The world's worst warships - Antony Preston

Although the title is deliberately provocative, this is a serious study of the reasons why some warships have achieved bad reputations. It covers the period from 1860 to the present day, and will look at a wide range of nationalities and ship-types.

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Some warships achieve notoriety because they are so outlandish, either in design or merely in appearance. Others are lost dramatically in action or by accident, suggesting a serious weakness in design.-Some warships never endear themselves to their operators, whose opinions foster prejudice against the design.

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In fact, relatively few ships are incompetently designed. Most errors originate at Naval Staff level, with flawed operational concepts, over-ambitious specifications, poorly designed sub-systems (usually weapons), or financial stringency. Some warships are built to meet a rational tactical need, which disappears before the ship enters service. In wartime many warships are forced to perform tasks never even imagined during the design-stage, bringing their alleged shortcomings into prominence.

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Examples covered in this comprehensive volume include: the Russian Popoffkas; the French battleship Brennus; the British vessels Captain and Sheffield, the battlecruiser Hood and the K class submarines, the US monitors Katahdin and Vesuvius; the Japanese light cruiser Mogami; and the German ships Graf Spee and Bismarck.