Chieftain Main Battle Tank: Development and Active Service from Prototype to MK.11 (Photosniper) - Hardcover

Griffin, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 8362878525 ISBN 13: 9788362878529

Publisher: Kagero, 2013

Synopsis

The career of Kaga, which started on the drawing boards of the design bureau as a battleship had capacity for swift development. The first studies on the preliminary design began in 1917 and during the calendar year several variants were developed. Individual solutions envisaged in the design were duly analyzed, and pieces of information systematically arriving from Europe, where the world war was raging, proved helpful in their verification. They had substantial contribution in development of the final design, which was completed in mid 1918 and its author was the designer Captain Yozuru Hiraga. Kaga was laid down on 19 July 1920 in the Kawasaki shipyard in Kobe and the complete hull was launched on 17 November 1921 and the construction was canceled a month later! The future of the ship was definitely endangered by the Washington Naval Treaty, which notabene stipulated the conversion of Kaga to a target ship. Another chance emerged after the earthquake which affected the Kanto region on 1 September 1923 and heavily damaged the hull of the battlecruiser Amagi. The repair was deemed pointless so it was decided to convert the battleship Kaga, work on which was on similar stage of advance, to a carrier in lieu of the destroyed Amagi. Completed as a carrier she participated in all major Japanese combat operations conducted during 1930 – 1942. Heavily damaged during the Battle of Midway it was sunk by the destroyer Hagikaze.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Griffin joined the British Army as a 17 year old Junior Leader and served for many years as an AFV crewman in the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards in BAOR, BATUS, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, the UK and Bosnia. He has written a number of books and articles on armoured vehicles of the Cold War period, including definitive works on the FV-214 Conqueror, Chieftain, Challenger 1 and FV432 and RAC in the Cold War (with Merlin Robinson). He lives at Hucclecote, Gloucestershire and is actively involved in the Army Cadet Force.

Review

This book is a work of love by someone who served on the vehicle, giving the whole book both the value of a research tome and first-person experience narration. IPMS (IPMS)

Edition details

• Publisher: Kagero
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 8362878525
• ISBN 13: 9788362878529
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 72