History

The Type UB I was a class of small coastal submarines (U-boats) built in Germany at the beginning of the First World War. Built to meet the need for small maneuverable submarines able to operate in the narrow, shallow seas off Flanders, the vessels were intended to be quickly constructed, then shipped by rail and assembled at their port of operation. The design effort began in mid-August 1914 and by mid-October the first 15 boats were ordered from two German shipyards. The German Imperial Navy subsequently ordered an additional pair of boats to replace two sold to Austria-Hungary, who ordered a further three boats in April 1915. A total of 20 UB Is were built. Construction of the first boats for Germany began in early November 1914; all 20 were completed by October 1915. Several of the first boats underwent trials in German home waters, but the rest were assembled and tested at either Antwerp or Pola.

For anyone who enjoys scale modeling or is a military history buff, Osprey Publishing is a familiar company. They are a prolific publisher of a wide-range of works related to the entire chronological spectrum of military history – from ancient Greece and Rome to contemporary events and weapon systems. Recently they have expanded their line into what can only be described as coffee table books.

Osprey is a publishing house in the United Kingdom that should be a household name to the swarms of us. Osprey continues to expand their Duel series with the 83^rd book in this installment. The Duel Series examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of two adversaries across a particular conflict. This particular volume turns its attention to the US Navy Battleships versus the IJN Battleships.

For the Duel series, the chapters are organized as follows:

This is Angus Konstam’s follow-up volume to his earlier work on Pre-war Royal Navy destroyers. As he explains, the real division between “pre-war” and “war-built” destroyers came in 1938, when the new “Tribal” class destroyers came into service. Between the First and Second World War, the Royal Navy operated many destroyers, but by the mid-1930s it was obvious that the Admiralty’s older destroyers were being outclassed by those of foreign navies. Thus, a new series of destroyers was designed to compete directly with potential foreign adversaries, the first being the 8-gunned Tribals, built directly in response to the Japanese Fubiki class. Follow on classes were more balanced designs, with fewer guns and more torpedoes and ASW weapons, and finally, the War Emergency Program classes specialized in simplicity of design for quicker mass production, with lighter surface weapons and more depth charges for escort work.

When Trumpeter announced they were releasing a 1/48 scale Type VII U-boat, many were amazed and skeptical. The kit would be huge and Trumpeter has had delays in the past. The U-boat has come out and I am pleased to say it is large and well detailed for a plastic kit with a full interior. One part of the kit is its 8.8cm deck gun and it’s nice. Eduard saw an opportunity for a great upgrade and issued a full resin and photoetch deck gun for the massive kit. This set consists of 38 excellent resin parts and a small photoetch fret of 22 small pieces. Casting is top notch- no air bubbles and the resin Eduard uses is tough and a little flexible which is excellent to handle.