From Baird Maritime:
This big, beautifully illustrated book covers a very exciting period of about sixty years.
The author and illustrator, who are both well known to maritime history enthusiasts, have again done a first rate job of not just recording the history of that period but of bringing it vividly to life.
The first destroyers were conceived and built in the early 1880s, primarily as torpedo boats. They were small, around 25 metres, and fast, 20 knots plus. They were also very wet and not very seaworthy.
Their development was rapid. They quickly became longer, larger and significantly faster and more versatile. All of this is described in considerable detail here.
Of course, much of what was learnt from destroyers has been transplanted to many other types of naval and non-naval vessels. Their evolution was important to much of maritime development.
Ordering information:
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