Steve R. Dunn

Over the years, I've seen more than a few references to the participation of the Royal Navy in the Russian Civil War, so I was interested to trip over a systematic examination of this adventure. Keeping in mind that period main-stream thought was that the Baltic States to be were inherently part of Russia, it took a lot of twists and turn in policy for London to find itself defending and arming the Estonians and Latvians, with the Royal Navy being the main instrument of this policy. There show more were some high points, but it also came close to breaking the service, as crews turned mutinous over a deployment that seemed confused and unappreciated. Of course, with the defense of the Baltic States from Russia being a hot issue again, this becomes a valuable work, as Dunn does as well with policy and strategy as he does with operations. In the end, he finds this episode to mostly be a monument to "...the bloody-minded resolve of the Royal Navy." show less

A well written and researched account of the Motor Launches and Submarine Chasers, and their predecessors, of WW1. A bit thin on the operational uses outside the UK littoral and Otranto Barrage, but otherwise touches all the bases.
A major screw up with the plans though. Pages 292/3 should be the WW1 Thornycroft 40 foot CMB, and is titled as such, but the drawing actually depicts White 73 foot MTB 42 from 1940. Oops! But it does leave the early CMB's without a plan. But search online and show more plans can be found ... show less

Although the author claims this not to be a reference book there's plenty of well-researched stuff in here to act as one.

It's an OK read although for me some of the author's ways of saying things turned me against him a little and it's obvious he's a somewhat upset at the diminishing role the Royal navy now plays (which I have a deal of sympathy for), however it's decent enough and an interesting window through which to view the RN over the years.