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voor de liefhebbers van duikbootgeschiedenis :)

Royal Navy Submarines -1901 to the Present Day
 
Containing details of every submarine commissioned into the Royal Navy from the first Holland boat (1901) to the present day, this is a must-buy for all Royal Navy and Submarine enthusiasts. The author has gathered together a wealth of detail on each class including the very latest Astute submarines currently coming into service. Every entry contains the specification, launch dates of individual boats, details of evolving construction and armament and other salient service history information in a compact yet accessible form. All submarine losses in peace and war are listed.
The high quality of John Lambert's technical drawings of the majority of classes adds to the value of this work. The text is also enhanced by a strong selection of photographs. As a complete directory of Royal Navy submarines this book will be widely welcomed by all with an interest, professional or lay, in the subject. Works of, this comprehensive and authoritative nature are as a rule only available at prices unaffordable to the average reader.
The Author
Maurice Cocker is an Associate of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. He served in the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service and, since retiring, has been professionally engaged in naval development and history. He is the author of a number of definitive works on naval subjects.
FOREWORD by Vice Admiral Sir Lancelot Bell Davies, KBE
The Observer's Directory of Royal Navy Submarines is published at the very moment that naval history has recorded a further significant change in naval warfare. The Falklands campaign will occupy historians for years to come. It contains many 'firsts' and many lessons. Single-ship successful actions always sparkle in the pages of history: but few mark a major turning point in naval warfare.
The sinking of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano by HM S/M Conqueror marked such a turning point. It is the first time that a major surface combatant has been sunk by a dived submarine, capable of keeping up with its target indefinitely, and able to select the tactical moment to strike, under the operational command of a headquarters 8,000 miles away. The immediate effect was to deny the Argentine surface naval forces any further participation in the conflict. Few single-ship actions have had such a profound strategic result.
The full story of the Royal Navy submarines' contribution to that conflict will rightly remain undisclosed for some time to come; but the impact of their presence upon the imagination of their foes goes without saying. Imagination is also the spur of the student. Any serious researcher will welcome this directory, because it provides a convenient and comprehensive catalogue of British submarines from which he can check statistical data.
But it does more than this. Anyone whose imagination is inspired by warships probably finds that browsing through an old illustrated naval reference book is a very satisfying pastime. The older the copy the better. There is something magical about the photograph of an old warship that stimulates the storyteller in us all. It matters not that the picture is a formal one, nor that the statistics are ungarnished by historical narrativeimagination thrives best without such interference.
The snag with such an old book is that it freezes time in the year of its issue. In this new directory Mr Cocker gives us the luxury of daydreaming through time as well as checking up on facts.
The advent of nuclear propulsion has provided a dramatic change to capability, and a marked improvement in the submariner's lifestyle; but the make-up of the man is the same. His courage, forbearance and tolerance of his shipmates, and his dedicated professionalism, will continue to provide food for the historian, and inspiration for the imagination of those who dream of the sea.
 Dank aan fjh voor het materiaal & Hull Effect :)