The most comprehensive English-language study of the German Imperial Navy’s WWI battlecruisers, fully illustrated with drawings, diagrams and photographs. In this in-depth study, naval historian and author of Battle on the Seven Seas Gary Staff presents a full analysis of Imperial Germany’s battlecruisers. Known as Panzerkreuzer, the eight ships of this class were involved in several early North Sea skirmishes before their historic victory against the Royal Navy in the Battle of Jutland. Staff details the design and construction of these ships, and traces the full-service history of each one, recounting their actions, largely from first-hand German sources and official documents. Detailed line drawings and maps augment the text throughout, as do a wealth of contemporary photos that depict the vessels at sea as well as in dock, where many aspects of their design—as well as damage sustained in action—can be viewed in close up. A superb series of full-color computer graphics show full length profiles and top-down views of each ship in precise and clear detail. German Battle Cruisers of World War One presents a major contribution to German naval history in the English language. It is a must-have volume for Great War historians and enthusiasts, as well as battlecruiser modelers.

The brainchild of Admiral Sir John Fisher, battlecruisers combined heavy guns and high speed in the largest hulls of their era. Conceived as "super-cruisers" whose job it was to hunt down and destroy commerce raiders, their size and gun-power led to their inclusion in the battlefleet as a fast squadron of capital ships. This book traces in detail the development of Fisher's original idea into the first battlecruiser Invincible of 1908, through to the "Splendid Cats" of the Lion class, and culminating in HMS Hood in 1920, the largest warship in the world for the next twenty years. The origins of the unusual "light battlecruisers" of the Courageous type are also covered. The well-publicized problems of British battlecruisers are examined, including the latest research throwing light on the catastrophic loss of three of the ships at the Battle of Jutland. The developmental history is backed by chapters covering machinery, armament, and armor, with a full listing of important technical data. The comprehensive collection of illustrations includes the author's superb drawings and original Admiralty plans reproduced in full color. This revised and updated edition of the classic work first published in 1997 will be welcomed by anyone with an interest in the most charismatic and controversial warships of the dreadnought era.

The ShipCraft series provides in-depth information about building and modifying model kits of famous warship types. Lavishly illustrated, each book takes the modeller through a brief history of the subject class, highlighting differences between sister-ships and changes in their appearance over their careers. This includes paint schemes and camouflage, featuring colour profiles and highly-detailed line drawings and scale plans. The modelling section reviews the strengths and weaknesses of available kits, lists commercial accessory sets for super-detailing of the ships, and provides hints on modifying and improving the basic kit. This is followed by an extensive photographic gallery of selected high-quality models in a variety of scales, and the book concludes with a section on research references books, monographs, large-scale plans and relevant websites.rnrnThis volume follows the format of the highly successful Flower Class where the extent has been doubled to include far more illustrations of the many different designs, from the Invincible of 1906 to the Renowns of 1915, and including the hybrid large light cruisers Courageous, Glorious and Furious.

“Outstanding . . . anyone with an interest in the major ships of the grand Fleet or shipbuilding on the Clyde will want to own it.”—Warship 2012 Between 1906 and 1920, the Clydebank shipyard of John Brown & Sons built five battlecruisers, each one bigger than the last, culminating in the mighty Hood, the largest warship of her day. If Tiger is regarded as a modification of the Lion class design, this represents every step in the evolution of these charismatic, and controversial, ships. Like most shipyards of the time, Clydebank employed professional photographers to record the whole process of construction, using large-plate cameras that produced pictures of stunning clarity and detail; but unlike most shipyard photography, Clydebank’s collection has survived, although very few of the images have ever been published. For this book, some two hundred of the most telling of these were carefully selected, and scanned to the highest standards, depicting in unprecedented detail every aspect of the building and fitting out of Inflexible, Australia, Tiger, Repulse and Hood. Probably more has been written about battlecruisers than any other warship type, and as modelmaking subjects they have a devoted following, so any new book has to make a real contribution. This pictorial collection, with its lengthy and informative captions, and an authoritative introduction by Ian Johnston, offers ship modelers and enthusiasts a wealth of visual information simply unobtainable elsewhere. “A superb book combining some useful text on the ships and their construction with an amazing collection of pictures.”—History of War

Traces the development of Admiral Sir John Fisher's original idea into the first battlecruiser Invincible of 1908, through to the "Splendid Cats" of the Lion class, and culminating in the HMS Hood in 1918, the largest warship in the world for the next 20 years. Also covers the origins of the light battlecruisers which later found fame as aircraft carriers, as well as machinery, armament, armour, and important technical information. The text is complemented by b&w photographs, plans, and drawings, and includes a folded large scale plan of the battlecruiser Queen Mary, 1913. Oversize: 9.75x12". Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

This second volume in the ShipShape series covers the development of one of the largest, fastest and most charismatic warship types. Combining the armament of a battleship with the speed of a cruiser in some of the largest hulls then built, these ships were the cutting edge of early 20th-century naval technology. The brainchild of Admiral Fisher, the concept of this class began as large, fast armoured cruisers for trade protection, but the last-minute decision to equip them with 12-inch guns led them to be seen as a high-speed element of the battle fleet. The British battlecruisers fought in numerous battles in World War I, such as the battles of the Falklands, Heligoland Bight and Dogger Bank. But it is for the battle of Jutland in 1916, when three battlecruisers exploded and sank in one day, that these ships are best remembered.