British Aircraft Carriers: Design, Development & Service Histories

by David Hobbs

This book is a meticulously detailed history of British aircraft-carrying ships from the earliest experimental vessels to the Queen Elizabeth class, currently under construction and the largest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. Individual chapters cover the design and construction of each class, with full technical details, and there are extensive summaries of every ship's career. Apart from the obvious large-deck carriers, the book also includes seaplane carriers, escort carriers and MAC ships, the maintenance ships built on carrier hulls, unbuilt projects, and the modern LPH. It concludes with a look at the future of naval aviation, while numerous appendices summarize related subjects like naval aircraft, recognition markings and the circumstances surrounding the loss of every British carrier. As befits such an important reference work, it is heavily illustrated with a magnificent gallery of photos and plans, including the first publication of original plans in full color, one on a magnificent gatefold.

Written by the leading historian of British carrier aviation, himself a retired Fleet Air Arm pilot, it displays the authority of a lifetime's research combined with a practical understanding of the issues surrounding the design and operation of aircraft carriers. As such British Aircraft Carriers is certain to become the standard work on the subject.

"An outstanding highly informative reference work. It is a masterpiece which should be on every naval person's bookshelf. It is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to own."--Australian Naval Institute

Genres: Military Fiction

1234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 9, 2013

About the author

A career pilot with the Fleet Air Arm, David A. Hobbs served in the Royal Navy from 1964 until his retirement from the active list in 1997. Hobbs worked as Curator and Principal Historian of the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset from 1997 until 2006, after which he became a full time author and lecturer specialising in the history of British naval aviation.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an encyclopedic book in the truest sense of the term. What David Hobbs, a former naval officer and curator of the Fleet Air Arm Museum, has done in it is provide a description of every ship conceived by the Royal Navy over the past century to launch and support aircraft as a primary part of its mission. This requires him to define some parameters for the sake of manageability — vessels such as battleships, for example, which were equipped with a floatplane or two for scouting purposes, were left out. Nevertheless, his scope is vast, encompassing not just aircraft carriers but seaplane tenders, "merchant aircraft carriers," maintenance carriers, and LPHs. For each he provides a description of the development of the design followed by a breakdown of the service history of each vessel in its class, which he compliments with a generous selection of photographs from his own extensive collection. Nor does he stop there, as he devotes chapters to designs that were never built (including one about the amazingly off-the-wall Project Habakkuk) and to parallel developments in other navies, showing how these vessels and the ideas they embodied shaped British concepts about the design and role of carriers. All of this makes for a book that a worthy addition to the library of anyone interested in the history of the Royal Navy or of carrier aviation more generally, providing as it does a wealth of material that better understands the evolution of these vessels but their role in the Royal Navy and the broader challenges Britain faced as a naval power over the last century.

[Nishant Pappireddi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal book that describes the design process/development and individual histories of every single British aircraft carrier, as well as for seaplane carriers and small aircraft-carrying merchant ships. Hobbs has strident but unfortunately accurate issues with the impact of politicians on British carriers after WW2.

There seemed to be a decent number of typoes, especially in the second half of the book. Other than that, this book is the perfect reference for British Aircraft Carriers.

[JJ Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent mix of design histories and service records

Hobbs' books are consistently excellent and this is no exception. It covers every TH carrier from WWI to present day with a look at what the Queen Elizabeth class will do in the 2020s and beyond.

[Shrike58 · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Hobbs, having been an officer and aviator in the Royal Navy, having served on seven different carriers, and having been the curator of the Fleet Air Arm museum, probably knows more about British aviation ships, warplanes, and operations than any one person, achieving a level of detail and insight in this work that one might expect from Norman Friedman. Well-worth having if the topic interests you at all.