King George V Class Battleships [Paperback]

The book comes pretty close to be the definitive history of the KGV class. The authoritative text is always attentive to human drama behind the engagements and the fatigues endured by the crews. Tarrant's narrative style is highly readable and absorbing, indulging in the magnitude of war at sea without loosing the sight of accademic treatise. An engrossing reference in recent British naval history.

Tarrant is unsparing about the KGVs; built to the restrictions of the Washington treaty (which limited battleships to 35,000 tons full-up displacement and restricted them to 16 inch guns at maximum), they suffer badly in comparison to the US Navy Washington and South Dakota class ships, also built to the treaty restrictions. The selection of 14 inch guns badly limited their hitting power (and faulty turret design was an additional crippling factor in action), their relatively narrow beam compromised their underwater protection systems (fatally in the case of Prince of Wales), and their inefficient engineering plants badly restricted their range. That said, the five ships of the class served nobly and well during WWII, thanks to the men who commanded and manned them so ably.

Tarrant opens with a discussion of the design of the ships, including the mini-controversy over their naming. The lead ship was originally to be named King George VI, but the King insisted that the ship be named for his father instead; two later ships were to be HMS Beatty and HMS Jellicoe, but unfortunately the Jutland controversy was still too sore a self-inflicted wound and the remaining ships were named Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Anson, and Howe.

The careers of the five ships follow, discussed chronologically. Tarrant covers in fascinating detail the pursuit and sinking of the Bismarck, the Force Z disaster, and the sinking of the Scharnhorst, as well as the more mundane activities of the ships (Anson was so late completing she never had the chance to fire her main battery in anger). Tarrant's analysis of the loss of Prince of Wales and Repulse is especially well done; while being somewhat gentle to the memory of Admiral Phillips and Captain Leach, who were lost with their ship, he points out how well the captain of Repulse handled her, while poor handling of PoW certainly contributed to her destruction.

A great feature of the book is Tarrant's use of first-hand accounts to illuminate the activities of the ships. Ranging from officers to the lower deck, these accounts have been well chosen and give the human factor often missing in books of this type. The reminiscences of Petty Office Bill Batters of HMS Howe are particularly wonderful.

As a modeler, I would have liked to see more and more detailed diagrams, but the illustrations are good and the many photographs showing the ships throughout their careers are excellent and useful and often interesting (ammunitioning Duke of York after her encounter with Scharnhorst, for example).

All in all, this is one of the best histories of a class of ships I have seen, with only a few typos to watch for. Sadly, the four surviving KGVs were scrapped in the late 50s, but this history remains to give these ships and their brave crews their due.