Calling all Royal Navy River-class frigate fans

[starshell]

Had a chance to look through Lavery's book this morning and initial impressions are favourable. Here is a quick personal review:

This book is very much in the style of Brian Lavery's 2004 work Hostilities Only - Training the Wartime Royal Navy which I can thoroughly recommend. Printing and binding was done in Malta this time which seems odd given the drive for resource sustainability these days and the fact that his previous work mentioned above was wholly printed and bound in the UK. I find the folded card cover binding a slight nuisance as the inner flap keeps trying to spring out and unfold as you flip through the pages.

Content draws heavily on NMM sources, particularly the numerous technical drawing images, while documents from the IWM and National Archives are also evident. There is no separate bibliography as such at the back of the book and primary and secondary sources alike are instead combined in the chapter Notes section.

Chapters cover design, evolution, armament, detection equipment, crew, accommodation, the frigates in service during the war and a conclusion discussing post-war operations and the legacy of the River Class.

As a thorough descriptive technical treatise on a single class of ship this is a very readable and detailed account. The nearest comparison would be the Conway Anatomy of the Ship series, the volumes of which are always profusely illustrated with technical drawings and photographs. Lavery's work on the other hand is heavy on text and thin on images which can make it a bit of a dry read at times. I feel it would have made the volume more interesting if there were some included accounts of life at sea on the River Class from the actual veterans themselves. On too many occasions Lavery has to resort to quotes from Nicholas Monsarrat's published novels and memoirs to fill the obvious lack of other first hand accounts. On far too many occasions in WWII naval literature we only get to hear the voice of the officers and it is about time the voices of the ratings were given some air.

Curiously there is no appendix list of all the River Class ships manufactured in the UK and abroad (Canada and Australia) which would have been useful to the general reader coming to this volume as a primary source on this class of ships. Yes, you can get this kind of information online if you know where to look and from previously published lists of WWII ships, but it remains an odd omission from what will be the definitive book on this class for years to come.

The book also mistakenly cites the Australian built Diamantina as the only surviving ship in this class when in fact you can still see the former HMS Windrush (later the French La Decouverte) beached at Querqueville near Cherbourg, France. Despite the fact that I have drawn the attention of many people to the plight of this ship no moves to preserve her have been made and she is scheduled for destruction this Autumn and may only just have gone to the scrapyard!! A sequence of photos of Windrush at Cherbourg can be seen here http://p214.ezboard.com/ftheflowerclass ... ID=9.topic

The above are fairly minor quibbles however and there is no doubt that this volume makes an important and timely contribution to a little known, or researched, class of escort warship active in WWII. Along with other close escort ship classes the River Class played a vital role in ensuring the safe arrival of convoys in the North Atlantic, Mid Atlantic and Far East throughout most of the second world war. The book will be of interest mainly to historians, researchers and enthusiasts of the lesser known escort warships of WWII.

For modellers of the River Class the volume will probably be disappointing as it has just a few technical drawings with no scales and only two decent large photos of the port and starboard views at the rear. The technical drawings are, however, fully referenced to the archive catalogues and could be viewed or copied at source in the UK.

Mark Walters

[Laurence Batchelor]

I agree very much with Mark's comprehensive review.

For �10 from Amazon (�15 RRP) I think this is a good value book, perhaps let down a little by its format.

I always prefer H/B and especially if I'm going to use it for reference purposes as over the years paperbacks fall to pieces, of course it would cost more than �10 mail order though.

Its smallness could be got around by being more ideally published in A4 in size and it would be compensated slightly with having less pages and being thinner, the photos and plans would then be easier to use.
Overall I recommend it

[johnny canuck]

Starshell,

In ref to your review of the book, I am looking for detailed photos of the bridge of the frigate. Does the book contain these? I am currently building a 1/72 river class, HMCS St. Catharines and need details of the bridge area.

I will probably get the book anyway as I have several books on the Canadian River class already (plus anything I could find on the Flowers) but was just interested if it had the bridge details.

Thanks

James

[Admhawk]

Joseph, I have plans of a River Class, Can't remember if it's Canadian or British, but they were identical. Send me an email at hawkone at hawk-graphics dot com if you'd like a set.

Darren

[ar]

NO.

Joseph, I have plans of a River Class, Can't remember if it's Canadian or British, but they were identical. Send me an email at hawkone at hawk-graphics dot com if you'd like a set.

Darren

[Admhawk]

Okay, then they were close! Same superstructure, hull, paint jobs! I'm sure weapons and radars changed at various times throughout the war, but a good photo of the desired build ship will help sort some stuff out.

Would you like to elaborate a little on the differences?

Darren
BTW AR(aka WR), did you send that 6 and 8 inch gun info yet?

[ar]

Off the top of my head; twin 4", a quarterdeck full of minesweeping gear, and many Canadian ships had quite different camouflage.
It is the many differences that make it interesting for us modellers. If they were the same then life would be boring.

PS the data that you requested HAS been posted. Now in the hands of the Canadian postal system. God help you!

Okay, then they were close! Same superstructure, hull, paint jobs! I'm sure weapons and radars changed at various times throughout the war, but a good photo of the desired build ship will help sort some stuff out.

Would you like to elaborate a little on the differences?

Darren
BTW AR(aka WR), did you send that 6 and 8 inch gun info yet?

[Admhawk]

Excellent on both accounts!! And thanks AR!

