Churchill's Navy: The Ships, Men and Organisation, 1939-1945

This volume answers many questions about the officers, sailors, the ships and weapons of the British naval power.

Easy to read, it goes to great detail regarding the performance of this "Premier Service" not only during the World War years but also during the crucial pre-war days.

It will be a nice addition to the collection of anyone interested in naval affairs.

Brian Lavery has once again served up a fine meal for naval history buffs. A sequel, of sorts, to his magnificent "Nelson's Navy," the book is marred by a number of typos (such as "the" when "they" is meant) and even more distractingly, paragraphs are occasionally misplaced and even repeated. I don't ever recall seeing this many errors in a book. Lavery deserves better!

Dont be mislead by the title, which is taken from Lavery's previous "Nelson's Navy, The Ships, Men and Organisation 1793-1815". Churchill is only mentioned when he is pertinent to a topic under discussion.

The table of contents gives an idea of the scope of the work: The Royal Navy in Peace and War; The Structure of Naval Power; Enemies and Allies; The Ships; Naval Society and Culture; Officers and Ratings; The Battle Fleet; Naval Aviation; The Submarine Service; Escorts; The Coastal Navies; Amphibious Warfare; Conclusion. All is followed by appendices, abbreviations, notes, bibligraphy, picture credits and an index crammed into 287 pages. It is lavishly illustrated with mostly fresh photographs.

Th Royal Navy is lovingly presented with no apologies about deficiencies and no chauvinism! The Conclusion which says in part, "Without the Second World War, the Royal Navy would seem very different from a historian's perspective, looking back to the faraway days of Nelson for its last great triumphs. . . But in its conduct in the Second World Warallows it to be remember as one of the decisive forces of the twentieth centur, which prevented the invasion of Britain in 1940, struggled for control of the Mediterranean, fought the longest campaign of all in the Battle of the Atlantic, and put much of the Allied armies ashore in Normandy in 1944." puts Mr. Lavery's effort near the top for such books and cries for similar treatment of the other great navies of the war!

Well Said and Well Done!

An interesting book about the British Royal Navy organization, structure, and so on. While title says "Churchill's Navy", I haven't yet detected anything about Churchill in the book. So for you Churchill fans, as am I, this isn't about Churchill. Nevertheless, it does do a good job of explaining British Royal Navy organization, buzzwords, and so on. Just don't buy it if you are wanting to read Churchill or about Churchill. As an example, ever wonder what the First Sea Lord does, or if there is a Second Sea Lord (there is), or a Third Sea Lord (yep, one of those), or a Fourth...... This book will let you know about this type of stuff, and it's useful for that.