My collection of naval books

My recent blog post about my collection of WARSHIP annuals and some of the other naval books that I own sparked some interest in my collection of naval books ... so I took some photographs of the relevant bookshelves in my toy/wargame room.

These shelves carry many reference books that I could not do without, including:

• Thirteen volumes from Conway's ANATOMY OF THE SHIP series.
• John Jordan's WARSHIPS AFTER WASHINGTON and WARSHIPS AFTER LONDON.
• Three volumes of David K Brown's THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF BRITISH WARSHIPS.
• NAVAL WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR ONE (by Norman Friedman) and NAVAL WEAPONS OF WORLD WAR TWO (by John and N J M Campbell).
• Both volumes of Eric Gröner's and Peter Mickel's GERMAN WARSHIPS 1815-1945.
• Norman Friedman's US BATTLESHIPS, US AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, US CRUISERS, and US DESTROYERS.
• Dr Oscar Parke's BRITISH BATTLESHIPS and BRITISH DESTROYERS.
• David K Brown's WARRIOR TO DREADNOUGHT, THE GRAND FLEET, and RODNEY TO VANGUARD.
• The three volumes of WARSHIPS OF THE SOVIET FLEETS 1939-1945 by Przemyslaw Budzbon, Jan Radziemski, and Marek Twardowski.
• OTTOMAN STEAM NAVY 1828-1923 by Bernd Langensiepen.

• R A Burt's BRITISH BATTELSHIPS 1889-1904, BRITISH BATTLESHIPS OF WORLD WAR ONE, and BRITISH BATTLESHIPS 1919-1945.
• JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS 1969-70.
• Norman Friedman's US NAVAL WEAPONS.
• The four volumes of CONWAY'S ALL THE WORLD'S FIGHTING SHIPS (1860-1905, 1906-1921, 1922-1946, and 1947-1995).

• Twelve volumes of small naval reference books published by Ian Allan.

• Norman Friedman's BRITISH BATTLESHIPS OF THE VICTORIAN ERA and BRITISH CRUISERS OF THE VICTORIAN ERA.
• Two more naval reference books published by Ian Allan.
• THE WINDFALL BATTLESHIPS by Aidan Dodson.

I also have numerous Osprey paperback books that deal with naval topics, most of which seem to have been written by Angus Konstam:

• WARSHIPS OF THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC 1879-83: SOUTH AMERICA'S IRONCLAD NAVAL CAMPAIGN.
• BRITISH GUNBOATS OF VICTORIA'S EMPIRE.
• WARSHIP OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR.
• EUROPEAN IRONCLADS 1860-75.
• BRITISH IRONCLADS 1860-75.
• NILE RIVER GUNBOATS 1882-1918.
• GUNBOATS OF WORLD WAR 1.
• SOUTH AMERICAN BATTLESHIPS 1908-59 (by Mark Lardas).
• OTTOMAN NAVY WARSHIPS 1914-18 (by Ryan K Noppen).
• KRIEGSMARINE COASTAL FORCES (by Gordon Williamson).

I also discovered (in a separate cupboard) three further volume's of JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS for 1914, 1944-45, and 1950-51.

Arithmetic on the Frontier: A poem by Rudyard Kipling

The title of John Sly's article in the recently published issue of SOLDIERS OF THE QUEEN made me re-read Kipling's poem, the text of which follows.

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A great and glorious thing it is
To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
Ere reckoned fit to face the foe—
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
Comprised in "villainous saltpetre".
And after?—Ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station—
A canter down some dark defile—
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail—
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

No proposition Euclid wrote
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's downward blow.
Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can—
The odds are on the cheaper man.

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem.
The troopships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap, alas! as we are dear.

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This poem was published in 1886 and yet it still has a resonance today. The recent war in Afghanistan may now be over, and the bullet would probably now come from a Kalashnikov rather than a jezail, but the essence of the poem remains true. It reminds us that the complexities of what is in effect modern colonial warfare requires local knowledge and an ability to adapt in the light of practical experience rather than relying on a textbook approach that overvaules overwhelming firepower and sophisticated and expensive technology.

