ISBN 0-7509-3937-0
ix + 277 pages

Introduction; Acknowledgements; photos; Abbreviations; Chronology; Bibliography; Index

Appendices: Board of Admiralty in 1940; Battle and Campaign Honours; Victoria Cross Awards; Medals and Decorations; Comparison of Ranks; Museums

   With the release of this RN volume, the Handbook series from Sutton continues to grow. As we've opined in the past, the series remains dogged by somewhat uneven quality, with some titles proving much stronger than others. For example, Wragg's Fleet Air Arm Handbook is one of the better handbooks, partly because the subject is small enough that the author can tightly focus a work of about 260 pages. On the other hand, Wragg's new Royal Navy volume tackles a much larger topic with only about ten more pages.
   Certainly the quality of a book is seldom directly proportional to its length, but—given the magnitude of the subject—here Wragg is clearly constrained by the size of the volume. After all, S. W. Roskill's four official history volumes amount to more than 2100 pages, so undeniably there's much that can be said about the Royal Navy. Even Corelli Barnett's one-volume Engage the Enemy More Closely runs to 1052 pages.
   If Wragg had chosen to forego the same kind of operational history written by Roskill and Barnett, a significant proportion of his 277 pages might have been devoted to other aspects of the Royal Navy. As it stands, here's how the author lays out his book.

   Chapter 1: The Royal Navy in 1939. 12 pages. An outline of the strength, deployment, and plans for the fleet at the outbreak of war.

   Chapter 2: No Phoney War at Sea. 10 pages. Operations through the fall of France, including Mers el Kebir.

   Chapter 3: Battle of the Atlantic. 17 pages. Convoys, u-boats, raiders, and escorts, through the end of the war.

   Chapter 4: War in the Mediterranean. 15 pages. Including much on Malta.

   Chapter 5: Fighting the Weather and the Germans. 8 pages. Arctic convoys. Here's an example of how Wragg handles this material:

      Best known of the Arctic convoys was the ill-fated PQ17, which had sailed from Hvalfiordur, in Iceland, on 27 June 1942, without a carrier among its escorts, which might have prevented the tragic events that occurred. The key to the disaster was that the German battleship Tirpitz, in the Altenfjord, was observed by the Norwegian resistance preparing to go to sea on 4 July. The Admiralty had been aware that an attack was likely and the convoy was given a heavier escort than usual, but with nothing heavier than the cruisers in the distant escort. Ultra intelligence had revealed that the cruisers Admiral Scheer and Hipper, and possibly the pocket battleship Lutzow, were also in the Altenfjord. Faced with the strong possibility that this powerful force could overwhelm the convoy escorts, the First Sea Lord, Adm Sir Dudley Pound, ordered the convoy to scatter and the escorts to return. This left the thirty-seven ships at the mercy of U-boats and the Luftwaffe; just eleven ships out of the thirty-seven in the convoy reached their destination, with the loss of 153 lives, 2,500 aircraft, 430 tanks and almost 4,000 lorries and other vehicles. Tirpitz had meanwhile remained in harbour, believing that the distant escort had included a battleship. When this was corrected following aerial reconnaissance, she left port with the other ships during the afternoon of 5 July, but returned to her berth when it was clear that the convoy was being destroyed.
   The order to scatter the convoy remains one of the most controversial of the war at sea. With hindsight, the entire convoy should have been turned back and brought under the protection of the heavy units of the Home Fleet. Had it not scattered, there can be no doubt that the Tirpitz battlegroup would have destroyed the convoy and the escort. [Wragg seems actually to mean "Had it not scattered or been ordered to turn back, there can be no doubt...."]

   Chapter 6: Overwhelmed in the Far East. 4 pages. Early stages of the RN war against Japan.

   Chapter 7: Breaching Fortress Europe. 10 pages. Northwest Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, South of France, Normandy.

   Chapter 8: Returning to the East. 9 pages. Late stages of the RN war against Japan.

