"Anatomy of the Ship" Series Review-A-Thon

[Subnuts]

It's been a long time since I've had a new book review published to the site, and I'll face up to it folks, I've been going through writer's block these last few months, and I just plain haven't had a whole lot of inspiration lately. I wrote reviews of two books in the "Anatomy of the Ship" series for the site a couple years back, but my current collection includes 23 of the 38 books in the series. So, instead of nagging Neal and asking him to publish 21 separate reviews, I'm going to review these books individually in this thread, in chronological order of their release. I'm going to try to do one book per day - although I'll no doubt fall behind at time.

To avoid making these reviews longer than they need to, here's a little FAQ before getting started:

What was the "Anatomy of the Ship" series?
"Anatomy of the Ship" was a series of monographs published in the UK by Conway Maritime Press, and in the US by the Naval Institute Press, between 1982 and 2005. Each book (except for a few on classes of ships) focused on a single ship, and explored it's internal and external arrangements in a level of detail not usually found in general maritime histories.

What format did these books follow?
Each book was a 10 x 10 inch hardcover, usually 120 or 128 pages in length, although some were only 96 pages long, while a few were 144, 160, 192, or 256 pages. Each book was divided (although segregated might be a better term) into three sections, including a text introduction, a series of photographs, and a set of drawings which occupied the bulk of the book. The drawings chapters were divided into numerous alphabetically ordered sections (A General Arrangements, B Hull Structure, C Machinery, etc.), each section divided by subject, and each drawing assigned a letter/number (i.e. section D (Machinery), D2 (2750hp Marine Engine), D2/4 (Section through high pressure cylinder looking aft).

What types of drawings were usually included?
Each book includes a set of general arrangement plans, showing the layout of the exterior and of each deck. A longitudinal section through the hull was usually included, along with at least one transverse section. Most books on steel ships included sections on hull structure and machinery, though the level of detail varied greatly from book to book. Detailed drawings of each type of weapon were usually included, along with drawings of deck fittings, ground tackle (anchor gear), ship's boats, and rig. Books on wooden ships had numerous views of the masts and yards, along with the rigging and usually some depiction of the sails. The majority of the drawings in each book were of the traditional three-view type, but most books included numerous perspective views, cutaways, and the occasional diagrammatic view.

Cost and availability?
About a dozen from the series are still in print or easily available, although they've been reprinted a few times through the years. These can usually be purchased online for between $20 and $30. Some are out-of-print but still available cheaply through used book merchants. Unfortunately, some of them are scarce and go for an arm and leg online - the cheapest used copy of Royal Yacht Caroline on Amazon is $84, the Battleship Fuso is $100, and The Four-Masted Barque Lawhill is currently going for $168 used.

So, on to my first review.

Anatomy of the Ship: The Battlecruiser Hood
1982
John Roberts

Like a lot of historic warships, the British Battlecruiser Hood received that recognition the hard way - by being sunk. The mighty Hood, pride of the Royal Navy, fell victim to a 15-inch shell fired from the Bismarck, which as the most popular theory goes, pierced through her thinly armored decks and exploded inside one of her powder magazines, setting off a massive explosion which broke the ship in two. Hood sank in three minutes, taking with her a shocking 1,416 of her 1,419 man crew.

To the British public, the destruction of the Hood was almost as shocking as the loss of Singapore to the Japanese in early 1942. Commissioned in 1920, Hood had attained celebrity status in the proceeding two decades. 860 feet long, and displacing 48,630 tons fully loaded, Hood was by far the largest fighting ship in the world. Besides being enormous, Hood was an especially fine looking warship, and featured technical advancements such as a sloped armor belt, geared steam turbines, and an integral anti-torpedo belt. In peacetime, Hood would represent the British empire during overseas assignments, and more than 700,000 people visited her while she was flagship of the Special Service Squadron in 1923 and 1924.

Despite her size and technological advancement, Hood's armor protection was never adequate against long-range gunfire. Instead of a single thickly armored "protective deck," Hood had three thinly armored decks and additional plating prevent shell fragments from entering the ship's vitals. When Hood was laid down in 1916, her designers hadn't foreseen the use of armor-piercing shells with delayed fuses, rendering whatever protection a multi-deck system would have provided useless. All warship design is based on compromise, but in Hood's case, a seemingly minor compromise proved to be a fatal one.

John Arthur Roberts, a British naval draughtsman, former editor of Warship Magazine, and the co-author of British Battleships of World War II, chose the Hood as the subject of the first Anatomy. The 15 page introduction provides details on the evolution of the design, and fairly detailed descriptions of the hull structure, machinery, armament, fire control systems, and anchor gear. It also includes a detailed timeline of modifications and refits, and tables providing specifications of the ship's guns, boats, armor protection, and fire control systems. 23 photographs are included in the next section, including some interesting shots taken while fitting out and a number of interior photographs from 1932.

The General Arrangements section depicts Hood as completed in 1920 at 1:600 scale. There's one longitudinal and 22 transverse sections through the hull, along with plans of each superstructure and hull deck, and a plan and profile of the ship as it appeared "as sunk." The next section focuses on the structure of the hull, opening with views of the different types of steel sections, riveted joints, and structural members used in Hood's construction. Perspective views of the bow, midships, and stern structure and supplemented by detailed views of the hull and deck plating, the arrangement of one of the 15-inch barbettes, and the arrangement of deck beams, brackets, and the structure of the double bottom.

