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British Battleships 1939–45 (2): Nelson and King George V Classes (New Vanguard) Paperback – Illustrated, September 22, 2009

by Angus Konstam (Author), Tony Bryan (Illustrator), Paul Wright (Illustrator)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 80 ratings
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With the outbreak of World War II, Britain's Royal Navy was at the forefront of her defence with her fleet of battleships as her main striking force. However, ten battleships of this fleet were already over 20 years old, venerable veterans of the first world conflict. As such, in the 1930s two new classes were commissioned - modern battleships which were designed to replace the ageing battle fleet although only one would see active service. Together with the older battleships, which were increasingly modified in the decade preceding the war and during the conflict itself, these vessels held their own against their German and Italian counterparts.

This title offers a comprehensive review of the seven battleships of the Nelson and King George V classes from their initial commissioning to their peacetime modifications and wartime service. Detailed descriptions of the main armament of each ship will offer further analysis of individual battleship's effectiveness, discussing how the guns were manned when engaging with the enemy. Moreover, with specially commissioned artwork and a dramatic re-telling of key battleship battles, this book will highlight what it was like on board for the sailors who risked their lives on the high seas. Describing HMS Rodney battling against the Bismarck, the might of the Kriegsmarine, the author details how the British battleship closed in on her German adversary at such close range that the spotters could follow the shells onto the target, arguing that although the aircraft carrier would eventually dominate later naval conflicts, it was the battleship that performed an invaluable service throughout countless engagements.

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  1. Part of series
    New Vanguard
  2. Print length
    48 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Osprey Publishing
  5. Publication date
    September 22, 2009
  6. Dimensions
    7.37 x 0.13 x 9.79 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1846033896
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1846033896
  9. See all details
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From the Publisher

New Vanguard

battlescenes

Cutaway diagrams

Photos

Full colour battlescenes

Beautifully illustrated battlescenes are included to bring the narrative of the conflict to life.

Cutaway diagrams

Specially commissioned full colour illustrations are included alongside labels and comprehensive captions to give a full breakdown of the machines and ships used in battle.

Photographs

Each volume features a wide range of photographs, which provide unparalleled detail of the uniforms and weaponry used by the combatants.

New Vanguard

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This title offers a comprehensive review of the seven battleships of the Nelson and King George V classes from their initial commissioning to their peacetime modifications in wartime service, detailed descriptions of the main armament of the ships will offer further analysis of individual battleships effectiveness discussing how the guns were manned when engaging the enemy. Moreover a specially commissioned artwork and a dramatic retelling of the battleship battles, this book will highlight what it was like on board for the sailors who risked their lives on the high seas.” ―Ken Williams, IPMS/USA (December 2009)

“The drawings, photographs, and artwork are first rate...The typical ship modeler can readily use these books as a good reference when building any of these important ships.” ―Rodger Cole, Model Shipwrights (November 2009)

“All of Britain's battleship classes are covered in some detail as to the design and armament... This is all accompanied by some superb photos of the various ships and by the excellent art work of Tony Bryan and Paul Wright. This helps us to see how these ships improved over the years and the differences in the various classes. In all, it makes for an excellent primer on the subject and fully meets this reviewer's expectations of books in this series. If you want to learn about the subject, I know you will find it to be equally useful. Buy with confidence.” ―Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness, modelingmadness.com (December 2009)

About the Author

Angus Konstam is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and has written widely on naval history, with well over a hundred books in print. He is a former Royal Navy officer, maritime archaeologist and museum curator, who has worked in the Royal Armouries, Tower of London, and Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. Now a full-time author and historian, he lives in Orkney.

Paul Wright has painted ships of all kinds for most of his career, specializing in steel and steam warships from the late 19th century to the present day. Paul's art has illustrated the works of Patrick O'Brian, Dudley Pope and C.S. Forester amongst others, and hangs in many corporate and private collections all over the world. A Member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists, Paul lives and works in Surrey.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Osprey Publishing; Illustrated edition (September 22, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 48 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1846033896
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846033896
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.37 x 0.13 x 9.79 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 80 ratings

About the author

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Angus Konstam

Angus Konstam

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With over 50 history books in print, Angus is a widely recognised and much-published historian. While he specialises in military and naval history he has also written numerous more general history books, designed to make the subject more accessible to a wider audience. Uniquely he has been able to draw on his expertise as a senior museum curator who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on his academic training as a historian and as a maritime archaeologist.

