Military Model Scene

Title: Royal Navy Monitors of World War II
Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Osprey
ISBN: 978-1-4728-6813-8

Britain's battleship-calibre gunboats, number 343 in the New Vanguard series from Osprey. A 48-page soft-cover book, with artwork by Adam Tooby.
The big-gun monitors of the Royal Navy were not elegant, but designed for a specific role, which they did well. In the background at the start of the book we learn there were some 40 monitors in service with the Royal Navy in WW1, ranging from large to small, as the smaller ones were designed for use in rivers, up to the large gun monitors designed to undertake shore bombardment. Then the book goes on to take us through the design and specifications of the 2 large gun monitors that remained in service at the start of WW2, plus two more new build vessels that were deemed necessary. If you are not familiar with the monitors of the Royal Navy in WW2, they were broad beamed, shallow draught vessels, armed with twin large battleship calibre guns, such as 15in. Battleships themselves were in great demand for the fleet to face up to enemy naval units, and could not be spared for shore bombardment operations. In the book we hear about the two surviving monitors of the Erebus Class, Erebus itself and Terror. Then the two new vessels of the Roberts Class, Roberts and Abercrombie. The original designs and equipment, as well as the refits which changed the secondary armament and the updates made to their radar equipment. Then of course there are their service records in WW2, where they gave valiant support to operations in the Mediterranean. At the closing stages of the war, both Erebus and Roberts took part in Operation Infatuate, and bombarded Walcheran, and which was their final action of the war.
Never attracting the attention, or shall I say the 'glamour' of the big gunned battleship, these four 15in gun armed monitors gave valuable service in WW2. If you are unfamiliar with them and their operational use, then this informative little book in the New Vanguard series will I am sure make interesting reading for many. There are of course a good selection of archive photos of the ships, and the colour artwork to accompany the text is once again first class in my view.
Thanks to Osprey for the review copy.

Robin