British Cruisers

An extraordinarily detailed account of the development of Royal Navy cruisers... a towering work from the author of Fighting the Great War at Sea (Warship 2012). For most of the twentieth century, Britain possessed both the worlds largest merchant fleet and its most extensive overseas territories. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Royal Navy always showed a particular interest in the cruisera multipurpose warship needed in large numbers to defend trade routes and police the empire. Above all other types, the cruisers competing demands of quality and quantity placed a heavy burden on designers, and for most of the interwar period, Britain sought to square this circle through international treaties restricting both size and numbers. In the process, she virtually invented the heavy cruiser and inspired the large 6in-armed cruiser, neither of which, ironically, served her best...

With the world's largest merchant fleet and extensive overseas territories during most of the twentieth century, the Royal Navy depended on the cruiser to defend Britain's trade routes and police the empire. In this handsomely illustrated book, the noted ship historian Norman Friedman provides insights into the cruiser's development and Britain's efforts to come to terms with the competing demands of quality and quantity. The first book to offer a comprehensive explanation of the policy background, it presents an entirely original picture of cruiser development.

The book's final chapters cover post-war modernizations, plans for missile-armed ships, and the process that turned the through-deck cruiser into the "Invincible"-class light carrier. With detailed appendixes of ship data and extensive photos and ship plans by A.D. Baker III, Alan Raven, Paul Webb, and John Dominy, the work matches the high standards set by Friedman's book on British destroyers.