larzelere is a retired captain in the U.S. Coast Guard. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia, he is also the author of The Coast Guard at War: Vietnam, 1965–1975.Larzelere is to be commended for attempting to document this period. Unfortunately it appears the work was not adequately proof-read or were the facts checked. A number of annoying errors detract from the text and makes one wonder on other mistakes.
Here a few examples
Armored cruiser USS Albany claimed to mount 18-inch guns
St John's, Newfoundland misspelled as St John
Royal Navy Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth England referred to as Davenport
HMCS Shearwater misidentified as HMS Shearwater
Troop transport Northern Pacific referred to as SS & USS on the same page
Another annoying tendency is the author's continual quoting verbatim diary or letter entries of officers of the period. While informative, they do nothing to create a smooth flow to the text.
This work is given a "just missed" the mark as an important historical work. Hopefully with better proofing and fact checking, Larzelere's next work will be sharper. (DS)
COAST GUARD ACTION IN VIETNAM Stories of Those Who Served
By Paul C. Scotti
236 pp., illus., ISBN 1555715281
Hellgate Press
Hellgate Press is to be commended for specializing in publishing histories of heretofore historical events which have received little attention. Coast Guard Action in Vietnam certainly meets this criteria.
Author Scotti served for thirty years in the military, the first four in the Air Force and remainder in the Coast Guard. He served as a gunner on one of th 82 foot patrol craft described in this work. The remainder of his career was spent public affairs, time which included the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the sinking of the buoy tender Blackthorn.
Some of the first chapters include a few examples of slang terms such as "measled" to describe bullet holes. The book seems to take a few chapters for Mr Scotti to reach his stride as writing a work of history and not a oral tale of the sea. One other annoying habit throughout the book was referring to high endurance cutters as HEC instead of the correct WHEC designation. At one point Scotti refers to seeing smoke on radar, which seems almost impossible from a technical perspective. However these are minor criticisms of what was obviously a great deal of work put into the final product.
However the strength of Scotti in writing this history is certainly derived from both his lengthy Coast Guard service and actually being a part of some of the events he describes. The photo caption on page 81 is correctly described as a mooring buoy, a fact that a lay person may not necessarily be able to identify.
The book not only includes information on the work of the cutters in preventing Communist arms & troop smuggling by sea, it also details port operations, LORAN activities, combat search and rescue and the eventual transfer of cutters and related equipment to South Vietnamese forces.
For those interested in the US Coast Guard and Vietnam, this book is recommended. (DS)
236 pp., illus., ISBN 1555715281
Hellgate Press
Hellgate Press is to be commended for specializing in publishing histories of heretofore historical events which have received little attention. Coast Guard Action in Vietnam certainly meets this criteria.
Author Scotti served for thirty years in the military, the first four in the Air Force and remainder in the Coast Guard. He served as a gunner on one of th 82 foot patrol craft described in this work. The remainder of his career was spent public affairs, time which included the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the sinking of the buoy tender Blackthorn.
Some of the first chapters include a few examples of slang terms such as "measled" to describe bullet holes. The book seems to take a few chapters for Mr Scotti to reach his stride as writing a work of history and not a oral tale of the sea. One other annoying habit throughout the book was referring to high endurance cutters as HEC instead of the correct WHEC designation. At one point Scotti refers to seeing smoke on radar, which seems almost impossible from a technical perspective. However these are minor criticisms of what was obviously a great deal of work put into the final product.
However the strength of Scotti in writing this history is certainly derived from both his lengthy Coast Guard service and actually being a part of some of the events he describes. The photo caption on page 81 is correctly described as a mooring buoy, a fact that a lay person may not necessarily be able to identify.
The book not only includes information on the work of the cutters in preventing Communist arms & troop smuggling by sea, it also details port operations, LORAN activities, combat search and rescue and the eventual transfer of cutters and related equipment to South Vietnamese forces.
For those interested in the US Coast Guard and Vietnam, this book is recommended. (DS)
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Aircraft Carrier Victorious
Anatomy of the Ship Series
By Ross Watton
London: Conway Maritime Press, 2004 USA and Canada: Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004. Reprint of 1991 edition. ISBN 0851779964. 160 pages (11 of narrative text), 26 large photographs, approx. 500 line drawings (USNI cites "128 pages, 250 illustrations"). Hardcover. 9 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. $42.95 US
Reviewed by Michael C. Potter (March 2005)
One way or another aircraft carriers embody or exploit very nearly every technological discipline that man has devised. Aircraft Carrier Victorious provides, literally, a highly detailed view of the Royal Navy’s largest warship to serve actively both in World War II and in the 1960s fleet. HMS Victorious is perhaps most famous for her first combat operation when her Swordfish aircraft damaged the Bismarck in the North Atlantic and aggravated the wastage of fuel that exhausted the fleeing battleship. Lt. Cdr. Eugene Esmond, RN, who led this attack, later earned the Victoria Cross posthumously for leading a similar strike from a land base against the fleeing Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Victorious was very active throughout the war in every theater and earned ten battle honors, little short of HMS Warspite’s record of twelve.Victorious was laid up in 1947, then inducted for modernization beginning in 1950. This lasted eight years. The ship was rebuilt from the hangar deck up. Equipped with an angled deck, steam catapults, a landing mirror system, modernized radar, and much else, she recommissioned in 1958 as practically an entirely new ship to operate contemporary jet fighters and bombers, helicopters, and AEW-ASW aircaft. She operated until 1967 when following a trivial fire after routine shipyard work, the government ordered her decommissioned. Many of her crew were transferred to HMS Hermes, then recommissioning.
