This volume continues the coverage of cruisers begun in Volume III. – This is a reproduction of the set of eight volumes held by the British National Maritime Museum where it has provided an unparalleled source of information for the Museum’s staff – Most Recommended.
NAME: British Warship Recognition, The Perkins Identification Albums, Volume IV: Cruisers 1865-1939, Part 2 FILE: R2548 AUTHOR: Richard Perkins PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword, Seaforth BINDING: hard back PAGES: 192 PRICE: £60.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Royal Navy, destroyers, cruisers, construction techniques, warships, marine engineering, Victorian Era, sailing warships, steam, armoured
ISBN: 978-1-4738-9149-4
IMAGE: B2548.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/y8j9ctb7 LINKS: DESCRIPTION: This volume continues the coverage of cruisers begun in Volume III. - This is a reproduction of the set of eight volumes held by the British National Maritime Museum where it has provided an unparalleled source of information for the Museum's staff – Most Recommended. The author was a photographer of note who collected a unique photographic resource, in its field one of the most extensive in the world. He became the acknowledged expert in the identifying and dating of warship photographs and his project to provide a truly comprehensive recognition record of Royal Navy warships from the 1860s to the Second World War is a visual record that cannot be excelled. Until Pen and Sword began a facsimile project with the National Maritime Museum, Perkins' work was not easily accessible to anyone beyond Museum staff and was a remarkable national treasure in its own right. By producing a full set of these recognition volumes in quality facsimile form as a large format book, the publishers have provided a commendable service to all enthusiasts, ship modellers, professionals, historians, and museums. Inevitably, a volume of this size and quality cannot be offered at a budget price, even though the publishers have set a very aggressive RRP. The reduction in lending library services in many countries will make that form of access difficult for many readers. Readers who might not normally stretch their budgets to this cover price may well make a special effort and find the money to acquire the full eight volume set as the only way to access the astonishing expertise displayed by Perkins in his fantastic work. Cruisers have proved one of the most valuable classes of ship for the Royal Navy and this is underlined by the need for Perkins to produce two volumes for this class of warship. In this volume, all the smaller ships from the Calliope class of 1914, back through 2nd and 3rd -class protected ships, to the 1st vessels to carry the 'cruiser' designation. Perkins has also covered the earlier iron frigate and all masted screw corvettes built from the Amazon class of 1865. As a result, Perkins visually charts the development of the Nelsonian frigate that was the vital backbone of the Royal Navy, protecting the sea lanes and projecting power. As new classes emerged, notably the destroyer, it has at times proved difficult to see where destroyers and cruisers separate. As with all the sister volumes in this redoubtable recognition series, there are hundreds of the most beautifully delineated warship profile drawings , arranged by class and type, and reproduced in the original colours of Perkin's masters. This volume is again a treasure trove of information with not only a profile of each vessel included, but also providing analysis of the most minute differences between sister ships. In addition, the many detailed changes for individual vessels, during their periods of service, are included and the author has added a series of hand-written notes that are a welcome and important addition to the drawings. This is a book that is very difficult to do full justice to in a book review, even by including many of the images in the review. Every reader of naval history and technology should make special effort to acquire or view each volume in the collection.