Soldiers of the Queen (SOTQ) Issue 194

The latest issue of the Victorian Military Society's SOTQ (Soldiers of the Queen) was delivered on Saturday, and I have spent some of the time since reading each of the articles in it.

The articles included in this issue are:

• The Army and the Periodic Press by Prof Ian F W Beckett
• A Soldier of the Queen and the Imperial Tour of India 1875-1876 by David Howell
• Commissions by the Back Door by Dr Roger Salmon
• 'Arithmetic on the Frontier' by John Sly
• Book Reviews by Andy Smith
• Obituary: Meurig Giles Morgan Jones by Dan Allen
• Officers of the Victorian Military Society
• Myth and Reality: Military Art in the Age of Queen Victoria Tuesday 1st July 2025 to Sunday 1st November 2026 at the National Army Museum.

Another excellent collection of articles, and it is very difficult to select a single one as being more interesting that another. That said, I can see myself returning to and re-reading both Professor Beckett's article about the Army and the press and Dr Salmon's article about the commissioning of officers via the back door.

The annual cost of membership of the Victorian Military Society is:

• UK: £30.00
• Overseas: £40.00 [except for Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore: £43.00])

My opinion remains that this magazine and the membership of the Victorian Military Society is well worth the cost of the annual subscription.

Hannay

Until I reached my teen years, I really wasn't one for reading fiction. Then, thanks to a Canadian-born English teacher, I 'discovered' C S Forester, and I began to appreciate a good story in book format!

(By the way, the book that he made us read was THE SHIP, which was Forester's fictionalised account of the Battle of Sirte, and which featured as its main characters the crew of the cruiser HMS Artemis.)

I happened to mention my enjoyment of Forester's books to a librarian ... and they suggested that I ought to try several other authors, including Rudyard Kipling and John Buchan. I followed this advice ... and I was soon hooked! In particular, I enjoyed the latter author's stories that featured Richard Hannay, later Major-General Sir Richard Hannay KCB DSO OBE and his cronies:

• Mary Lamington, later Lady Mary Hannay
• Ludovic 'Sandy' Gustavus Arbuthnot, later 16th Lord Clanroyden
• Barbara, Lady Clanroyden
• Sir Archie Roylance
• Janet, Lady Roylance
• John Scantlebury Blenkiron
• Peter Pienaar

I began with THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS, which I had seen on film in two versions:

• Alfred Hitchcocks 1935 version, which starred Robert Donat.
• Ralph Thomas' 1959 version, which starred Kenneth More.

However, the film version of the story that - in my opinion - keeps closest to the original story, is the 1978 version, which starred Robert Powell.

Robert Powell as Richard Hannay.

Not only that, but it proved so popular that it resulted in a spin-off television series that was simply named Hannay.

By coincidence, the latter is currently being televised by the Talking Pictures TV Freeview channel, and I have been watching them. There are two series and the episodes are as follows:

• Series 1
• The Fellowship of the Black Stone
• A Point of Honour 
• Voyage into Fear
• Death With Due Notice
• Act of Riot
• The Hazard of the Die
• Series 2
• Coup de Grace
• The Terrors of the Earth
• Double Jeopardy
• The Good Samaritan
• That Rough Music
• The Confidence Man
• Say The Bells of Shoreditch

The stories are not based on anything written by John Buchan, but they are very much in their mould, and are set in the period immediately before the outbreak of the Great War. (i.e. the Belle Époque). There is one recurring villain in both series, Count Von Schwabing, who is played with great gusto by Gavin Richards ... who is probably better known for the role of Captain Alberto Bertorelli in the Second World War comedy, 'ALLO, 'ALLO.

Desperta Ferro: A further video review

Further to my blog post review of the back issues of the Spanish-language military history DESPERTA FERRO that I bought online from their website, I have now produced a video version of that review.

It can be seen here.