Section C focuses on machinery, and includes 1:300 scale plans of Hood's main and auxiliary machinery spaces, propeller shafts, and steering gear. Besides the traditional plans, the section includes detailed plan, perspective, and partial-cutaway views of machinery such as the turbines, boilers, condensers, feed pumps, and exhaust fans, and diagrammatic views showing how the ventilation, magazine cooling, feed water, and oil fuel systems operated. Section D shows some of the accommodation spaces at 1:150 scale, including the sick bay and wardroom. Section E depicts the evolving appearance of the superstructure, depicting each deck at 1:300 scale and the forward superstructure in perspective view in it's 1931 state.

Section F details the layout of the rigging to the main and foremasts, along with the wireless rig, main derrick, mast yards, and flagstaffs. Section G features a number of exceptionally detailed plans of the internal arrangement of the aftermost 15-inch turret, along with views of the secondary armament and anti-aircraft guns. The remaining chapters cover a hodgepodge of various subjects, including the ship's boats, ground tackle, deck fittings, and the aircraft launching arrangements fitted briefly in 1931.

I wasn't entirely certain what to expect when I bought this book. I already owned Roberts' later book on the battleship Dreadnought, and considering this was the first book in the series, it had to be somewhat crude, right? I was in for a pleasant surprise. For a book first published in the early 80s, the level of detail and the quality of the drawings is absolutely stunning. I wouldn't consider any of them works of art, but they certainly are detailed, sharp, and easy to follow. Granted, some of the drawings are a little crude, but Roberts hits it out of the park when it comes to detail. There's all kinds of little morsels for ship buffs to chew on here, ranging from sectional views of the stern casting, a depiction of the fittings on a boiler steam drum, to a closeup of the clip on an armored hatch, and a perspective view showing the clinker construction of a 32 foot cutter. I also have to give Roberts kudos for noting when items were either added, moved, or removed from the ship in his plans of the superstructure. There are several model kits of the Hood currently available, and builders will appreciate having appropriate reference material to build an accurate model!

Although I compared this book to the Dreadnought anatomy when I first bought it, the comparison seems a little unfair in retrospect, considering it's only half as long as The Battleship Dreadnought. Unlike that book, there's no overall view of the shell plating, almost nothing about the torpedo installation, fewer photographs, and the page layouts are occasionally over-cluttered. Some of the exterior plans are apparently based on dated information, although I can't really vouch for this. However, Hood's drafting style is more visually appealing, and the deck fittings and machinery components are depicted in more detail in this book. Either way, both both books represent a detailed study of the state-of-the-art in British naval architecture at the time, and complement each other nicely.

Except for a couple of minor omissions, which were probably the result of inadequate space in the final book, The Battlecruiser Hood is an excellent study of an historic warship that's unfortunately most remembered for her tragic demise. Like the other Anatomies (I'll just point this out now so I don't have to later), it won't appeal to anyone looking for a narrative history of the ship. But for anyone looking for technical details of the Hood, her machinery, and her armament, this is the best place to start.

Final score: 9/10.

[Subnuts]

Anatomy of the Ship: The Aircraft Carrier Intrepid
John Roberts
1982

Although it's best known these days as a floating museum and a permanent fixture of New York harbor, the Essex-class carrier Intrepid had an illustrious three-decade long career. One of 24 ships in her class, Intrepid fought in almost every major campaign of the Pacific War from 1943 to 1945, taking hits from torpedoes and kamikazes on numerous occasions. The ship continued to serve after the war, receiving several major refits, and was decommissioned in 1974. Intrepid now serves as the centerpiece of Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, moored alongside that historic embodiment of American seapower, the Concorde.

Coming hot on the heels of Roberts' "Anatomy" of the HMS Hood, this book suffers occasionally from being a sophomore effort. The quality of the drafting is bit blunter this time around, lacking the finesse of it's predecessor. At 96 pages (versus Hood's 127), it's also a bit cramped for space, and doesn't include a single drawing or photograph of the ship as it appeared post-war. Finally, there isn't a single drawing depicting the ship's hull lines, although considering that the Lexington, the last surviving Essex, wasn't decommissioned until 1991, that information might have been still classified at the time.

Fortunately, big things often come in small packages, and Roberts manages to cram plenty of detail into those 96 pages, providing a comprehensive overview of Intrepid's layout, construction, machinery, and weapons. The introduction is even briefer than usual, but still provides interesting details on the ship's hull structure, machinery, and armament, a number of specifications tables, and a short timeline of the ship's service. 19 photographs are included, several of them showing modifications to the island, the AA gun platforms added during the war, and detail shots of torpedo and kamikaze damage.

As always, the drawings section opens with general arrangements of the ship. The port and starboard side of the hull and island are shown at 1:300 scale, each deck in the island at 1:150 scale, and each of the 10 hull decks at 1:600 scale. Finally, there are three transverse and one longitudinal sections through the hull. The next section covers the structure of the hull, with detailed illustrations depicting the arrangement of hull plating, the construction of the inner bottoms and keel, the layout of protective plating, a detailed perspective view of the midships hull structure. The section also depicts the various types of structural beams and brackets used in the ship's construction, and examples of welded and riveted joints.

