Nautical Research Journal Book reviews
British Town Class Cruisers: Design, Development & Performance, Southampton & Belfast Classes By Conrad Waters
Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2019 Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2019 10” x 11-3/4”, hardcover, 320 pages
Photographs, scale drawings, appendices, notes, bibliography, index. $54.95 ISBN: 9781526718853
T is book has three defi ning characteristics. It is large. It is heavy. It is excellent. Readers who have any of Norman Friedman’s books on United States war- ships will fi nd themselves on familiar ground here since the format and content are very similar and to the same high standard.
T e author is a lawyer by training but a banker by profession who comes from a maritime family. De- spite his technical background his writing style is lively, interesting, and the manner in which he un-
folds the story of these ships makes the narrative fl ow very well. T e primary function of these cruisers was trade protection of merchant ships on a global empire scale, a role for which they were well suited, but they were oſt en thrust into far diff erent roles as World War II escalated and new technologies evolved.
T e author has written what surely must be the pen- ultimate history of these ten ships in the class: New- castle, Southampton, Glasgow, Sheffi eld, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Gloucester, Belfast, and Edin- burgh. T e author goes into great detail in an objec- tive manner listing the pros and cons of these ships. Like anything built by man, this class of ships rep- resented a compromise of confl icting requirements. Constructed to the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty of 6 February 1922, the class had a maximum displacement of 10,000 tons making them weak on armor and anti-aircraſt armament. Habit- ability was always a problem. Finding space for the complement of 770 offi cers and men was never easy, many having to sleep in stairwells and passageways. T is was exacerbated later in the war when radar and anti-aircraſt armament with their concomitant crews were found to be necessary. Despite this the ships
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