The Ship Model Forum

Felix,

No Dr Osborne's book in AMC's is more in the mold of the John English RN Destroyer books, but more comprehensive. It is pricey so I haven't bought it as I was hoping with the passage of time the price would come down.

Regards
LB

Is Osborne, Armed Merchant Cruisers 1878-1945 similar in format to Armstrong's Warships for Export? I purchased the latter. Not impressed. Most of it was summaries ala Janes or Conways.

Is the former truly worth 40GBP?

Ahoy - What is the status of [b][i]Royal Navy Minelayers[/i][/b] ?

I was not aware that Friedman was doing a series of books on Royal Navy Cruisers, so that's good news for me! This is a huge subject, especially if you go all the way back to the beginning. I would hope to at last find a definitive book covering the Royal Navy Cruiser Fleet of World War I. Often overlooked, due to the the huge BB and BC fleets, Britain built an amazing group of ships in the Cruiser class that served the Grand Fleet well. The WSS Minelayer book would also be a real prize. I have many of their books, and they are a wealth of information. I just not long ago got the Convoy Rescue Ship book. Amazing amount of information, a real historical masterpiece :smallsmile:

Bob B.

Thanks Laurence.

Yes I was aware of Friedman's forthcoming RN cruiser books; I seem to recall 3 volumes being mentioned at the other place. Of course if they follow the same sequence as his destroyer books then we are in for a long wait before reaching the earlier years!

I have the AMC book and consequently have high hopes for the minelayers book.

[quote="linux"]They sound great. Thanks for the heads-up Laurence. :thumbs_up_1:

Hopefully "Royal Navy Minelayers" will include the many conversions, for example the Apollo (1891) class cruisers.

Presumably "Grand Fleet Destroyers" is the prequel to the same author's "Amazon to Ivanhoe".

Hopefully "Royal Navy Cruisers" will cover everything from HMS Shannon (1875) onwards. Alas technical histories of Victorian RN cruisers are few and far between.[/quote]

You will probably receive great coverage of Victorian RN Cruisers in Friedman's forthcoming British Cruiser volumes (due in a few years time) as I'm told he will go right back to the origin's of RN cruiser design.

In regards John English's forthcoming "Grand Fleet Destroyers" one assume it will the same format as all his other RN destroyer books through the WSS.
I just hope he will also cover the Admiralty R, S, T, V/W's et al. in their WWII configurations too, either in that book or another as that seems missing in his series.

Royal Navy Minelayers, I expect to be similar in format to the book on AMC's from Osborne and the WSS which gave comprehensive coverage for a variety of periods.

They sound great. Thanks for the heads-up Laurence. :thumbs_up_1:

Hopefully "Royal Navy Minelayers" will include the many conversions, for example the Apollo (1891) class cruisers.

Presumably "Grand Fleet Destroyers" is the prequel to the same author's "Amazon to Ivanhoe".

Hopefully "Royal Navy Cruisers" will cover everything from HMS Shannon (1875) onwards. Alas technical histories of Victorian RN cruisers are few and far between.

In preparation:

- Royal Navy Minelayers by Dr Malcolm Cooper & Dr Richard Osborne due end of 2011/early 2012
- "Grand Fleet Destroyers" by John English release date unknown
- Royal Navy Cruisers by David Murfin release date unknown

LB