A brief section on machinery shows the arrangement of the main and auxiliary machinery spaces, a series of plans showing the arrangement of steam supply pipes in the No 2 boiler and No 1 engine rooms, and depictions of a boiler, turbine set, and turbo-generator. The anchor gear is depicted by a single detailed perspective cutaway, while Section E details the superstructure. This section includes scrap views showing the AA gun platforms added during the war, while perspective views show the arrangement of the hangar deck, island, and navigating bridge. The rig is also briefly covered, showing the arrangement of signal yards, radar antennae, and the boat boom at several points during the war.

Another short section details flight deck equipment such as the arresting gear, deck edge elevator, crash barrier, and gasoline stations, and another set of drawings depicts the 5-inch, 40mm, and 20mm guns and their directors in detail. Fittings such as watertight doors, rope reels, ladders, and guardrails are also detailed, along with the ship's 26-foot whaleboats and the crane which raised and lowered it.

Of Roberts' three anatomies, this one is probably the weakest, although it's still better than many of the books in this series. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this book was optioned at the same that The Battlecruiser Hood was, or if it evolved from a side-project started in the late 70s. Thankfully, Roberts is such a fine draughtsman that the relative lack of material isn't that big of a drawback. The General Arrangement plans do an excellent job depicting the dizzying maze of compartments in the ship's bowels (no wonder sailors always got lost!), and the perspective views do an excellent job at depicting interior arrangements. I wouldn't call anything here "art," but once again, Roberts attention to detail is frequently mind-blowing, whether it's in a cross-section through an armor bolt, a close-up of a dog on a quick-acting door, or a perspective view of the navigating bridge that shows every piece of equipment contained within. The only real misstep lies with a two page filler section that includes clip-art quality renditions of five of the aircraft carried during the war.

The biggest downside of this book is that it only depicts Intrepid's World War II appearance. Warships that stay in commission for extended periods are evolutionary beasts, and while Roberts does a decent job showing her wartime refits, there isn't a single word outside the introduction suggesting the ship didn't disappear after 1945. Outside of that frustrating omission, this book offers plenty of fascinating material for the serious, close-eyed naval enthusiast. I especially enjoyed the plans showing the shell plating and triple bottom - then again, I am kind of crazy!

Final score: 8/10

[Subnuts]

Anatomy of the Ship: The Type VII U-Boat
David Westwood
1984
The Type VII U-boat, a medium-range ocean-going patrol submarine built in a number of variants between 1936 and 1944, was the ideal vessel for carrying out Karl Donitz's concept of a...

Hey Subnuts. This is Daryl talking. You're not writing this review for Yahoo Answers. This is SUBSIM.COM for God's sakes. Everyone here, with the exception of designer-shoe-selling spambots, is quite aware of what the Type VII U-boat was, and has some idea of the boat's basic specifications and the differences between the different models. Can you get on with this review already?

Well, fine then.

For the third entry in the "Anatomy of the Ship" series, Conway chose to focus on an entire class of ships, rather than just a single vessel. After all, the VII might be the most recognizable submarine design in history, and it's small size guaranteed a smaller, and therefore less expensive book. The Aircraft Carrier Intrepid was only 96 pages long, and did an excellent job depicting that ship's World War II arrangement. Could they capture lightning in a bottle again?

A four page introduction starts us off with a history of the VII design's genesis, while a set of tables includes specifications of the different VII sub-types, and information on torpedoes and gun mounts. 24 photographs are included, including some interesting shots of the captured U-570, a few clear interior photos, and numerous full-boat portraits and conning tower close-ups. As always, the rest of the book is occupied by drawings.

Of the 69 pages of drawings presented here, 41 are devoted entirely to general arrangement plans. Opening with a perspective view of a "Type VIIC as in 1936" (I'm assuming that's a typo), section A then moves on to depict 1/200 scale plan and profile views of each VII type, ranging from the early VIIAs, through the late-war VIIC/41s, to the VIID mine-layer and VIIF torpedo transport. The rest of section A includes profile and perspective views of various Turm configurations, including the basic early-war design, the U-Flak, and U-995's final arrangement.

Section B details the internal arrangements of the different subtypes, with a cross-section and plan views of each deck, again at 1/200 scale. Along with basic internal layouts, this section also includes more detailed plans of the interior arrangements of the VIIB and VIIC, a structural plan showing plating thicknesses, and drawings of the air supply and exhaust trunking fitted in the schnorchel-equipped VIICs. Section C provides 11 1/100 scale transverse sections through a late-war VIIC.

Section D depicts the internal arrangement of the boat from stern to bow, showing each compartment at 1/100 scale, with a longitudinal section and plan views of each level, though the control room and conning tower are only depicted in side view. This section also shows the arrangement of the anchor gear and rather crude perspective views of the captain's cabin and forward torpedo tubes. The final section includes drawings of the 2cm MG C30 AA gun, the 3.7cm SKC30U, the 8.8cm SKC35 deck gun, the different shells used by these guns, the G7e and G7a torpedoes, a torpedo tube and it's loading gear, and a few of the bridge fittings.

