Mine Warfare Vessels of the Royal Navy 1908 to Date

Very thorough book. As advertised, it coverers minelayers and minesweepers from 1908 – 1993. It describes ships purposely built for those services by the Royal Navy as well as civilian merchantmen and trawlers requisitioned and converted. It also includes Navy warships such as old cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats and motor launches that were converted to minelayers and minesweepers.

The book provides tabulations of the ships’ data: dimensions, displacement, machinery (type and horsepower), speed, armament, number of mines carried, fuel load, range, crew complement, and so forth. Chapter 1 (8 pages) provides a brief history of British minelayers, minesweeping, and mines. My only criticsm is that there are no design or development histories of the various classes or types of ships. For the civilian ships that were converted, this may not be possible as in some cases only basic information such as the builder and the year of construction are known. The armaments and mine capacities that the RN added are given, but in some cases machinery and speeds apparently are simply not known. pp. 223 illusts First Edition #1020 (Fine in price-clipped dustjacket) ISBN 10: 1853103284 ISBN 13: 9781853103285