Royal Navy Motor Gun Boat: 1942-45 (British Power Boat Company) * Insights into the design, construction, operation and restoration of MGB 81 - the 'Spitfire of the sea' (Owners' Workshop Manual)

Great book! Nice timing!

This book focuses on the restoration of MGB81, a 71' 6" MKV motor gunboat built by the British Power Boat Company. The text and photos combine period and contemporary coverage of the boat and her sisters and provides a wealth of information about both the type and the restoration process. It's a quite unique approach to history and well worth having in one's naval library.

Although their boats aren't as well known today as Vosper and Fairmile, largely by constantly being a thorn in the Admiralty's side, the British Power Boat Company built dozens of small, fast motor gunboats during World War Two. Thankfully, a few still exist today as houseboats, and one, MGB 81, has been restored to working order and its original WWII appearance.As is usual with Haynes, the book is divided roughly halfway between historical and technical material. Historically, we get an introduction that briefly overviews the development of motor gun/torpedo boats in the RN through 1942, a chapter on Coastal Forces gunboat actions during the war, and a fairly detailed blow-by-blow rundown of MGB 81's wartime career. Technically, we get chapters that describe the boat's internal arrangements and armament, building MGBs and preparing them for launching, operating MGB 81 in the present day, and how the boat was restored to its present condition after languishing as a houseboat for decades. While the wartime photographs are decent, the modern-day ones are excellent and sometimes spectacular. There's an entire series depicting the boat accelerating from a standstill to 35 knots, providing the best depiction of the planing action of the hard chine hull I've ever seen.Unfortunately, anyone expecting anything as detailed on a technical level as the works of John Lambert is going to be disappointed. Although it contains a few of his plans (exterior arrangements, hull lines, a couple of transverse sections, and basic deck plans), it can't hold a candle to his "Allied Coastal Forces" books or Fairmile D "anatomy." Most of the photographs and descriptions are of the boat as it appears today rather than it did during the war. Although BPB went under in 1946 and much archival material has been lost to time, I still hoped for more.Here's the thing, though: Even though it's far from definitive, I still enjoyed this book a great deal, even if, compared with some of the better Haynes naval titles, it's somewhat middle-of-the-road. However, it does a fine job introducing these boats to a new audience, giving some perspective on modern-day boat restoration, and describing some Coastal Force's major wartime actions. For that, I recommend it.

Idea for modelling details

Buena relación calidad precio. Tema muy específico,pero bien tratado e ilustrado.

Well illustrated with both historic and recent photographs and an informative text.

This is a fascinating book about a forgotten class of vessel that performed a vital service in World War 2. It deals with the hurried development of the MGB to guard against surface attacks on the UK's coastal convoys. A swift but heavily armed craft to combat the German S-Boats. The construction, technical details, deployment and service are all covered in detail and there are numerous photo's concerning all.The book devotes much of its length to the construction, operation and restoration of the remarkable MGB 81, a craft with an incredible story to tell. The MGBs were not in service for long and after the war they were scrapped or sold on, a section is devoted to what became of these vessels.For anybody interested in Naval history, WW2, boat design or the stories of the brave men who made up the crews this book is a must. The MGB was the Spitfire of the sea.

Well written book with many photographs of motor gun boats. Fascinating documentation for anyone interested in the subject