This book uses the latest historical and marine archeological research
to present a novel, comparative exploration of an ever-popular subject:
the epic clashes of British and German surface battleships during World
War II.
At the outbreak of World War II, the four key Capital German ships
comprised the Bismarck, Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau. Their
primary threats where the Royal Navy's King George V-class battleships,
the most modern British battleships in commission during World War II
and some of the Navy's most powerful vessels. Five ships of this class
were built: HMS King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Howe
(late 1942) and Anson (late 1942). The powerful vessels in this class
would clash with the pride of the Kriegsmarine in two major engagements:
first, during the Battle of the Denmark Strait and subsequent pursuit of
the Bismarck between 24 and 27 May 1941, and again at the Battle of
the North Cape on 26 December 1943.
Alongside the King George V class, the Royal Navy's two--ship
Nelson--class (Nelson and Rodney), comprised Britain's only other
battleships built in the interwar years. Both ships served extensively
in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Indian oceans during the war, but
their moment of fame came when Rodney (together with King George V)
chased down and bombarded the doomed Bismarck in May 1941.
This superbly detailed addition to the Duel series compares and
contrasts the design and development of these opposing capital ships,
and describes the epic clashes on the high seas that ended with the
destruction of the Kriegsmarine's major naval assets.
