Author: Angus Konstam
Illustrated by: Tony Bryan
ISBN: 978-1-84176-500-6
Review by: Paul Kirsopp
A bit of Background…
During the Second World War, flotillas of the Royal Navy’s Motor Torpedo Boats and other coastal forces fought a deadly war for control of the English Channel and the North Sea.
These small, fast boats attacked enemy convoys, escorted freighters, landed secret agents and even raided enemy ports.
Unsung heroes, these craft and their tiny crews helped stave off defeat in the dark days of 1940. The same vessels then took the fight to other waters, and by the end of the war, British MTB’s had seen service in the Mediterranean, the Baltic and the Far East.
This book examines the development and operation of these frail, sleek little warships, and describes the way they were manned and how they fought.
Let’s have a look inside…
I found this book on Amazon and thought it might help with my MTB build.
It covers quite a few aspects of the MTB’s, the main headings including:
- Development
- Construction
- Specifications
- Losses
- MTB’s listed by pennant number
- Bibliography
- Colour plates
- Index
There are about forty black and white photographs, a lot of them showing detail of the boats and a number showing the boats at speed or crew shots.
In addition, there’s four colour profiles, two colour prints and a cut away drawing, again in colour.
It takes you through the development of the boats, those built by Thorneycroft and British Power Boat Co. and into the Vosper boats. The book also touches on motor gun boats and different versions of the MTB, including those built in the USA.
The book is 48 pages long and has a list price of £9.99, but I got mine for a lot less on Amazon.
All in all, I think it will help in some small way if you’re building one of the new MTB kits out the box.
It would be more help if you’re modifying or detailing the model, and of course it will be of use for those with the Airfix 72nd scale kit.
Paul K.
N.B. You can get also this book from Osprey direct.