The biggest issue I have with The Type VII U-boat is the relative lack of material contained within, and the lack of detail present throughout much of the book. Compared to the two preceding series entries, this book is very much "Anatomy Lite," very rarely exploring the boat's design at a more than superficial level. David Westwood may be a fine historian, but the drawings here lack the passionate attention to detail shown by John Roberts and many of the draftsmen (and one draftswoman) who later produced their own Anatomies. There's definitely a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on here - most of the drawings in Sections A and B are pretty crude and workmanlike, but the later chapters detailing the boat's internal arrangements are crisply executed and filled with details I'd never gleaned before. Compared to John Lambert's entry on the submarine Alliance, which is packed with dozens of elaborately detailed drawings of machinery, propulsion systems, weapons, and inner workings, The Type VII U-boat is child's play.

Would I pay the $29.70 this book currently commands on Amazon right now? Certainly not. I was lucky enough to find a used copy of the 1986 reprint for $18, and I noticed a few used copies starting at $9 available right now. I wouldn't call this one "bad," but it pales compared to the better Anatomies, and I'd really only recommend it unless you have to own every U-boat book in existence.

Ironically, one can view a translated version of Volume M of U-570's Design and Specification book online for free, which includes a ton of detail that isn't included in this book: http://www.uboatarchive.net/U-570DesignBook.htm

Final rating: 6/10

[Subnuts]

Anatomy of the Ship: The Fairmile 'D' Motor Torpedo Boat
John Lambert
1985

When you think of a World War II-era warship, the image that probably comes to mind is a sleek destroyer cutting through the waves, or a massive battleship letting loose with a salvo from it's main guns. For the most part, the thousands of coastal craft, such as motor launches and torpedo boats, tend to get lost in the shuffle. One of these small vessels was the Fairmile D combined Motor Gun/Torpedo Boat, of which 229 were constructed were built during the war by 30 British shipyards. Prefabricated and shipped as giant "kits" for on-site assembly, the 'D's were cramped Frankenships which used American engines, were armed with whatever weapons were available, and were so ugly that their crews took to calling them "Dog Boats." Under their ungainly exterior, however, was a vicious little fighter which packed more firepower than a pre-World War I destroyer.

Like the American PT Boats, the Fairmile Ds had a "hard chine" hull shape and were constructed from diagonally-planked mahogany. Intended as a counter to the German Schnellboote, the Fairmile D MGB/MTB evolved into the most heavily armed, on a ton-per-ton basis, warship of World War II. Displacing 105 tons, a typical late-war Fairmile D might mount four 18-inch torpedo tubes, two Quick-Firing 6-pound guns, a pair of Vickers twin heavy machine guns, a twin 20mm Oerlikon Anti-Aircraft gun, and four depth charges. With a top speed of 32 knots, they were substantially slower than the PTs and Schnellbootes, but more than capable of taking back some of what they could dish out.

For the fifth book in the series, Conway once again chose to focus on an entire class rather than a single ship. This is the first of two entries by John Lambert, a naval historian and draughtsman best known for his superbly detailed plans of British naval weapons and warships of Destroyer size and smaller. The result is a book that's superior to The Type VII U-Boat, but which still suffers from some nagging flaws.

The introduction, though only 16 pages, is longer and more detailed than those found in most Anatomies. Opening with a history of the development of Fairmile's A, B, and C motor launches, Lambert describes the evolution of the D design throughout the war, each type of gun and torpedo that could be mounted, and the particulars of the machinery. A number of tables are also included, showing which boats were constructed at which yards, the completion date and fate of each "D," detailed specifications of each weapon, performance data for the B through D Fairmiles, variations in machinery installations, and the scantling dimensions for the B through H models. The next section includes 23 large and fairly obscure photographs that Lambert managed to acquire during his research. These include photos of the prototype "D" under construction, a number of "in action" shots, and onboard images of the weapons carried.

The drawings chapter is divided into seven sections:
A - Developments and variations of Fairmile types
B - General arrangements
C - Hull structure
D - Machinery
E - Superstructure and rig
F - Armament
G - Fittings

Section A opens with 1/150 scale profile and cross-section views of the Fairmiles, A, B, and C designs. The rest of the chapter traces the design of the D model, depicting 16 representative vessels in profile and occasionally plan, including the type fitted as an RAF rescue boat, and an unbuilt ASW conversion, noting the differences in armament fit in each. Section B includes sectional and plan views of an early "D" gun boat, sectional, plan, and profile views of a late-war combined gun/torpedo boat, and 1/75 scale plans of the hull lines. Section C features three 1/50 scale sections showing the arrangement of the hull structure, and several perspective views showing details of bulkhead, planking, and frame construction.

Section D is by far the most detailed of the seven sections. This chapter includes detailed plans of the water cooling, bilge, and lubricating oil systems, the fuel tanks and their piping, fire protection equipment, propeller shafting, the engines and their carriers, and the exhaust system. Section E depicts the arrangement of the bridge, details of the mast, and some of the electronics aerials. Section F details the boat's armament, including the Mk 11A six-pounder, the 20mm Oerlikon and it's various mounts, the Vickers 0.5 inch machine gun, 18 and 21-inch torpedoes, and the rocket flare launcher. The final section shows the location of each deck fitting, depicts the different types of guardrails and several deck fittings, and details the hull markings and draft lines.

