WesWorld

Gentlemen,

on German small crafts like S-Boats or R-Boats I have quite some information. However, I lack a good compendium on this type of vessel in general. So I am looking for a book with technical data, line drawings, design history and service account on british MTB/MGB/ML, Italian MAS boats, American PT boats etc.

Is there any such book out there you can recommend?

Thanks,

HoOmAn

I can recommend two books, "Allied Coastal forces, volumes 1 and 2" by John Lambert and Al Ross. Volume 1 covers Fairmile and American subchaser designs while Volume 2 covers Vosper MTB's and U.S. Elco designs. Lots of nice diagrams, charts, cutaways, pictures and stats.

Thanks.

While looking for those on amazone, I´ve also found British Motor Torpedo Boat 1939-45 (New Vanguard) which seems to be part of series of similar books on other nations fast attack crafts.

Do you know these books?

Hoo,
I've seen British Motor Torpedo Boats 1939-45 (New Vanguard) in a shop recently but didn't buy it myself. Had a good flick through and I must admit it looked good with drawings, plans and brief but informative text. For the price its ok, I have a British Airships 1905-30 from the same series. That's a great read and most of those books look pretty good. For a budget catch-all they make sense but they aren't geeky technical like a 300 page book!

Thanks,

I will check if I can get them all, so I should have some good overview in general. Nevertheless, I´d prefer to have something like Whitley's cruiser or destroyer book on torpedo boats and other coastal forces. Some kind of general encyclopedia. Any idea if such book exists?

Do you have Conways 1922-46?

Not sure I know of any books like a Whitley for torpedo boats etc.
You could try a reprinted Janes like the Studio released versions of the 1946 issue with bits added.

Hoo, I don't know if your still looking for books on this subject or not. I've recently acquired 'Coastal Forces Vessels of the Royal Navy From 1865' by M.P. Cocker, published by Tempus, 2006, ISBN 0-7524-3862-X.

It's a general overview of all coastal vessels of the RN up to around 2004. It features brief specs and some good photos and layout plans of diverse types such as Monitors, torpedo boats, MTBs, River Gunboats, Landing Craft, Hovercraft etc.

As a starting point its ok, the specs etc. are brief but it gives entire class numbers and builders etc. and is a good starting point, but just don't expect a nut 'n' bolts approach within 256 pages. It tries to record all known losses though so has some value in that regard. Overall a good starter read. 7 out of 10.

Thanks for letting me know. I will check it out...