My father's one hundredth birthday

If he had still been alive, today would have been my father's one-hundredth birthday.

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George Cyril Cordery was the eleventh child of Frederick Thomas Cordery and Eleanor Cordery (née Kemp) and was born on Monday 17th May 1926. This was five days after the end of the General Strike, a strike that his father was actively involved in as one of the leaders of the West Ham tram drivers.

The earliest known photograph of my father.

He passed his 11+ exam and attended what later became Stratford Grammar School, but his education was interrupted when the building was damaged by bombing during the London Blitz. He left school and began working as a clerk during the day and as a member of the Home Guard (and later the National Fire Service) during the evening and at weekends. (He and his brother Stanley joined the Home Guard in 1940, but George was kicked out when they discovered that he was only fourteen! He then joined the National Fire Service who seemed to be less worried about his age.)

My father as a young man.

He was called up for National Service when he was 18, and after initial training at the Durham Light Infantry Depot in Durham, he was sent to Woolwich for further training with the Royal Artillery. When they realised that he had studied trigonometry at school, he was trained as a battery surveyor and joined the Forward Observation Troop attached to the 53rd (Worcester Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment, Royal Artillery. The regiment formed part of the 6th Airborne Division and he therefore took part in the Ardennes counter-offensive, the crossing of the Rhine (Operation Varsity), and the drive across Germany that ended up in Wismar on the coast of the Baltic.

My father in uniform. It is thought that this was taken just before he was posted to Burma.

My father at the Operation Varsity anniversary event at the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich. He was immensely proud of having served with the 6th Airborne Division.

Post-war, the 6th Airborne Division was sent Palestine, but rather than go to the Middle East, George was posted to Burma as part of the British Training Mission to Burma. There he became part of the team  tasked with training the Chin Hills Battalion to become the Burmese Army's anti-tank battalion.

During his time in Burma he was also involved in combatting dacoits (armed robbers) who were plaguing the border area with India as well as protecting the family of the assassinated leader of Burma, Aung San. He was also in Calcutta during the pre-independence riots, and took part in the armed suppression of those riots.

He returned home and was demobbed ... and very soon afterwards he married Kathleen Eva Jackson (my mother).

My mother and father on their wedding day.

Between 1950 and 1962 they had three children; myself, my younger brother, and our younger sister. They spent their first few years of married life in Sydenham and then Kenton before buying their forever home in Corbets Tey, Upminster in 1958.

He returned to office work, and trained to become a bookkeeper and later an accountant. After working for a large property company, his brother Charles suggested that he move over to the Alliance Assurance, an insurance company. Over the years this company became the Sun Alliance, the Sun Alliance & London, and then the Royal & Sun Alliance Group, and by the time of his retirement in 1990, he was a senior management accountant.

My mother and father at a family wedding.

Throughout his life, he was a keen supporter of West Ham United Football Club, and for many years he worked as a matchday stile man serving the North Bank of the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park. He was also a very keen gardener – something that he had learned from his father – and particularly enjoyed growing vegetables.

My mother and father in our conservatory. This was taken at New Year 2000.

My father during a visit to Marcus Street in the East End. He lived there whilst he was a child.

My father in the care home where he spent the last years of his life.

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I think that every member of my family – his children, his grandchildren, and his great grandchildren – wish that both my mother and father were alive today to celebrate his one hundredth birthday.

We dearly miss them.

Thirteen million hits!

I almost missed the fact that the number of hits achieved by my blog had passed yet another milestone.

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13,000,000 hits!

The AI bots seem to have been at it again … and earlier today my blog achieved thirteen million hits!

• Twelve million hits: 10th April 2026
• Eleven million hits: 3rd March 2026
• Ten million hits: 3rd February 2026
• Nine million hits: 16th December 2025
• Eight million hits: 4th October 2025
• Seven million hits: 26th July 2025
• Six million hits: 6th September 2024
• Five million hits: 20th January 2024
• Four million hits: 8th November 2021
• Three million hits: 6th December 2018
• Two million hits: Unsure
• One million hits: 25th December 2015

Yet again, I would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to my regular blog readers. I know that not all the hits are down to AI bots and that you are continuing to read and comment on my blog … and long may you continue to do so!