As you've probably started to notice by now, every book in this series is superb in some areas and merely "blah" in a couple areas. Regardless of Lambert's skill as a draughtsman, this book suffers from a number of annoying production flaws. Although some of these books do a fine job circumventing the issue, the idea of segregating the text, photographs, and drawings into separate sections is a pretty flawed one. Some later Anatomies managed to get around this by including more detailed text and notes along with the drawing keys, a luxury not afforded to the reader here. In several instances, the drawings are unlabeled but the equipment being depicted is described in greater detail in the introduction, forcing the reader to jump between the text and plan. The most grating example is Lambert's superb drawings of the engine room, showing the space in plan, profile, and at four sections. Unfortunately, these plans are unlabeled, forcing the reader to "piece together" the compartment from the other drawing keys in Section D.

There's also a heavy emphasis on weapons Vis-à-vis internal arrangements and hull structure. Granted, a warship isn't much without weapons, but I'm more of a naval architecture geek myself. Only 3 1/2 pages are devoted to hull construction, compared with 24 pages of armament details. Having detailed views of the six-pounder's ammunition feed rail, cutaways of an Oerlikon magazine, and close-ups of a Vickers MG gas plug, is nice and all, but doesn't really say much about the design of the actual ship.

I've considered giving this one 7/10, but I'm bumping it up to 8/10 for four reasons. John Lambert is a superb draughtsman, and once you get over the somewhat awkward format, you'll kick yourself knowing he only published one other Anatomy. Secondly, there's still quite a bit of material here for the serious naval geek to chew on, probably more if naval weaponry is your thing. Thirdly, you'll never find this much material on this type anywhere else, so if you're planning on modeling a Fairmile D, this is the place to start. Finally, it introduced me to an obscure and impressive breed of fighting ship, which I'd previously only heard snippets about. Despite it's annoying flaws, this book is a treasure trove of "good stuff" for anyone interested in coastal craft.

Final Rating: 8/10

[sharkbit]

Thanks for sharing.

I have 3 of the 4 you've reviewed so far and I agree with your reviews. I was pretty dissapointed with the Type VIIC book as well.
I'm eagerly awaiting more, especially on the Bismarck. Amazon is pretty proud of that one and I want to see if it is worth the price.

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by sharkbit

Thanks for sharing.

I have 3 of the 4 you've reviewed so far and I agree with your reviews. I was pretty dissapointed with the Type VIIC book as well.
I'm eagerly awaiting more, especially on the Bismarck. Amazon is pretty proud of that one and I want to see if it is worth the price.

Hope you hold onto your receipt. I don't actually own the Bismarck book, but I checked it out through inter-library loan one time. The General Arrangement plans are nice, but there's almost nothing about machinery and hull structure, no perspective views, and the drawings are pretty lifeless (all hairline thicknesses). I don't expect art from these books, but I need some visual interest to draw me in. I'm a little tired right now, but I'll get around to reviewing The 74-Gun Ship Bellona tomorrow.

[Subnuts]

Anatomy of the Ship: The 74 Gun Ship Bellona
Brian Lavery
1985

Gather 'round the campfire kids, while I bring you back to a mysterious time in naval warfare. A time when mankind managed to make entire forests float, and propel them through the water with oversized novelty handkerchiefs. A time when ships were made entirely from splinters, and carried as many guns as a small nation's army. A time when nations fought giant pissing contests across the seven seas - even when naval battles were fought at ranges shorter than an average pissing contest.


Yes, folks, I'm talking about the Age of Sail, a time when men were men and women ran in terror from our smell. A glorious, romantic age of vomit, scurvy, unidentifiable food, and amputation as a cure for bed rash.


Ya' know, like this.

The 74-Gun Ship Bellona was the first book in this series to depict a sailing warship, though to be utterly pedantic, the Fairmile D was the first wooden ship to be depicted. Although this book has the same basic layout as the preceding Anatomies, Brian Lavery, an esteemed naval historian in his own right had to take a different tack in approaching the subject. He takes some baby steps in doing so, and the occasional giant leap, but the final result is a bit mixed.

Bellona (named after an ancient Roman war goddess, and not a disturbing lunch meat or a Stevie Nicks solo album, as you might have assumed) was one of the first 74 gun ships and served as a prototype for the class. Laid down in 1758, Bellona fought in four wars and wasn't broken up until 1814. To quote Lavery's own Nelson's Navy: "The 74 was a great success because it was the ideal compromise. It combined good sailing qualities with strong gun power, being the smallest practicable ship to carry a full battery of 32-pounders on the lower deck. It had scantlings strong enough to withstand any likely attack, but, unlike the three-decker, it did not need the largest and most expensive pieces of timber. As a two-decker, it was well proportioned and weatherly." While only 10 ships with 100 guns or more were in service with Royal Navy in 1804, 94 74s were in commission.

The introduction is a little more detailed this time, and makes extensive use of tables. Lavery briefly describes the development of the 74-gun ship, before describing Bellona's history, structure and layout, decorations, fittings, masts and yards, and so on. The 20 tables cover subjects as varied as the sizes of gun tackles, dates and costs of repairs, dimensions of caps and tops, and observations on the ship's sailing qualities from 1763 and 1783. Photographs are a bit limited - there are nine in total, seven showing two period models of the ship, and two paintings from the same era.

