A Crash Course In Early 20th Century English Naval Architecture
Written: Sep 10 '08 (Updated Oct 03 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Hundreds of detailed technical drawings and excellent photographs.
Cons: Not as visually interesting as some of the other "Anatomy" books.
The Bottom Line: The best book in the "Anatomy of the Ship" series, and one of the best studies of a single ship ever published. If you can find it...buy it!
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| booknerd85's Full Review: John Roberts - Battleship Dreadnought |
Introduction
Not all historic warships gained historic status by being sunk. Take, for example, the British battleship HMS Dreadnought. Here we have a ship so revolutionary, and so powerful, it managed to blow everyone away without firing a single shot. It never fought another ship in open battle, never attained anything close to celebrity status, and was eventually reduced to so many razor blades at the end of her career. No matter. The first battleship equipped with a uniform-calibre main battery, and the first powered by steam turbines, Dreadnought rendered every fighting ship afloat obsolete the moment she entered service, and may have sparked an arms race that lead to World War I. Most naval enthusiasts are content with the understanding that Dreadnought was a powerful, groundbreaking battleship. But there will always be a tiny niche who always needs to know more, and for us hardcore types, this book by renowned British naval historian and draughtsman John Roberts provides more detail on this famous ship than most ordinary humans will ever need.
About The Book
The Battleship Dreadnought is the 29th book in the "Anatomy of the Ship" series, a long-running series of hardcover monographs detailing the design and construction of a single ship. A 256 page hardcover book, Dreadnought is divided into three main sections: Introduction, Photographs, and Drawings. On newer editions, the jacket’s back side doubles as a 1:256 scale profile view of the ship as commissioned.
The book opens with a 28-page introduction that deals with the design genesis, construction, operational history, and technical particulars of Dreadnought. The introduction includes a timeline of the ship’s operational history, a list of major modifications to the ship, and numerous tables showing the ship’s weight and stability properties, trial results, and specifications of the machinery, armor, and armament. Next up is a 30-page section which presents 43 black & white photos of the ship throughout it’s career, including a number of interesting images of her building and a striking side profile taken after commissioning. The last 187 pages consist of hundreds ("more than 650") of detailed drawings of every virtually every part of the ship.
As impressive as Roberts's own "Anatomy" on the battlecruiser Hood might be, his technical study of Dreadnought is still the most detailed examination of ship I've ever seen. I'm still left awestruck at the depth of these plans, and this book makes the amateur naval architect within me giddy with delight. The plans are extremely well executed, clear, well-labeled, and elegant in function. As a whole, they aren't as visually interesting as the plans in some of the other "Anatomy" titles, but by far present the best study of the ship itself. Every frame, bulkhead, plate, and compartment of the ship is laid bare and presented in exacting detail.
The Drawings
The first drawing section focuses on General Arrangements. The plans in this chapter are at 1:384 scale, and show the ship’s profile at four points in it’s career, a sectional view through the centerline, 13 transverse sections through the hull, and layouts of all eight decks and the double bottom. Section B, Lines and Constructional Details, is the first of two chapters that explore Dreadnought's inner workings in great detail. The hull contours, and the different types of rivets, plate joints, and structural bars used in the ship's construction are shown first. The next 22 pages explore aspects of framework and structure from the double bottom up through the side framing, accompanied by a large number of perspective views and sections through the hull. The rest of the chapter examines the hull plating, the construction of the bow and stern, the arrangement of deck beams and plating, the distribution of armor plating, and the structure of the turret barbettes.
Section C, Machinery, opens with plans and drawings of the boiler rooms, detailed views of the boilers, ash ejectors, and air compressor system, and perspective views of the third boiler room, ventilation systems, and the after funnel and it's hatch. More plans and perspectives detail the port engine room (the ship had two, both virtually identical) and it's ventilation system, and the arrangement of the propeller shafts and steering gear. Rounding it out are drawings showing the distribution of auxiliary machinery, the cordite magazine cooling plant, the pumping and flooding system, details of various valve types, and the layout of the coal bunkers.
The remainder of the book covers a variety of topics, including masts and rigging, the ship's superstructure, the armament, fittings, anchor gear, and the boats used by the ship. The section on armament is the most detailed of these, opening with 1:64 scale plans of a 12-inch gun turret, featuring multiple cross-sections through the gunhouse and closeups of the breech mechanism and loading arm. The 12-pounder guns are depicted at 1:24 scale, with five-view drawings their cradle, carriage, pedestal, breech and sighting gear.
The rest of the book is just as detailed, but trying to describe every facet of this book would take far too long. To give an example, the watertube boilers are examined in a series of a 1:48 scale plans and cross-sections, showing details as small as the auxiliary mud box, water gauge steam cocks, and the feed water inlet nozzle. The port engine room is shown in 1:96 scale plans of all three levels, with four profile views, and cross-sections at four locations. The accommodation plans even show the locations of every desk, dresser, locker, and table in the crew spaces.
My Thoughts
Of all the "Anatomy" titles that I've either owned or "sampled," this is the only ones that comes close to truly being an "Anatomy" of the title subject. Some of the books focus on the exterior, which is fine for modelers but not terribly interesting to me. Dreadnought’s exterior hardly features at all beyond the general arrangement drawings and the close-ups of the masts and spars. The only real flaws I noticed was the number of drawings which lack station numbers, and the somewhat cartoony depiction of hatches on the deck plans.
This book blew me away when I got it, and still does today. However, anyone who buys this book without having ever explored a good set of ship plans, or doesn’t have at least a basic idea of how ships are put together, is probably going to be hopelessly lost. A lot of early 20th century British naval jargon is thrown about with little examination, and the accompanying text is mostly perfunctory. I still haven't completely figured out how the protective deck was laid out, or the arrangement of the area around the meathouse, to give two examples.
Conclusion
Even though it's now hard to find, John Roberts's The Battleship Dreadnought is a real treat for anyone with a serious interest in naval architecture. As a detailed study of a mechanical construct, there are probably few books out there that can best it.
See Also: Anatomy of the Ship: The Battlecruiser Hood
Sample Scans:
After Hull Structure: http://img209.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dread001cu0.jpg
Section Through "Q" Barbette: http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dread004op1.jpg
Steering Gear: http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dread006dq6.jpg
12-Inch Gun Mounting: http://img172.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dread008gv5.jpg
Wardroom Skylight: http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dread011iy3.jpg
Recommended:
Yes
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booknerd85
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Member: Daryl Carpenter
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