Category: Naval Equipment

A guide compiled by US Naval Intelligence, republished with an introduction by Andrew Mollo.

A curious but engaging work. Part history, part personal memoir, part one or two paragraph comparisons of the likely outcome of combats between aircraft types, it manages to hang together as an enjoyable and different perspective from a noted pilot.

A major review of the theory and performance of seaborne radar systems, which catalogues every piece of major equipment to have seen service.

Although much has been written about battleships, little has been written about how their armament functioned. This book sets out to remedy this with an excellent set of technical descriptions.

A comparative study of British and US destroyer equipment and design. Hodges describes British destroyers from Amazon and Ambuscade to the Battle Class in the first half of the book, while Friedman looks at the American side in the second half.

Includes all the major designs that flew in the First and Second World Wars. It looks at how the aircraft evolved and how the warships were modified to accommodate the aircraft and the catapult system.

A detailed guide.

Contains a miscellany of information on equipment procurement and production.

An account of their development, deployment and successes.

WILLIAMS, David. Naval Camouflage 1914-1945: A Complete Visual Reference. 256p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Chatham, 2001. ISBN: 1861761546.

Covers both world wars with the main focus being on British and US camouflage schemes. Profusely illustrated.

CAMPBELL, John. Naval Weapons of World War Two. [10], 403p., illus., index. London: Conway; Annapolis: NIP, 1985. ISBN: 085177329X.

An encyclopaedic, country-by-country, detailed, technical reference work. Reprinted in 2002, ISBN: 0851779247.

FRIEDMAN, Norman. Naval Anti-Aircraft Guns and Gunnery. 399p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2013. ISBN: 9781848321779. 

An authoritative work which is rich in technical detail. A final chapter considers post-war developments, but the main focus is World War II.

FRIEDMAN, Norman (ed). British Naval Weapons of World War II. The John Lambert Collection edited with an introduction by Norman Friedman. 3 vols., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2019-20.

John Lambert died in 2016. He was a renowned draughtsman who specialised in smaller naval vessels and left some 850 sheets of drawings and plans, covering everything from turret guns to underwater weapons. These have now been published with excellent photographs added, edited with an introduction by an acknowledged expert in Norman Friedman. Volume I covers destroyer weapons (ISBN: 9781526747679); Volume II covers escort and minesweeper weapons (ISBN: 9781526750471); Volume III covers coastal forces weapons (ISBN: 9781526777102).