British Aircraft Carriers

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ford_tempo

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Hi guys

I have recently found the following on Amazon. If it is a wll done book it is a must have. I had been waiting for a book on UK aircraft carriers covering unbuilt projects as well for a long time.

link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1848321384/ref=s9_psimh_gw_p14_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=081J2XHGF9836BV3AQS4&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1389517282&pf_rd_i=507846

British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development & Service Histories Hardcover – November 30, 2013 by David Hobbs (Author)



This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarise related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full colour, one on a magnificent gatefold. Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.

Best
Ford
 
Interesting book potentially. Does anyone know more?
 
Abraham

Thanks It has been many years since Friedman's tome on British carriers. It would be good if this was a similarly authorative work.

uk 75
 
Amazon UK is doing its usual trick with this book of giving a release date of yesterday and then saying all their copies are temporarily sold out. Has anyone got a copy and any comments?
 
uk 75 said:
Amazon UK is doing its usual trick with this book of giving a release date of yesterday and then saying all their copies are temporarily sold out. Has anyone got a copy and any comments?
Click to expand...

Seaforth have the publishing date of the 20th December 2013, so i would be surprised to see it appear much before then.
 
Hi:


I had ordered this from Amazon US but they just cancelled it. Amazon UK shows a 2013 version which is temporarily out of stock and a May 2014 version that I can pre-order. Does anyone know what the difference is between the 2 versions? What's the status of this book? It looked great and I was looking forward to it for Christmas.


Thanks.


J F F
 
northerndancer2000 said:
Hi:


I had ordered this from Amazon US but they just cancelled it. Amazon UK shows a 2013 version which is temporarily out of stock and a May 2014 version that I can pre-order. Does anyone know what the difference is between the 2 versions? What's the status of this book? It looked great and I was looking forward to it for Christmas.


Thanks.


J F F
Click to expand...

Check the Publishers, the UK one is probably Seaforth Publishing and the US copy may possibly be US Naval Institute who re-publish it for US distribution, thus the slight delay.
 
Good catch Geoff. The first is Seaforth and the second is US Naval Institute.


Interesting the USNI version is not listed on Amazon US. It was listed yesterday on Amazon UK but is gone tomorrow.


I may be in the odd position of having pre-ordered a US printed book from the UK for shipment back to the US. Crazy.


Since we're past the original release date for the Seaforth version and Seaforth is merely saying forthcoming, does anyone have any harder data about when (if?) this book will actually be released?


Thank you.
 
.


Seaforth say it's out on 29th December ;


http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/British-Aircraft-Carriers/p/6003/


And I hope it will be.


HOWEVER, as an avid naval book buyer, I keep most of the pre-publishing books on my Amazon "wish-list". In the past these were reasonably reliable, however since about 2009 it has been noticeable that dates often drop slowly backwards (in addition the annual total of such books have slowly reduced). This is presumably an effect of the financial crisis.


This book has already dropped back twice and I can only hope that it will be released on time.


(As it takes about 6 to 8 weeks to ship and distribute a book (ASSUMING it is printed in China) - IF it is to be published on the 20th it should be at least at the UK docks by now. )


.
 
Amazon now saying 'Not available and we have cancelled your order' :( :( :(
 
One thing about Amazon that I despise: Often, when the announced release date for a book has passed and it has not yet appeared, they will immediately say "Out of Print", which is an absolute lie. If the book is late, they ought to simply say "Not Yet Published" and not cancel anyone's order for the book.

(Admittedly, there have been cases of books announced, to the point of even showing cover art, that ultimately never see the light of day, but that fact should not become apparent until months have passed since the announced release date. I have a few of these on my Wish List. Most of the announced books that miss their listed release date ultimately do appear.)
 
Amazon now saying this book won't be released until May 2014 and I can't find mention of it on the Seaforth webpage.
 
Quote - "Often, when the announced release date for a book has passed and it has not yet appeared, they will immediately say "Out of Print", which is an absolute lie."

Indeed, this is a PITA. The Air Staff and AEW has been "Unavailable" despite repeated emails to Amazon and their distributor. However, if you opt to become an Amazon retailer, all is well and their glacial pace quickens.

Chris
 
Abraham Gubler said:
Amazon now saying this book won't be released until May 2014 and I can't find mention of it on the Seaforth webpage.
Click to expand...

The link is on Phils post, Seaforth are part of Pen & Sword BTW.

And as predicted the US Naval Institue binding is published next May, the British version is due out from Seaforth next Friday
 
Geoff

Thanks for the additional info

As you know my particular interests, could you give a view as to whether this book adds much to what I alreay have from Friedman's Carriers and the Brown/Moore book. In particular is any light shed on variants of 60s projects.

All the best for Christmas and New Year
Ralph
 
Received this book yesterday so this is very much a brief preliminary review.

This is an almost comprehensive study of the development and operation of British aircraft careers, it is long and densely packed including a wide range of line drawings and blue-prints. It covers virtually every era and includes some especially interesting chapters on the post war era- both the 1950s and CVA-01. It compliments the Brown and Moore books very well. Do not expect too much in the way of new material but this is an excellent effort and bringing together known information, the piece on unbuilt 1950s concepts deserves special mention (this likely does contain new material) and the CVA-01 entry is interesting though not as detailed as Anthony Gorst's essay in "The Royal Navy 1930-1990: Innovation in Defence" though there is a wonderful pair of CVA-01 general arrangement drawing reproduced from originals.

