British Coastal Forces. Two World Wars and After

Книга на анлийском языке
The Royal Navy invented the fast motor torpedo boat during the First World War, and used it and other small coastal craft to great effect during the Second. This book tells the dramatic story of British coastal forces, both offensive and defensive, in both global conflicts and beyond.
To provide both narrative and analysis, Norman Friedman uniquely connects the technical development of the coastal craft, their weapons and other innovations with the way they fought.
In both world wars much of the technology was at the edge of what was feasible at the time.
Boats incorporated considerable British innovation and also benefited from important US contributions, particularly in supplying high-powered engines from 1941. In contrast with larger warships, British coastal forces craft were essentially shaped by a few specialist builders, and their part in the story is given full credit. They also built a large number of broadly similar craft for air-sea rescue, and for completeness these are described in an appendix.
Illustrations include a comprehensive collection of John Lambert’s exquisitely detailed plans covering all the significant types of coastal craft.
Like other books in this series, this one is based heavily on contemporary official material, much of which has not been used previously - like the extensive reports of US naval observers, who were allowed wide access to the Royal Navy as early as 1940. Combined with published memoirs, these sources offer a much more complete picture than has previously appeared of how coastal forces fought and of the way in which various pressures, both operational and industrial, shaped them.

Содержание
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
1. Fast attack craft and the royal navy
2. Builders
3. Fast craft
4. The first world war
5. Post-war slump
6. Fast craft revived
7. The special attack boat
8. ASW and mine countermeasures
9. Wartime MTBS
10. Motor gun boats and the e-boat crisis
11. Special MTBS
12. Motor launches
13. Coastal forces at Normandy
14. Coastal forces post-war
Appendix: Air-Sea Rescue Boats
Notes
Bibliography
Coastal Forces Craft Data List
List of Coastal Forces Craft
Index