The first set of drawings show a sheer, half-breadth, and body plan of the ship, and a rather crude longitudinal section. Section B details the ship's structure in great detail. Numerous plan and profile views of every part of the hull are included, with exploded views of keel, deck beam, and stem scarphs construction. Perspective views of the bow, stern, and midships framing are included, along with a midships section, and plans of the hull framing, wales and planking, the waist and gangways, and the diagonal bracing fitted in 1805.

Section C depicts the arrangement and structure of the hold and four decks at 1/192nd scale, with plans depicting the deck arrangement on the right side, and deck structure on the left. Section D details the decorations of the stern and quarter galleries, and the arrangement of the head, while Section E depicts a number of external details, such railings, hammock netting, hatches, bulkheads, and bitts. Section F focuses on the ship's fittings, including the steering system, anchors, capstans, pumps, boats, and copper sheathing. Section G looks at accommodations (if you want to use that word), with plans of the gun deck hammock arrangements, the galley stove, and the layout of officer's cabins on the upper deck.

The masts and yards are shown in Section H, with forward and side views of each spar, close-ups of mast tops, and perspective views showing the assembly of masts, yards, and yardarm fittings. Section I details the sails and rigging. As expected, we're presented with views of the standing and running rigging, examples of different types of blocks, details of various sails and their fittings, and profiles showing the rigging associated with each mast. The final section covers Bellona's armament, with views of each type of cannon carried and their carriages, details of gun tackles, and plans showing the arrangement of the main magazine and aft powder room.

As evidenced by my delay in reviewing it, I still haven't come to a definite conclusion regarding The 74-Gun Ship Bellona. The book covers a lot of ground in a short span, and I'm certain that Lavery's skill as a historian unearthed plenty of details an ordinary draughtsman may have missed. Who would have thought that the upper surface of the false keel was covered in a composition of hair and tar, to make it unnecessary to remove it for re-sheathing? Or that many British ships after 1780 had "made masts" scarphed together from four or five sections, due to the inability to acquire the necessary wood from North American forests?

Unfortunately, we're presented with another "Anatomy" where a good chunk of the drawings are crude or lacking in detail. Lavery's views of the hull structure, decoration, and rigging are uniformly nice, but elsewhere the drafting quality is all over the place. To be diplomatic, Brian Lavery is a better historian than he is a draftsman. Most of the drawings in Sections E and F have a sketch-like quality, and the lack of a belaying plan is a curious omission. The drawings get the point across well enough, but modelers and ship buffs will probably be dissapointed by the lack of detail.

The 74-Gun Ship Bellona is certainly a better book than The Type VII U-Boat, but it's far from being in my Top 10 favorites. It does an admirable job depicting an important and forgotten warship from the Age of Sail, but it falls short of being truly excellent. Two years later, John McKay would come along and set a new standard for detail with his book on the HMS Victory.

Final rating: 7/10

[Subnuts]

Utterly shameless necrothread bumpage, but I fully intend on reviewing the rest of this series when I get over my writer's block. Here's how collection stands right now:


Here's how I'd rate each:

Agassiz: Excellent
Alliance: Excellent
Bartolmeo Colleoni: Decent
HMS Beagle: Good
HMS Belfast: Good/Very Good
Bellona: Decent
Bertha L Downs: Very Good
Blandford: Very Good
Bounty: Very Good
Campbeltown: Fair
USS Constitution: Fair
Dreadnought: Excellent
Diana: Very Good
Endeavour: Good/Very Good
Essex: Very Good
Fairmile 'D': Good/Very Good
Fuso: Very Good
Granado: Very Good
Hood: Very Good/Excellent
Intrepid: Good/Very Good
Pandora: Very Good
Queen Mary: Very Good
Takao: Very Good/Excellent
Type VII: Fair/Good
Type XXI: Fair/Good
Victorious: Very Good
Victory: Fair/Good (Print quality of 2010 edition is atrocious!)
Warspite: Good
Yamato: Very Good

I recently obtained a copy of the the Type XXI volume, and it's a bit of a disappointment. It was originally printed in Germany as an unrelated title, and got "Frankensteined" into an Anatomy of the Ship book when republished in English. Lots of interesting pictures, but most of the drawings are redrawn versions of original shipyard plans, many of which are basic General Arrangement plans which have been reproduced elsewhere. I'm still waiting for a definitive warts-and-all technical study of the XXI. These boats have always fascinated me, even if they've been hopelessly mythologized over the years. If you have to choose between the three submarine "Anatomies," go with the one on Alliance. If you're interested in the XXI, Eberhard Rossler's The U-Boat has a lot of excellent material on the Elekroboot designs.

[Sailor Steve]

The only one I own is Dreadnought, and I agree it is excellent. Amazing, in fact. I bought it because of my interest in naval development in all periods, but especially the beginnings of modern warship design.

I keep meaning to get more, but my true collecting love is for Conway's Warship series. I have about one-third of them and am currently in a position to get more, so I am. They have wonderful articles on specific ship development, as well as weapons and other things.

I'm glad to see you bring this back. I especially enjoyed re-reading your Bellona review. 'Pissing contest' indeed!

