The Grand Fleet: Warship Design and Development 1906-1922

By D.K. Brown and David K. Brown

Book Overview

The launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 ushered in one of the most rapid periods of warship development in history, and only ten years after the world's first all-big-gun, turbine-powered battleship was completed, two entire fleets of Dreadnoughts would meet in battle at Jutland, where the work of the prewar ship designers was to meet its ultimate test. David Brown examines the development of British warships up to 1914, the responses to the demands of the First World War, and finally how the lessons of wartime experience affected warship development in the immediate postwar period. As well as the battleships and battlecruisers, for the first time the developmental history of smaller vessels such as minesweepers, monitors and escort vessels, built as direct responses to wartime needs, is described, as is that of the submarine and the aircraft carrier. A detailed study is made of battle damage, including the role played by ammunition explosions in the loss of three British battlecruisers at Jutland. Also described are the postwar capital ship designs, killed off by the Washington Treaty, which are among the most fascinating 'might have beens' of naval history. This major reference book is a comprehensive account of the design and development of the Royal Navy's ships before, during and after the First World War. Book jacket.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1840675314
• ISBN13: 9781840675313
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Caxton Editions
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 3.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 9.9" x 11.5"