   Thus, Wragg utilizes nearly a hundred pages of his book on Royal Navy operations from 1939 through 1945. While a handbook of this nature can certainly benefit from a brief outline of the progress of the war at sea, expending more than a third of the volume on that part of the subject seems excessive. Here's how the author handles the remainder of the book.

   Chapter 9: The Fleet Air Arm. 5 pages. This recapitulates in much abbreviated fashion Wragg's previous handbook

   Chapter 10: The Submarine Service. 15 pages. Here's a sample of the author's coverage of submarines:

   In between the small U class and the large longer-range T class was the S class, such as Saracen, a handy intermediate-size submarine for a wide range of duties. The S class had a submerged displacement of between 960 and 999 tons, with six torpedo tubes in the bows and one in the stern; either 5in or 4in guns were fitted. Surface speed was just under 15 knots, while submerged the maximum speed was 9 knots, although again this was a 'one hour dash' and 2 knots was more usual for prolonged patrolling.
   The U class had a submerged displacement tonnage of 730 tons; the early boats had six torpedo tubes in the bows, but in later versions this was reduced to four. Guns varied, with some having a 12pdr and others a 3in gun, as well as light AA weapons. Surface speed was just under 12 knots; again, the maximum speed submerged was 9 knots, with the usual limitations. [Chapter 14 reiterates the specs for the U class and S class (and other classes) with more or less the same data.]
   As the war progressed, British submarines improved, largely as a result of the steady adoption of welding instead of riveting in construction, which produced a stronger craft capable of taking greater punishment and diving safely to greater depths. Nevertheless, the British submarines were reliable and well armed. Armament included 5in or 4in guns, which could be used to good effect against small vessels, and both the T and the U classes had light anti-aircraft weapons. Generally, British and American submarines had far less to fear from attack by aircraft than the submarines of the Axis, whose maritime reconnaissance seems to have been preoccupied with anti-shipping operations.

   Chapter 11: Coastal Forces. 7 pages. Motor torpedo boats, motor gunboats, minesweepers, and so on.

   Chapter 12: Recruitment and Training. 7 pages.

   Chapter 13: Personal and Personnel. 11 pages.

   Chapter 14: Warships. 45 pages. The largest chunk of the book is devoted to the vessels of the Royal Navy. Starting with battleships, battlecruisers, and aircraft carriers, and ending with corvettes, minesweepers, and monitors, and with much in between, Wragg reviews every class of RN warships active during the war. For each class, the author gives specifications (such as displacement, armament, endurance, complement, maximum speed, etc) and lists each vessel. Most major warships also receive a sentence or two about their wartime service and a note about their fate. Here's an example:

Battlecruisers

Hood (1920)

Intended to be modernised with extensive additional protection before war broke out, but this programme would have taken three years and was abandoned, despite an Admiralty Ship Department report that noted the poor protection over her magazines. She was lost during the battle with the German battleship Bismarck on 24 May 1941, supposedly hit by a shell from the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, blowing up and leaving just three survivors.

Displacement: 42,100 tons.
Armament: 8 x 15in, 12 x 5.5in, 8 x 4in HA.
Maximum speed: 31 knots.

Renown, Repulse (1916)

Renown, extensively modernised 1936-9, with eight boilers replacing the original forty-two and making this one of the fastest capital ships in the RN. Repulse, refitted 1918-21, and again 1933-6, with additional armour and protection.

Repulse sunk by Japanese aircraft, 10 December 1941.

Displacement: 32,000 tons
Armament: Renown 8 x 15in; 10 x 4.5in HA/LA; Repulse 12 x 15in and 8 x 4in HA
Maximum speed: 29 knots.

   Although this is already the lengthiest part of the book, this is also the area where Wragg could have added even more detail. A handbook of this nature would benefit greatly from expanded material for each ship, specifying the campaigns in which it served, engagements in which it participated, damage sustained, refits and armament upgrades, eventual fate, etc. The author already provides some of that information for a few capital ships, but expanding it and extending it to as many ships as possible would make this handbook indispensable.

