DIARY OF A WARTIME NAVAL CONSTRUCTOR

BUXTON, IAN

ISBN 10: 1399082701 / ISBN 13: 9781399082709

Published by Naval Institute Press, 2022

About this Item

Seller Inventory # NW9781399082709

Bibliographic Details

• Title: DIARY OF A WARTIME NAVAL CONSTRUCTOR
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1399082701
• ISBN 13: 9781399082709
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: NEW

About this title

Synopsis

One of the most significant warship designers of the twentieth century, Sir Stanley Goodall rose through the ranks of the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors to become its head in 1936. The Corps was responsible for every aspect of the design and construction of British warships, and its head, the Director of Naval Construction, was the principal technical advisor to the Board of Admiralty. Although Goodall was succeeded in this post in January 1944, he remained the Assistant Controller Warship Production until October 1945 so was the single most influential figure in British naval technical matters during the war years. Goodall‘s private diary was never intended for publication – indeed it seems to have been a vehicle for venting some of his professional frustrations – so his opinions are candid and unrestrained. His criticisms of many in the Admiralty and the shipyards are enlightening and the diary provides new and unique insights into a wartime construction program that built almost a thousand major warships and a myriad of landing craft and coastal forces. Dr. Ian Buxton, a well-known authority on British shipbuilding, has edited the entries covering Goodall‘s war years, identifying the various personalities and ships referred to (sometimes cryptically), while setting out the context in several introductory essays. As an insider‘s view of a complex process, this book offers every warship enthusiast much new material and a novel perspective on a familiar subject.

About the Author

Ian Buxton is a naval architect with a lifetime’s experience in the shipbuilding industry and, latterly, in higher education at the University of Newcastle. He is best known for Big Gun Monitors reprinted by the Naval Institute Press in 2008. He also co-authored The Battleship Builders with Ian Johnston, and most recently this partnership produced Battleship Duke of York published in 2021.