The Last Big Gun by Brian Lavery
As she lay in dry dock, devastatingly damaged by one of Hitler s newly deployed magnetic mines after barely two months in service, few could have predicted the illustrious career that lay ahead for the cruiser HMS Belfast. After three years of repairs to her broken keel, engine- and boiler-rooms, and extensive refitting, she would go on to play a critical role in the protection of the Arctic Convoys, would fire one of the opening shots at D-Day and continue supporting the Operation Overlord landings for five weeks. Her service continued beyond the Second World War both in Korea and in the Far East before she commenced her life as one of the world s most celebrated preserved visitor ships in the Pool of London. Her crowning glory however came in December 1943 when, equipped with the latest radar technology, she was to play the leading role in the Battle of the North Cape sinking the feared German battlecruiser Scharnhorst, the bete noir of the Royal Navy. In doing so the ship s crew made a vital contribution to, what was to be, the final big-gun head-to-head action to be fought at sea.In The Last Big Gun Brian Lavery, the foremost historian of the Royal Navy, employs his trademark wide-ranging narrative style and uses the microcosm of the ship to tell the wider story of the naval war at sea and vividly portray the realities for all of life aboard a Second World War battleship. The book is lavishly illustrated with photographs and illustrations and will appeal to all those with an interest in military history and life in the wartime Royal Navy. The illustrious survivor of the last big-gun head-to-head broadside engagement at sea The very first complete biography of HMS Belfast Exhaustively researched from primary sources and interviews and written in the matchless narrative style of the award-winning, Sunday Times bestselling author Brian Lavery An original work of popular history juxtaposing an in-depth technical understanding with an highly evocative use of quote and anecdoteREVIEWS Another stirring story of WWII that in days gone by would have been handled by someone like author Paul Brickhill. No student of WWII history should pass this one by... Books Monthly UKBrian Lavery is a British naval historian and Curator Emeritus at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, and is probably the world's leading authority on the ship of the line. He is the author of DK's Ship, as well as Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World and the highly successful two-volume history of sailing battleships, The Ship of the Line. Lavery was a historical consultant on Peter Weir's 2003 blockbuster Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. He has also consulted on the replica constructions of Captain Cook's Endeavour and the emigrant ship Susan Constant.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781910860014 |
| ISBN 10 | 1910860018 |
| Title | The Last Big Gun |
| Author | Brian Lavery |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | The Pool of London Press |
| Year published | 2015-10-28 |
| Number of pages | 440 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |