From its title, this book purports to be about the Royal Navy, but only a minority of the text is devoted to that service. There is no mention of it at all until page 34 (Out of 144 pages total, or roughly almost 25% of the way through the book), where the fate of some submarines sent to the Baltic in 1915 is covered in one paragraph. The Royal Navy then does not re-appear until page 46. While some Royal Navy ships, primarily light cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats and submarines, were involved in the fighting in this area during the post war period, the part they played was small, usually only involved a few ships and would only merit a footnote in most histories. One interesting aspect is that the HMS Vindictive, a cruiser converted with a “flying off deck” was deployed to the area and some RNAS aircraft, albeit flying from land bases, were used in bombing attacks against ships and shore targets.

David Doyle has written over 100 books, mostly on military subjects, including a Squadron At Sea book about the North Carolina from 2011. This book is one of the Legends of Warfare – Naval series for Schiffer Publishing, a well-researched history and photo album of America’s first “modern” battleship – USS North Carolina, BB-55. Since the North Carolina is a museum ship anchored off Wilmington, North Carolina, most of the book is a color photo tour of the ship inside and out. This book is an excellent resource for modelers of the North Carolina and of WWII US Navy common fittings.

Thanks to Casemate Books for the review copy!

Kagero Publishing has produced a large number of WW2 single-warship books from their Super Drawings in 3D series. Each book has roughly 80 pages (82 for Shimakaze), beginning with a short biography of the ship followed by a wealth of CG (computer-generated), three-dimensional, full-color drawings and a 1:200 scale B&W line drawing foldout of side/top views and details of fittings and close-ups on the obverse side.

The tragedy of the Titanic sinking is legendary and needs no introduction. For those of us who are, or will build the 1/350 Minicraft Titanic kit, this mast set is a cause for celebration!

I have personally had this ship kit half built and left for a good number of years. I had already scratch built many items to adorn the bridge, grand staircases, and other areas, as well as acquiring about every brass photo-etch set and even a wooden deck set. When I saw this Mast set show up for review, I had to have it and hopefully kick start my enthusiasm to finish this long drawn out build! Goodness knows how much grief I’ve gotten over the years from my wife and model buddies about when the Titanic will be finished!

Master continues to build on their extensive offerings, and this brass mast set is every bit as spectacular as other Master Model brass and photo-etch sets I’ve had the pleasure of using.

David Doyle is a well-known author of over 100 books since 2003, covering a wide range of military subjects. Adding aircraft and warship subjects to his already lengthy list of published books covering military vehicles, Doyle’s portfolio of publications continues to expand rapidly, while maintaining the highest degree of quality, accuracy, and depth of coverage.