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Subnuts

Utterly shameless necrothread bumpage, but I fully intend on reviewing the rest of this series when I get over my writer's block. Here's how collection stands right now:


Here's how I'd rate each:

Agassiz: Excellent
Alliance: Excellent
Bartolmeo Colleoni: Decent
HMS Beagle: Good
HMS Belfast: Good/Very Good
Bellona: Decent
Bertha L Downs: Very Good
Blandford: Very Good
Bounty: Very Good
Campbeltown: Fair
USS Constitution: Fair
Dreadnought: Excellent
Diana: Very Good
Endeavour: Good/Very Good
Essex: Very Good
Fairmile 'D': Good/Very Good
Fuso: Very Good
Granado: Very Good
Hood: Very Good/Excellent
Intrepid: Good/Very Good
Pandora: Very Good
Queen Mary: Very Good
Takao: Very Good/Excellent
Type VII: Fair/Good
Type XXI: Fair/Good
Victorious: Very Good
Victory: Fair/Good (Print quality of 2010 edition is atrocious!)
Warspite: Good
Yamato: Very Good

I recently obtained a copy of the the Type XXI volume, and it's a bit of a disappointment. It was originally printed in Germany as an unrelated title, and got "Frankensteined" into an Anatomy of the Ship book when republished in English. Lots of interesting pictures, but most of the drawings are redrawn versions of original shipyard plans, many of which are basic General Arrangement plans which have been reproduced elsewhere. I'm still waiting for a definitive warts-and-all technical study of the XXI. These boats have always fascinated me, even if they've been hopelessly mythologized over the years. If you have to choose between the three submarine "Anatomies," go with the one on Alliance. If you're interested in the XXI, Eberhard Rossler's The U-Boat has a lot of excellent material on the Elekroboot designs.

Now that is a nice collection.

[Subnuts]

Anatomy of the Ship: The Cruiser HMS Belfast
Ross Watton
1985

1985 was certainly a busy year for the "Anatomy of the Ship" series, and in that year, we were introduced to Ross Watton, a freelance illustrator and former Royal Navy sailor who would go to create four books in this series. For his first book, he chose to detail the HMS Belfast, the ninth Town-class light cruiser. Belfast was laid down in 1936, and went on to serve an illustrious 24-year career with the Royal Navy. She is presently a floating museum on the Thames River in London, the only British warship larger than a destroyer that served in World War Two and is still preserved today. As an aside, the large exploded-view cutaway painting aboard the ship was painted by Ross Watton himself.

If you've read my reviews of the previous Anatomies, there are no "Gotchas!" to be found in The Cruiser HMS Belfast's presentation. Same text introduction, same section of 20-odd black and white photographs, and the drawings are still presented in the same "A- General Arrangements, B- Hull Structure" manner. Consistency isn't necessarily a bad thing in a book series, and for that reason, I'm not going to go exhaustively in-depth with this one.

General Arrangements are what you'd expect. Plans of each deck, a center-line cross-section, 13 transverse sections, and profiles of the ship as it appeared in 1942 and 1959. The section on hull structure is a bit different from previous books, with an emphasis on detailed perspective views. Section C covers the ship's machinery, with detailed plans of the machinery spaces, and drawings of components such as boilers, turbines, the steering gear, and propeller shaft arrangements.

Crew accommodation is briefly depicted in Section D, while Section E covers the superstructure, focusing on the changes after the 1959 refit. Section F details Belfast's rig, depicting the evolution of the fore and main masts from 1939 to 1959, along with details such as the RDF lantern, boat booms, accommodation ladder and crows nest. The armament is depicted in the next section, which includes some very nice drawings of the ship's 6-inch triple turrets, the 4-inch Mk XIX twin guns, the anti-aircraft guns, and the torpedo tubes and depth charge racks.

Section I includes a couple views of some of the fire control devices fitted during the ship's service, while the final 20 pages focus on a hodgepodge of different subjects, including fittings, ground tackle, boats, and aircraft arrangements.

When I first bought this book (it was one of my first Anatomies), I was rather disappointed and initially passed Ross Watton off as a poor man's John Roberts. Almost three years later, I've finally warmed up to his style. There's quite a bit of praiseworthy material contained within, especially the perspective views of the ship's structure, which are beautifully executed and show everything down to individual rivets and angle bars. Perspective views are where Mr. Watton really shines, though the traditional drawings are well done, too.

Unfortunately, despite his artistic talents, Watton didn't possess that same fanatical attention to detail that John Lambert, John McKay, and John Roberts (what's with all the Johns, anyway?) show in their own titles. Don't expect to find exploded views of door hinges, plans of boiler room steam pipes, or cross-sections through a quadruple-riveted butt lap. He would come close to this attention to detail from time to time, but I get the impression he was pressed for time and space - 120 pages isn't much to work with after all! The Cruiser HMS Belfast is pretty nice for a first effort, but better things were to come from Ross Watton.

Final rating: 7.5/10 (although it's worth it just for the perspective views alone)

Here's the midships structure cutaway, just to give a taste:

[Sepp von Ch.]

