Review: British Cruisers-Two World Wars and After

[Andy H]

British Cruisers: Two World Wars and After by Norman Friedman,
Published by Seaforth (2012) ISBN 9781848320789

The origin, design, role and usage of the Cruiser by the Royal Navy from the beginning of the 20th Century, is surely one of the most complicated, interesting, frustrating and exciting stories to be told. No ship other than the Cruiser in service with the Royal Navy encapsulates its reason for its existence and the role it played in protecting the British Empire and its trade in distant waters, whilst providing some heavy metal and protection nearer to home. With the demise of the Empire in latter halve of the century, the demise of the Cruiser within the Royal Navy is also mirrored in detail.

Norman Friedman is without doubt one of the most pre-eminent Naval historians of all time, and as such it’s become difficult, if nigh impossible to be critical of his work. This latest work will stand along side his other works in his pantheon of historical/topical and modern naval tomes. The book is broken down into some 11 Chapters that allow the reader to easily follow the evolution of the Cruiser in the Royal Navy. Not surprisingly the Chapters dealing with the machinations, implications and consequences of the various inter-war treaties and agreements, plus the political and financial straight-jackets are the most detailed in terms of there individual and cumulative affects on British Cruiser design. Friedman does pay attention to how other countries designed there cruisers, but he thankfully doesn’t go down the comparative and often facile road of comparisons between various nations designs. All nations had various similar but equally unique requirements, which helped or hindered there design requirements. The use/service of the various Cruisers during war is an obvious area that is covered but perhaps not in the detail or scope one would expect. The coverage is based around the various modifications and design changes/improvements that came about through experience or technological advancement. This book isn’t a book that will give you the detailed history of a specific vessels wartime service, for that there are specific titles you should look too. The post war role of the cruiser and its continued evolution is also covered as the age of the missile comes to the fore, at the expense of the gun! Finally we end up at the Command Cruiser passing its mantle onto the Invincible class ‘through deck Cruiser’ or light carrier.

The book is completed by a single Appendix dealing with Fast Minelayers, which came about after several WW1 Cruisers were converted, many seeing active service through till the end of WW2 and beyond. The following Notes section contains yet more information, much of which would out do other books about British Cruisers by itself, in terms of its accuracy and detail. The usual Bibliography is there plus a very useful and handy Data List of various specifications of the numerous Cruiser designs used and proposed. The final segment gives us a Ships List with build, completion dates and ultimate fate of the vessels concerned. The book is lavishly filled throughout with numerous B/W photographs, and the usual excellent line drawings & plans by A D Baker III and others.

For anyone truly interested in the Royal Navy and the Cruiser as an entity, then this book has a quality and gravitas that demands yet even more shelf space from you-Don’t resist-Buy!

5 out of 5stars