His latest book is a full-length biography: Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, which is published by Wiley & Sons. of New York (June 2006)

Angus is also just finished writing a history of the Allied landings at Salerno in September 1943 for the British publisher Pen & Sword, and he is currently working on a new project, with the working title of Supership: The Quest for the Renaissance Battleship.

Angus lives in Edinburgh, in Scotland.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
80 global ratings
Both British battleships books 1 and 2 are definitely worth it.
5 Stars
Both British battleships books 1 and 2 are definitely worth it.
This book is very well put together, has great illustrations. Information on the Nelson and king George V classes. One of the things that I found interesting was the on rotatable projector of AA rocket based on the Parachute flare principle.
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Top reviews from the United States

Tony
5.0 out of 5 stars Both British battleships books 1 and 2 are definitely worth it.
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is very well put together, has great illustrations. Information on the Nelson and king George V classes. One of the things that I found interesting was the on rotatable projector of AA rocket based on the Parachute flare principle.
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Tony
5.0 out of 5 stars Both British battleships books 1 and 2 are definitely worth it.
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2021
This book is very well put together, has great illustrations. Information on the Nelson and king George V classes. One of the things that I found interesting was the on rotatable projector of AA rocket based on the Parachute flare principle.
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Amateur naval historian in Virginia
5.0 out of 5 stars British WWII Battleships, later construction
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2009
Verified Purchase
Excellent study of the design and careers of these eight ships. Focus is on the evolution of the designs and operational careers with excellent illustrations. This is not intended for model builders, so elaborate drawings and close ups of specific features are lacking. Plusses and minuses of each design are discussed, and the circumstances behind the wartime loss of several are thoroughly examined. Highly recommended for naval enthusiasts interested in how specific design decisions responded to actual wartime requirements.
One person found this helpful
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Jonathan Lupton
4.0 out of 5 stars Both More and Less Than Advertised
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2009
Verified Purchase
This book actually covers more than the two battleship classes described in the title. It also gives nearly two pages to HMS Vanguard, a battleship completed after World War II was over, and the Lion class, which were laid down in 1939 but never completed.

If you know little about these four classes of British battleships, this title is a readable, reasonably well-illustrated, and informative introduction. If you are already knowledgeable, you may be disappointed. I believe author Konstam spread his effort too thinly. By giving background on Vanguard and the Lion class, he lost the opportunity to give the kind of depth I wanted on the King George V class.

The King George V class ships were vital participants in World War II. Three of them were involved in surface actions against enemy battleships. Their protection incorporated the lessons of Jutland, meaning they were well-protected against shellfire. On the other hand, Prince of Wales succumbed to just five torpedoes in the South China Sea, suggesting flotation survival was not ideal. Yet this vital class was given barely over five pages of text; insufficient to address valid questions about protection, seaworthiness, and firepower.

There are two "Range and Penetration" tables, comparing the capabilities of the 16-inch and 14-inch guns of the Nelson and King George V classes: range, gun elevation, angle of descent, and shell velocity. Despite the title, the tables give no information about actual shell penetration.

The author also makes an error on p. 11 when he describes Britain's proposed G3 battlecruisers and N3 battleships as "the first battleships in the world to adopt triple turrets" around the year 1920. They may have been the RN's first triple-turret ships, but by this time the Italian, Russian, and U.S. Navies had all commissioned triple-turret battleships. That said, the related discussion of the Washington Treaty, and its impact on the eccentric design of the battleships Nelson and Rodney, is probably the most insightful section of this book.