I own all submarine Anatomy of the Ship books - Type VII, XXI and The submarine alliance and these books are excellent. I wish Anatomy of the Typ IX U-Boat

[Subnuts]

Anatomy of the Ship: The Submarine Alliance
John Lambert
1986

I think it's fair to say we here on Subsim tend to take submarines for granted. We order a new depth, the chief nods and talks to the control room bulkhead, the pump guy turns a few valves, and god willing, the boat levels off within two meters of the ordered depth. However, if one were to peel away the layers of any submarine built since the 1930s, one would find a bewilderingly sophisticated machine whose complexity rivaled a manned spacecraft. Take the Amphion-class, a class of 16 diesel-electric attack submarines built in the UK under the 1943 Emergency War Programme. Among the bewildering array of systems aboard these boats were two massive diesel engines, ten torpedo tubes, 224 lead-acid batteries weighing a half ton each, dozens of ballast, lubricating oil, fuel, and trimming tanks, and high and low-pressure compressed air tanks and lines. Besides that, every corner of these boats were crammed with hand-wheels, valves, and gauges, along with dozens of auxiliary machines.

Up until this title, the "Anatomy of the Ship" series had relied mostly on traditional deck plans and cross-sections, with the occasional perspective view thrown in. Submarines are a different beast, however, and when dealing with a 16-foot wide, 220-foot long metal pipe, John Lambert had to take a different tack. The result is one of the finest books in the series, and a must-own for any serious submarine buff. The introduction describes Alliance's construction, machinery, armament, and post-war refits, accompanied by several tables detailing various particulars of the Amphion-class, including trial results and machinery details. There are 21 photographs in total, showing various 'A' boats from 1945 to the mid 70s, giving a decent idea of the class's evolution through the years.

While The Submarine Alliance includes the same type of General Arrangement drawings found in the rest of the series, they certainly aren't the meat of the book. Instead, this book is packed with hundreds of exploded and perspective-view schematics, depicting the boat's propulsion systems, machinery, and armament in unprecedented detail. The drawings section opens with 12 1/384 scale profile views showing various 'A' boats from 1945 through 1970, showing the evolving appearance of the class's exterior. Section B includes full set of General Arrangement plans, showing the top and side of the boat, plans of each deck, and a longitudinal and nine transverse sections of the hull. This section also includes 1/96 scale midships sections of three different 'A's, a perspective cutaway of a generic 'A', and a set of plans depicting Alliance's appearance after her 1960 refit, along with the layout of her external and internal tanks and their associated fittings. Section 'C', "Casing and Superstructure," features 1/96 scale plans depicting the internal and external arrangement of Auriga's bridge as completed, and Alliance's after her 1961 refit. This section also includes three pages of scrap views showing Alliance in her present condition, focusing on the sail and deck fittings.

Section D, "Internal Arrangements," covers many of the systems required for the everyday operation of a late-war diesel submarine. The first three pages alone depict the arrangement of external and internal tanks, the high and low-pressure air systems, the layout of the bathrooms and water closets, and the auxiliary circulating water and fresh water systems. The control room is detailed in a series of 1/60th scale plans, showing elevations of both sides of the compartment and 12 sections through it, the drawing key noting items as obscure as the "24v DC M/G for radio and radar" and "12in TO vent valve No 3 main tank." The rest of the chapter includes drawings of the anchor gear, forward and after hydroplane arrangements, steering gear, main valves, the snort induction system, both periscopes, and the ACO Mk II projector binnacle, an interesting device which allowed the helmsman in the control room to view a projected image of the compass card.

Section E, "Machinery," focuses on the propulsion systems of the A-class, and is even more detailed than the preceding section. It opens with seven pages of perspective views of the Admiralty-pattern diesels fitted on board six of the A-class, showing the engine framework, air start, lubricating oil, and circulating water systems, cylinder heads, fuel pumps and injectors, engine controls, supercharger, and valve gears. The Vickers diesels fitted on board the remaining "A" boats receive similar treatment, as do the electric motors, batteries, and propeller shafts. The rest of the section covers auxiliary machinery, including evaporators, the air conditioning plant, air compressors, the low pressure blower, ballast pump, and refrigerating plant.

The final section looks at the weapons used by the A-class. It opens with schematics of the boat's internal and external torpedo tubes, showing the arrangements of pipe connections, firing gear, and some of the important torpedo tube fittings. The Mk VIII torpedo is detailed with dimensioned drawings and perspective views of the interior components, such as the main reducing valve, igniter firing gear, and gyro angling gear. The book concludes with views of both types of 4-inch guns used by the A-class, and the famous 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun.

How would I best describe this book? Obsessive. Fantastically detailed. A labor of love for serious submarine buffs and anyone interested in naval architecture. The Submarine Alliance contains the most detailed technical drawings of a submarine I've ever seen, and it's the most detailed book in this series by far. Finding decent technical data on submarines has always been a frustrating experience - even the Fleet Boat manuals available for free online never really satiated my desire. Despite it's small size, this book is a treasure trove of detail, even if it will only appeal to serious submarine geeks.

My only real complaint lies in the lack of schematics depicting the hull structure, which is paid some lip service in the introduction but is otherwise glossed over. In several instances, items on the plans are pointed to, but the number associated with the drawing key simply isn't there. In one severe example a drawing showing the crankshaft of the Vickers diesel, a key is included but the actual drawing doesn't have any annotations! Those quibbles aside, this is one of my three favorite Anatomies, and it's a real shame that it was never revised and reprinted.

Final rating: 9.25/10

[nikimcbee]

Subnuts, do you have John Lambert's book on the Corvettes?

[Subnuts]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Subnuts, do you have John Lambert's book on the Corvettes?

I don't have either one, but I have John McKay's book on the Flower-class corvette Agassiz, which is another one of my favorites in this series.