A well-research book about the famous Royal Navy battleship HMS
Rodney. Nicely flowing text and new insights makes this a 'must-read'
book. Highly Recommended.
NAME: HMS Rodney, Slayer of the Bismark and D-Day Saviour FILE: R2405 AUTHOR: Iain Ballantyne PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PAGES: 304 PRICE: £16.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: WWII, World War 2, World War Two, Second World War, Bismark, Treaty Warships, capital ships, battleships, 16 inch guns ISBN: 1-84884-870-6 IMAGE: B2405.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/zropxer LINKS: Current Discount Offers http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/sale DESCRIPTION: A well-research book about the famous Royal Navy battleship HMS Rodney. Nicely flowing text and new insights makes this a 'must-read' book. Highly Recommended. Some may feel that the sub-title overstates the case, but it is a valid view of the importance of HMS Rodney. True, Bismark was shadowed by flying boats, damaged by Swordfish torpedo planes and brought to account by KGV and a group of other major British warships, but HMS Rodney can claim to have landed fatal blows that ensured Bismark sank. Equally, Rodney was an important part of the naval bombardment team at D-Day and certainly saved lives by taking out key parts of the German defences ashore. HMS Rodney and HMS Nelson were 'Treaty' battleships, designed to squeeze every once out of the tonnage allocation. They were different in appearance from their contemporaries, not just in the Royal Navy, but a unique configuration world-wide. By tradition, battleships had evolved from Dreadnought to carry their main armament in three or four turrets. Two would be sited ahead of the superstructure, the second turret superimposed above the first, and potentially able to train on targets from beam to beam. Aft of the superstructure, one or two turrets would be mounted, again, a second turret, if fitted, superimposed. Secondary armament would be mounted in turrets to either side of the superstructure and, by the 1930s, usually be mounted in High Angle, HA, twin gun turrets, permitting them to track surface targets but also provide anti-aircraft fire. Increasingly, from 1930, there would then be a collection of lighter guns that were primarily intended for use against aircraft which were becoming the major threat against the battleship. HMS Rodney mounted her heavy guns in three turrets ahead of the superstructure. This meant that the turret closest to the superstructure had a limited field of fire forward because of the two turrets ahead. The superstructure was also novel, being dominated by a large tower structure which was often referred to as Queen Anne's Mansions. What also marked the Rodney and Nelson out from most of their sisters was that each of their three main turrets mounted three 16 inch guns, a formidable increase in firepower over the typical 14 inch or 15 inch gunned battleships. The author has taken time out from his job as editor of Warships International Fleet Review to write this book and it was first published in 2008 and then reprinted in 2012 and 2016. The reason for making time early was that he intended to include first hand accounts and, with time passing, the number of surviving veterans was beginning to rapidly reduce. It is good that he was able to make this decision and the result is a carefully researched history of the ship, enlivened and enhanced by the words of those who served her. There is a nice photo-plate section and this is an enjoyable account, with fresh insights, for what was a very important British capital ship of WWII.