   Chapter 15: Naval Bases. 5 pages. Some general information about a few bases, but ignoring others (such as Singapore). This is another area where the author could have significantly increased the utility of his book by providing more detail about facilities and wartime expansions and what each base could and couldn't provide for the fleet.

   Chapter 16: Naval Air Squadrons. 36 pages. Wragg devoted over ninety pages to this topic in The Fleet Air Arm Handbook, and in his concluding chapter here he covers the same territory. Although not as detailed as in the former book, this time Wragg expends a relatively large part of his new volume covering exactly the same subject. For example, compare the entry for 827 Squadron (as quoted in our 2001 review) with the treatment for the same squadron here:

827: Formed with Albacores, 15 September 1940, at Yeovilton, before operating under Coastal Command. In June 1941, was involved in attacks on the battlecruisers, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. During the raid on Kirkenes on 30 July 1941, it lost half of its aircraft, although one Albacore shot down a Ju87.
   In October joined Indomitable, sailing to Aden, where it arrived in January 1942, for anti-submarine patrols in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. Joined the invasion of Madagascar in May 1942. Joined the Malta convoy. Operation Pedestal, in August.
   Re-equipped with Barracudas at Stretton in January 1943. On 30 March 1943, the squadron transferred to Victorious, and on 3 April 1943, it shared with 830 Squadron ten hits during a dive bombing attack on the Tirpitz. in Norway. Another attempt was made on Tirpitz. in July, from Formidable, when a smokescreen saved the ship, but two hits were made while flying from Furious in August.
   Absorbed 830 Squadron in October, 1944. Embarked in Colossus in January 1945, to join the British Pacific Fleet. On arrival in Ceylon disembarked, and did not re-embark until after the war had ended.

   By comparison, Wragg gives each RN warship, no matter how important or famous, far, far less text than any air squadron. That contributes to an overall feeling of imbalance, incompleteness, and lack of focus in the book.
   The author brings his book to a close with a series of six appendices, the most interesting of which is an eight page alphabetical review of the official "battle and campaign honours" of the Royal Navy. From "Adriatic 1944" through "Walcheren 1944," Wragg writes a paragraph for each entry. Here's what he has to say about the first one: "Some forty warships entered the Adriatic to hinder the convoys carrying supplies along the coast to Axis forces, which were forced to resort to sea transport because of the terrain difficulties of Yugoslavia and Albania and the activities of partisan forces. Later, the evacuation of German troops was hindered." This is an area where, again, Wragg could have greatly increased the usefulness of his book by listing the warships participating in each battle or campaign.
   Among the other appendices, the one on Victoria Cross Awards and the one on Medals and Decorations are also notable. In addition to an index and a brief bibliography, Wragg also provides a chronology of eleven pages covering key dates and events.
   In sum, The Royal Navy Handbook is not by any means a bad book, nor is it completely devoid of useful data. For someone with no previous knowledge whatsoever of the RN, it might prove very interesting, although—given the relative emphasis on air squadron histories and a dearth of details about individual warships—rookie readers probably won't realize they're getting a rather skewed perspective on the Royal Navy. For readers more familiar with the subject, the book is pleasant and informative, but not nearly as valuable as it could have been. That will be a big disappointment to many readers—such as this one—who expected more, and perhaps to David Wragg as well, but he could have vastly improved his book by more carefully selecting and tailoring the material that would fit into his pages. In particular, writing fewer pages about the progress of the naval war and more pages about the histories of individual warships could have gone a considerable distance toward turning this into one of the best books of the year.
   Finally, we can hope that in the future the Sutton Handbook series in general and David Wragg in particular exercise more care in choosing topics and honing material. Wragg's much superior Fleet Air Arm Handbook could serve as a good model.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Sutton Publishing.
   Thanks to Sutton for providing this review copy.