I do have two criticisms, one minor and one a bit more major. The minor one is simple, there is an excellent section on the 1952 carrier but there appears to be no image of it or any of the designs evaluated for it, this is particularly strange given the presence of a number of other images of other designs from the era that did not get as far. More of an issue, at least for me, is that there is not a chapter on the period between Hermes and Ark Royal and the book therefore misses a series of interesting designs between 1921/2 and the laying down of Ark Royal- many of which lead directly to that ship.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book as being excellent value.
 
JFC Belated thanks and new year greetings. Amazon UK now has copies for sale, so I have ordered one.
 
Got mu copy today.

Some good history in it and two 1953 proposals that would have seen aircraft being launched out of the hanger using 200ft catapults on a 5 1/2 degree incline.....as the book says, would have been noisy in the hanger.
 
JFC

Now have my copy and am very impressed overall. The book is almost an addendum to Friedman's British Carrier Aviation rather than a replacement.

I am starting a new thread based on some of the material in the book.

UK 75
 
How "technical" is it, compared to say Lacroix & Wells on Jap cruisers or Jordan on French battleships? What is the balance between pre-1945 and post-1945 coverage?
 
Just looked at Amazon and note that there are no reviews of the book yet. I suggest that those of you who have posted reviews in this thread post them to Amazon. If you really like the book, let potential buyers know that.
 
blackstar

your word is my command. I do not normally do reviews on Amazon as they are a bit subjective.

I have submitted a review. Hope it helps.

UK 75

The 1968 command cruiser variant is my favourite item as it is the closest we have so far to what the 1963 escort cruiser might have looked like.
 
uk 75 said:
I have submitted a review. Hope it helps.
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I'd note the Fuller's comments on this thread could simply be copy and pasted as a review as well. If you guys like the book (or don't like the book), but have informed commentary, might as well say so.
 
Wow, the Hobbs book seems to be really valuable.
 

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blackstar said:
Just looked at Amazon and note that there are no reviews of the book yet. I suggest that those of you who have posted reviews in this thread post them to Amazon. If you really like the book, let potential buyers know that.
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Does "Its a really good book, the best of its type" pass muster as a review on Amazon?
 
'Does "Its a really good book, the best of its type" pass muster as a review on Amazon?'

Errrr...No. Nor does "Not what I expected", which amused me no end, or reviews by authors using sock-puppet accounts.
If you put your name to a review, I'll take it more seriously, and I do listen to what the punters say.

Chris
 
Abraham Gubler said:
blackstar said:
Just looked at Amazon and note that there are no reviews of the book yet. I suggest that those of you who have posted reviews in this thread post them to Amazon. If you really like the book, let potential buyers know that.
Click to expand...

Does "Its a really good book, the best of its type" pass muster as a review on Amazon?
Click to expand...

There are no rules for what qualifies as an acceptable review on Amazon. Here's a funny column by a (Pulitzer Prize-winning) journalist writing about that:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/2013/09/27/53def306-6827-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html

"One Amazon reader gave a book of mine only two stars (out of five) entirely because it was damaged in shipping and the cover had a smudge."

"My friend David Von Drehle recently wrote a brilliant, critically acclaimed book about Abraham Lincoln’s decision-making in 1862, the most perilous year in American history. One Amazon reader declared it magnificent, but gave it only one star because it didn’t also include the year 1863. It was so good he didn’t want it to end. One star."
 
blackstar said:
"One Amazon reader gave a book of mine only two stars (out of five) entirely because it was damaged in shipping and the cover had a smudge."
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It always bugs me when I see a review like that complaining about a shipping issue, or even because Amazon somehow got its description of the book wrong. The review should be about the book and nothing else!

(Doesn't Amazon claim to review the reviews before they are posted? They should automatically drop any reviews of this type.)
 
gatoraptor said:
blackstar said:
"One Amazon reader gave a book of mine only two stars (out of five) entirely because it was damaged in shipping and the cover had a smudge."
Click to expand...
It always bugs me when I see a review like that complaining about a shipping issue, or even because Amazon somehow got its description of the book wrong. The review should be about the book and nothing else!

(Doesn't Amazon claim to review the reviews before they are posted? They should automatically drop any reviews of this type.)
Click to expand...

I suspect that it may not be a person doing that review of the reviews. It might simply be software checking for nasty words.
 
Are there two different editions? Possibly new contents in the most expensive one?

http://www.bookdepository.com/British-Aircraft-Carriers-MR-David-Hobbs/9781591140740

http://www.bookdepository.com/British-Aircraft-Carriers-David-Hobbs/9781848321380
 
Yes there are 2 editions. Seaforth did one in DEC 2013 in the UK. USNI published it in the US a month later in JAN 2014.

I thought they were the same book, different publisher.

Just to show how error filled the Internet is, according the to the Book Depository site that you cite, the US edition has 30 additional pages of text. Amazon claims that the US edition has 50 more pages than the UK edition. However, the USNI Press website give the same page count as the Seaforth edition.




 

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