Here comes another, fresh book of well-known maritime historian, Angus Konstam. Now the title is British Battleships 1914-18 (1), The Early Dreadnoughts, and appears as 200th title in Osprey`s New Vanguard series. With marvelous illustrations of Paul Wright we have 48-pages account of the earliest types of the Royal Navy`s dreadnoughts.
There are five chapters, each dedicated to different subject, such as design, development, specifications, armament, armoury, modifications or short, briefly story of every early dreadnought ship that served in Royal Navy during the Great War. Author widely describes the background which led to launch of the first, famous HMS Dreadnought, then focuses on most important construction details and finally, gives an overview, how the wartime service of the ships went.
We can only regret, that due to the limitations of the New Vanguard series, Angus Konstam who is a living encyclopedia of the Royal Navy History, had to shorten the text to most important factors. However, it is a good introduction to the subject of the British WW1 battleships and we are looking forward to see the second part about the later dreadnoughts!
Michał Różyński