Fletcher, Stephen/Rose, Diggory Royal Navy Motor Gun Boat. 1942-45 (British Power Boat Company). Owners' Workshop Manual. Insights into the design, construction, operation and restoration MGB 81 - the "Spitfire of the seas"

During the Second World War, the Royal Navy's flotillas of small, fast and powerfully armed motor gun boats (MGBs) were looked upon as the "Spitfires of the Seas". Operating from their harbour bases around the south and east coasts of England, Royal Navy Coastal Forces crews would set out under cover of darkness to look for trouble with German shipping in the Channel and the North Sea. The vicious close-quarter skirmishes that ensued were every bit as deadly as the aerial dogfights acted out at 30,000 ft by their RAF "Spitfire" contemporaries. Written by the curator of MGB 81, with contributions from other specialists involved with the boat, the "Royal Navy Motor Gun Boat Owners' Workshop Manual" is published in association with the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and fully illustrated with archive photos, technical drawings and detailed photography of MGB 81.

The hand-to-hand battles between the British motor gunboats and German ships that developed in the course of these operations were just as fierce and deadly as the aerial battles between the Royal Air Force and Luftwaffe aircraft in the sky. The book, written by the curator of Motor Gunboat 81, was published in co-operation with the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust. It contains a large number of contemporary photographs as well as detailed, up-to-date images of the still existing Motor Gunboat 81 (MGB 81).