This title is simply not up to the standard of Mr. Konstam's earlier title about the Queen Elizabeth and Royal Sovereign classes, which covered a smaller topic with greater depth. Yet it still gives a nice overview of the modern battleships that comprised a vital cornerstone of Britain's survival in World War II's grim early years.
13 people found this helpful
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EJK-AZ
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2015
Verified Purchase
A great book my only wish is they'd make more of them! Full of nice photographs and historical facts about some of the great WWII era battleships of the United Kingdom.
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Louis Gaeding
5.0 out of 5 stars Battleships
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2016
Verified Purchase
I loving reading about battleships. This is no exception.
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Warspite
3.0 out of 5 stars A Tasty Snack, But Not A Meal . . .
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2015
Verified Purchase
Good as far as it goes, but the 48-page format is just not enough to cover the two named classes, plus the Vanguard thrown in for good measure. For a skipping-stone review of the King George V and Nelson classes, this book is okay, but you'll be disappointed if you're looking for anything more substantial. A book dedicated to each class by itself would be a more rewarding approach. Outside of that the material was well-written with many good photos. Just not enough of it.
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Trevor Count
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
Packs a good deal of info into a small number of pages.
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Charles Stuckey
4.0 out of 5 stars Osprey Vanguard
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2010
Verified Purchase
This is a good, concise guide to these two classes of ships, and unlike later Vanguard books covers some of the developments and upgrades applied during the war. One disappointment was that it was obviously written from a traditional British historical viewpoint with a lot of reference to sinking the Bismark but a lot of glazing over of losses and shortcomings of these ships which other books in this series have covered nicely.
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Roger Wilson-Tucker
5.0 out of 5 stars Concise, but informative
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2019
Verified Purchase
The book is modest in proportion, but contained precise and interesting detail that I had not found in other books. Comparisons with the vessels in other classes were valuable. If one needed any further evidence of the shortsighted scrapping of vessels capable of refurbishment and modernisation. The Americans were far wiser in this matter. Just think what their comparable ships achieved in the First Gulf War. - something for which there was no alternative.
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Martin Kuskis
4.0 out of 5 stars The usual Osprey high standard
Reviewed in Australia on January 31, 2024
Verified Purchase
Angus Konstam, a prolific and respected author on nautical matters, manages to pack a lot of information into this 48 page book. He covers not only the Nelson and King George V classes but also HMS Vanguard and (briefly) the aborted Lion class.
However the quest for brevity has led to a few errors. For example, on page 7, talking about the aftermath of the Washington Naval Treaty, it says "Two battlecruisers were also converted into aircraft carriers during the 1920s, leaving the Royal Navy with only a handful of active capital ships - five "fast battleships" of the Queen Elizabeth class, and five more of the Royal Sovereign class." Firstly, the reference to 'five more' may suggest that the Royal Sovereigns were also 'fast battleships', which they were not. Secondly, three (not two) battlecruisers were converted during the 1920s: HMS Courageous, Furious and Glorious. Thirdly, 'capital ship' should surely include not only the carriers but also the battlecruisers HMS Hood, Renown and Repulse, especially Hood, which was 10,000 tons displacement bigger than any other RN ship of the time!
I do not want to make too much of this since the book is otherwise very good. I particularly liked the illustrations, which include some wartime diagrams: the cutaways of a Nelson class gunnery director tower and 16in turret are especially interesting.
Other books on the subject are more detailed and authoritative (notably R A Burt's marvellous British Battleships 1919-1945) but this and its related Osprey titles offer a handy alternative.
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zappa2
4.0 out of 5 stars Unentbehrlich für alle Shiplover
Reviewed in Germany on February 24, 2017
Verified Purchase
Auch dieser Band ist wie die gesamte Serie ein tolles Buch! Die Texte sind hoch informativ, der Autor steckt in der Materie und schreibt nicht nur von anderen Werken ab.

Der Minuspunkt wie auch bei allen anderen in dieser Serie: Das wirklich exklusive und exzellent ausgewählte Bildmaterial ist viel zu klein! Ich würde problemlos mehr Geld für ein deutlich größeres Format ausgeben!
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田舎艦艇ファン
4.0 out of 5 stars Ospreyシリーズのスタンダード
Reviewed in Japan on November 29, 2017
Verified Purchase
前号(British Battleships 1939-45 (1): Queen Elizabeth and Royal Sovereign Classes )に
引き続き今回はNELSON級、KGⅤ級、VANGUARDの計8隻に関する特集です。
写真は40枚弱、イメージイラスト8ページとビジュアル要素は少なめですが、
いつもより各級の設計思想、装備技術などに比重が置かれ
戦歴に関しては結構簡素にまとめられている感じがします。
邦語関連書籍は「イギリス戦艦史」(1990年版)「第2次大戦のイギリス軍艦」(2016年版)海人社などで、
それに比較してもNew Vanguardシリーズの中でおススメの一冊です。
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Nick
5.0 out of 5 stars but good read. Always fascinated by the British Navy leading ...
Reviewed in Canada on December 26, 2015
Verified Purchase
Quick, but good read. Always fascinated by the British Navy leading into WW2, a great summary of some of their greatest ships in that period in this book.
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