As the possibility of war loomed in the 1930s, the British Admiralty
looked to update their fleet of destroyers to compete with the new ships
being built by Germany and Japan, resulting in the commissioning of the
powerful Tribal-class. These were followed by the designing of the first
of several slightly smaller ships, which carried fewer guns than the
Tribals, but were armed with a greatly enlarged suite of torpedoes. The
first of these, the J/K/M class was followed by a number of wartime
variants, with slight changes to their weaponry to suit different
wartime roles.
Designed to combat enemy surface warships, aircraft and U-boats, the
British built these destroyers to face off against anything the enemy
could throw at them. Using a collection of contemporary photographs and
beautiful color artwork, this is a fascinating new study of the ships
that formed the backbone of the Royal Navy during World War II.