Anybody want to make a 1/72 scale model of one? I know where to get a fiberglass hull!! : )

Darren

[johnny canuck]

Hello,

The first 12 Cdn ships had single 4" fore and aft. The remainder had twin 4" forward and 12pdr aft.(the original 12 were refitted to this configuration). Also, the first 12 had single 20mm in both aft positions and bridge postions the latter units had power twin 20mm (again refitted to the first 12) Also, the Cdn units had different davit arrangements over the British ones. As far as my research goes, no Cdn frigate had M/S gear. (corvettes did)

Where could one find the 72nd scale hull. I am just finishing the plug for mine but if this has already been done (and the price is right) then why do the work twice.

A good book for the Cdn frigates is "Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy 1943-1974" by Ken Macpherson. Published by Vanwell Publishing in St. Catharines Ontario Canada.

James

[Admhawk]

Hi James,

Jonathan Evans recently made one. Send me your email, or email me, and I will hook you up.

Darren
hawkone at hawk-graphics dot com

[Josephp13]

Admhawk I sent you a PM. Would like to see your plans. You now have my e-mail in your PM.

Thanks for the help

Joseph

PS any photos of RC River class out there?

[graham]

Get this its great !!!!
Cost from Hobby Search 3000yen tok 6 days to get from Japan to Perth WA
Modeling better that Tamyia ,very fine about as good as were every going to get
Accuracy looks right ( I leave the rivet counting for the day job)
What do you get
Two complete ships per packet
On each spure there is the basic ship a RN river in the Long Range 1943 layout
With 2-4inch LA guns 4 single 20mm( very nice best I have seen in this scale ) 8DC launchers 2 Long DC racks 15charges for the stern, a Mine sweeping winch and pavianes also a 271 radar lantern on the bridge.

Spares
3 Twin MkXIX twin 4�
3 12Pdrs look really nice of Tamyia�s E class
2-4inch open mount
2 twin 20mm
SO you have enough play around with to make most of the wartime RN and RCN Rrivers

This really is a very nice kit but available appears a bit patchy so you better get then while you can


Make to SEAL
�Maneuver well executed

Graham Murdoch

[graham]

A few points that I forgot in the first revew
There are no decals, and no painting guide as I believe that they give you the basic ship model and let you get on with it, also there are no life rafts but if like me you have been building 1/700 since 1972 ( when Tamiya issued their Mogami) I have enough spares to fill a small warehouse !!

Basic references are Allied Escort Ships of World War II peter Elliot 1977 long out of print but a great book
British Destroyers & Frigates Norman Friedmen 2008 good drawings and pictures
Atlantic Escorts D K Brown 2009
The last two are still available
This class of ship had a lot of variations in armament layout M/S gear being fitted so you would need to do a bit of research to establish what ship that you want to model

Graham Murdoch

[George Hargreaves]

Hi Graham,

Thanks for the good words and only 6 days to Oz. Now if Canada Post may only avoid making the same job take 6 weeks.

Additional references are:
Lavery, Brian River-Class Frigates and the Battle of the Atlantic�(ISBN: 0948065737 / 0-948065-73-7)
Macpherson, Ken Frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy 1943-1974�(ISBN: 0920277225 / 0-920277-22-5)
McKee, Fraser M. HMCS Swansea : The Life and Times of a Frigate�(ISBN: 0920277896 / 0-920277-89-6)

These available via http://www.abebooks.com/

Cheers,
George

[gmat]

I waited to see if anyone would post pictures of the Seal kit. I'm sorry that they seem to have sold out very quickly.
Here are some photos that i took of the kit. I got one kit at Sunny Hobby in Tokyo. It was the only one there. If I notice them popping up again in Tokyo, I'll post a notice here.

The hull.

















Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

The rest of the sprue.











Sorry, but my camera is not the best.

Best wishes,
Grant

[gmat]

Thank you, Timmy C and Graham.
Here they are.
Sorry that they are out of sequence.
Will try to scan the instructions later.



Best wishes,
Grant

[Quincy]

Has anyone other than myself start their new 1/700 Seals kit? Mine is going together very well without issue.



Bob Pink.

[Quincy]

Does anyone know if part # A-18 is accurate? It is attached to the rear main gun platform. I have not come accross this feature in any of the photos that I have seen. If so, what ships carried this?


Bob Pink.

I forgot to ask, what would be a good photoetch source for the bridge wing and searchlight platform lattice supports?

[dick]

Well I'm rather enjoying mine. Its a sweet little model. Mine has got some moulded detail on the vertical sides of both the hull and superstructure and I would say that overall the quality is more or less equal to the Tamiya E class kit. The only slight quibble I have is that the flare of the hull sides towards the bow is not quite pronounced enough, and also at the stern where the sides do not angle in enough so that across the stern at the waterline is too wide. I�ve also yet to find the hedgehog on the sprue. As Bob has found with part A18 its worth keeping an eye on pictures of the particular ship you are modeling to spot detail variations from the suggestions in the instructions. (Bob: HMS Tay for one had it � see photo in Lavery book; and HMS Exe and Jed too....)

But I�m in a forgiving mood. The key thing for me is that when you stand away from the model and look at it, it does actually look like a River Class frigate. I think this is a new company? If so they should be given every encouragement to go on producing WW2 RN models.

Not sure why some people in the UK are picking up extra charges. I use HLJ and have not had this problem. No hold-ups. Overall cost �24.