The author has a special interest in commercial ships of all types and he has put this experience to the subject of Standard Ships. There is a wealth of photographic illustration that strongly complements an able text – Most Recommended.
NAME: Wartime Standard Ships FILE: R2609 AUTHOR: Nick Robins PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword, Seaforth Publishing BINDING: hard back PAGES: 177 PRICE: £25.00 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Merchant shipping, Merchant Navy, Mercantile marine, cargo ships, passenger ships, troop ships, ammunition ships, MAC ships, CAM ships, Royal Navy, WWII, World War 2, World War II, Second World War, Great War, First World War, WWI, World War 1, World War I, ship building, technology, construction methods. ISBN: 1-84832-376-6 IMAGE: B2609.jpg BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/ya3nc5l5 LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The author has a special interest in commercial ships of all types and he has put this experience to the subject of Standard Ships. There is a wealth of photographic illustration that strongly complements an able text – Most Recommended. In the accounts of war at the time, and later by historians, there are parts of the story that are leapt over or simply ignored, even though they are a critical part of the story. Merchant ships fall into this category. Most naval histories briefly mention a tanker exploding or a cargo ship sinking during an attack by aircraft or submarines, concentrating on the escort vessels and their battle with the enemy. Perhaps it is understandable that the fighting teeth seize the attention, rather than the plodding and vulnerable vessels carrying crucial cargoes, without which the whole war effort would fail. In the North Atlantic all vessels on both sides had to battle the weather and sea conditions that often claimed casualties directly. Large numbers of seamen were adrift in lifeboats, slowly dying, or choking in the layer of oil floating on the sea surface, sometimes burning. The reality of the Battle of the Atlantic and the Russian convoys is that the warships are very important in reducing losses, but equally important was the battle to build replacement merchant ships and recruit and train their crews. Without this huge effort, the advances in convoy escort and anti-submarine warfare would have amounted to little. The great success story in two World Wars was how standard ship designs enabled shipyards, often with many women workers who were completely new to heavy industry, to turn out more new ships that the enemy was sinking old ships. The new vessels were not only turned out in great numbers, but they were also a significant improvement on previous designs. They were faster, cleaner, larger, less vulnerable and carried larger cargoes. The story that unfolds in this excellent new book is of how shipbuilders and designers rose to a major challenge and revolutionized shipbuilding for all time. This is an important story and an important book of reference that reads well and provides fresh insights.