Konstam, Angus/Tooby, Adam Royal Navy Monitors of World War II. Britain's battleship-calibre gunboats

When the Second World War broke out, the Royal Navy had a sizeable fleet of battleships and battlecruisers. However, these formed the core of the battle fleets and were rarely free to fulfil an equally important mission - naval bombardment of targets ashore. In the first book to explore this subject, naval expert Angus Konstam explains how the Monitor, an unusual warship used extensively in the First World War, found a new purpose. Although neither fast nor particularly well protected, the Monitors had a fearsome armament - two 15-inch guns of the same calibre as many British battleships. The monitors were designed to exceed the range of coastal batteries and could provide flexible, lethal fire support to Allied forces ashore. The World War I-era Erebus and Terror were refitted and sent to war, while a new class, the Roberts class, was added in 1941 and 1943. These warships were deployed with the Eastern Fleet and were particularly useful in the Mediterranean, from supporting the campaign in North Africa to providing air defence on the besieged islands of Malta and Crete. They then took part in the Allied landings from Sicily to Normandy. Illustrated with profiles, battle scenes and a cutaway model of the 'Roberts', this book also explains how naval artillery fire support was carried out during the war.