"Anatomy of the Ship" series of books share a similar format of a short narrative text of the ship’s design features followed by highly detailed photographs and illustrations of the ship, her weapons, and her fittings. Modelers and naval enthusiasts find these books valuable, although modelers (e.g., this reviewer) would appreciate more data about painting.The initial text section covers the design of the ship and her reconstruction. One operation (Tungsten, against Tirpitz) is described. A chronology of key dates in the ship’s career follows.Unlike reprints of other books, in this re-issue all the photographs and drawings are razor-sharp. Aircraft Carrier Victorious covers both her wartime and postwar careers. The dust jacket cites "complete with 1/550 fold-out plan" but in this re-issue the plans are spread over two bound pages, and are not fold-outs as I understand this term. On the other hand, the book contains no fewer than four such large two-page plans, each of which has separate port and starboard elevations. Those plans cover merely her external appearance during her long career and literally only begin this book’s wealth of large, sharp, detailed drawings of this ship. General arrangement drawings alone span fully 30 pages.Her aircraft ranged from Swordfish biplanes to Buccaneer jet bombers that in RAF service fought in the Gulf War in 1991. Every aircraft gets multiple views at 1/200 scale, spanning 16 pages total. The ship’s mounted weapons are all detailed, including her huge Type 984 radar antenna (one of only three ever to go to sea) and her USN 3-inch gun battery, unique in RN service.A full narrative history of HMS Victorious appears in Neil McCart, The Illustrious and Implacable Class Carriers 1940–1969 (Chelthenham, UK: Fan Publications, 2000), and presumably in his HMS Victorious 1937–1969 (a book I have not seen).
By Ross Watton
London: Conway Maritime Press, 2004 USA and Canada: Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004. Reprint of 1991 edition. ISBN 0851779964. 160 pages (11 of narrative text), 26 large photographs, approx. 500 line drawings (USNI cites "128 pages, 250 illustrations"). Hardcover. 9 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches. $42.95 US
Reviewed by Michael C. Potter (March 2005)
One way or another aircraft carriers embody or exploit very nearly every technological discipline that man has devised. Aircraft Carrier Victorious provides, literally, a highly detailed view of the Royal Navy’s largest warship to serve actively both in World War II and in the 1960s fleet. HMS Victorious is perhaps most famous for her first combat operation when her Swordfish aircraft damaged the Bismarck in the North Atlantic and aggravated the wastage of fuel that exhausted the fleeing battleship. Lt. Cdr. Eugene Esmond, RN, who led this attack, later earned the Victoria Cross posthumously for leading a similar strike from a land base against the fleeing Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Victorious was very active throughout the war in every theater and earned ten battle honors, little short of HMS Warspite’s record of twelve.Victorious was laid up in 1947, then inducted for modernization beginning in 1950. This lasted eight years. The ship was rebuilt from the hangar deck up. Equipped with an angled deck, steam catapults, a landing mirror system, modernized radar, and much else, she recommissioned in 1958 as practically an entirely new ship to operate contemporary jet fighters and bombers, helicopters, and AEW-ASW aircaft. She operated until 1967 when following a trivial fire after routine shipyard work, the government ordered her decommissioned. Many of her crew were transferred to HMS Hermes, then recommissioning.
"Anatomy of the Ship" series of books share a similar format of a short narrative text of the ship’s design features followed by highly detailed photographs and illustrations of the ship, her weapons, and her fittings. Modelers and naval enthusiasts find these books valuable, although modelers (e.g., this reviewer) would appreciate more data about painting.The initial text section covers the design of the ship and her reconstruction. One operation (Tungsten, against Tirpitz) is described. A chronology of key dates in the ship’s career follows.Unlike reprints of other books, in this re-issue all the photographs and drawings are razor-sharp. Aircraft Carrier Victorious covers both her wartime and postwar careers. The dust jacket cites "complete with 1/550 fold-out plan" but in this re-issue the plans are spread over two bound pages, and are not fold-outs as I understand this term. On the other hand, the book contains no fewer than four such large two-page plans, each of which has separate port and starboard elevations. Those plans cover merely her external appearance during her long career and literally only begin this book’s wealth of large, sharp, detailed drawings of this ship. General arrangement drawings alone span fully 30 pages.Her aircraft ranged from Swordfish biplanes to Buccaneer jet bombers that in RAF service fought in the Gulf War in 1991. Every aircraft gets multiple views at 1/200 scale, spanning 16 pages total. The ship’s mounted weapons are all detailed, including her huge Type 984 radar antenna (one of only three ever to go to sea) and her USN 3-inch gun battery, unique in RN service.A full narrative history of HMS Victorious appears in Neil McCart, The Illustrious and Implacable Class Carriers 1940–1969 (Chelthenham, UK: Fan Publications, 2000), and presumably in his HMS Victorious 1937–1969 (a book I have not seen).
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