Bru Ships Episode 2b: Book Reviews/Q&A

No. HMS Queen Elizabeth is preferred because her notable service receives less recognition than Warspite's.

The Blackburn Buccaneer receives an unqualified endorsement as a very good jet strike aircraft.

Liquid-cooled engines offered greater power and efficiency, and single-engine carrier aircraft made high output per engine especially important to the Royal Navy.

The Daring class is preferred for how the ships worked and operated.

Yes, broadly speaking they did.

No. Several First Lords were substantially worse.

Very well, particularly with President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt's naval histories are recommended as carefully reasoned and worth reading.

No. It was a critical reassurance to the Royal Navy that it had an experienced advocate back in charge.

Probably not much; the Navy would still prepare for submarine warfare and retain suitable escorts even if construction were formally restricted.

It could have fielded more Swordfish and added Fulmar rocket attacks, making the strike still more damaging.

They would accompany the Americans and provide air support for landings, particularly as larger fleet carriers rotated away.

HMS Furious is the personal choice, though she is not claimed to be the best design.

Yes if enough were available, because common aircraft would simplify logistics; in practice Britain could not obtain sufficient numbers.

They were largely different names for the same technology, although individual variants had different capabilities and evolved over time.

The invasion would require a large Commonwealth contingent, Soviet participation, and later follow-on waves beyond the first landing.

Historians can infer informal ship-design decisions without letting a single document dictate the whole story.

Blockade alone was unlikely to force a quick surrender because Japan's economy was already wrecked. Limited landings could seize ports from which to tighten the siege.

The 100,000 figure was a genuine estimate. In this interpretation, severe early fighting, Soviet entry, and intervention involving the emperor could end the campaign before 90 days.

They were limited against armor but useful against exposed equipment and crews, and they could distract defenses during a mixed attack.

Much better off if enough F-35Bs were available, because Argentina would have no comparable capability to match them.

The late-war British naval presence helped rebuild Australian confidence in the Royal Navy while straining local support capacity.

Yes, if Allied landing craft carried them after ports had been secured and the initial lodgment could be supplied by merchant ships.

Army dominance was already largely in place by 1940-41, but its China-focused leadership was poorly suited to directing a global war.

Occupying Hawaii could have forced the United States to retake the islands before advancing farther across the Pacific.

Not strategically, but they could accept northern Soviet landings to reduce Western casualties and create additional fronts.

Yes. The concessions were substantial and, in hindsight, regrettable.

They could largely be bypassed and isolated through island-hopping because they had nowhere useful to go.

Army and Navy ministers could bring down Japanese governments by resigning, giving the services disproportionate political leverage.

Demand for low-background steel has encouraged destructive and unlawful salvage of wartime wrecks.

Yes, and the 2020 assessment sees it becoming more than a regional navy.

They were a much more developed application of lessons learned from Gallipoli rather than an entirely new concept.

Authoritarian command systems can punish truthful reporting, allowing bad information to survive despite intelligent senior officers.

Japan, Australia, and South Korea would matter, while Vietnam would be especially valuable in littoral and inshore waters.

It had a very good capability, but not a uniquely superior one; the Royal Navy and US Navy were also proficient.

The Fighting Tenth's multinational destroyers protected the western approaches to the Normandy invasion.

She is the only Royal Navy survivor, while HMCS Haida survives from the Royal Canadian Navy.