The Timeless Traveller: This week's update

This is my take on what took place this week ... and if you think that because we went back twenty-four hours, things will repeat themselves, then you are in for a big surprise!

So, the group resumed their place in the queue to board Thinkertop’s ship.

This time, everyone ignored Elandra, even though she was immediately in front of the group and was bubbling with enthusiasm to get aboard. As we reached the shoreside end of the gangway, Mankare (the Shadowmancer) noticed a man in a hood at the top of it. He immediately put his hand into Elantra’s shadow, pulled out one of his spirit entities to pursue the man as he disappeared inside. Unfortunately, it lost him.

Bumble (the Stormshifter) attempted to fly aboard in the guise of a bird, but as he approached the side of the ship, an invisible force field stopped him and a giant hand appeared above him and indicated that he was a magic user!

Our party eventually reached the top of the gangway, and after being greeted by Thinkertop’s assistant, Nordian (the head of the ship's security team) – who did not acknowledge Ragnar (the Berserker) on this occasion – made everyone hand over their weapons and the magic users to put on the magic-cancelling bracelets.

As this was happening, a commotion broke out when someone just ahead of us refused to hand over their weapons and were thrown overboard by two of the guards. Whilst this was happening, Munch (the Songweaver) noticed a small man dip his hand into the chest everyone was having to put their weapons and other possessions into … and then disappear into the gloom. Munch identified him as Umber, the halfling hustler who claims to be able to get hold of anything that you want.

Once aboard, Vale (the Shepherd) asked a servant to provide him with a live chicken. This was done, and the bird was immediately named Tofu. Munch then asked a servant for assistance in helping Umber … but this request was politely declined although they did agree to pass on a message that Munch wanted to meet with Umber.

Mankare asked the portal to take us all to where the Silamane twins were, and we were transported to the ship’s Great Hall. The twins were surrounded by people and – with the exception on Munch and Bumble – we joined the group.

Munch had seen a Umber in the corner of the hall and he and Bumble approached him. He was very evasive, but did eventually allude to his possession of a potion that could enable the user to override the bracelets for fifteen minutes … but the price as huge and he refused to indulge in a wager with Munch for it. He did – however – intimate that he would swop the potion for the recipe for Cockatrice in mushroom sauce ... and he also sold Bumble a 50’ rope!

Munch and Bumble 'negotiate' with Umber.

Whilst this was happening, Mankare began speaking to the twins about a life-changing situation they were about to find themselves in. They followed him to one side of the room, and protected by Ragnar, Vale, and Callistra (the Hunter), he disclosed that we had knowledge of the future … and that one of them was going to die during a robbery that was intended to steal one of the amulets that one of them wore.

The twins were stupefied by this information and did not believe what they had been told until Vale showed them the amulet he had taken from Thinkertop’s body. Callistra also intervened and tried to convince the twins that everything that they had been told was true.

Mankare explained that the twins’ amulet was a necessary part of a ritual that was going to be used to summon a titanic demon, and in support of this, Vale described how he had been possessed by the cult’s magic and that he had seen a priestess summon the titanic demon using a book and a dagger. Mankare then asked to touch the amulet, which – true to its function – told the twins that they had been told the truth. Callistra then asked the amulet to tell the group if Thinkertop would help us to stop what might happen … but its answer was undefinable.

Mankare explains what will happen if the group cannot stop it.

She then invited the twins to accompany the group to meet Thinkertop, and they agreed. Callistra then told them about the Hooded Men, and warned them to be alert. The twins became somewhat agitated by this, but when they were told about singing in the garden to the wisps, they began to calm down.

By his time, Bumble had decided to go to Elandra’s room. Once there, he told her that she was in danger and that she needed to collect all her things and to come with him to his room. She began to panic, and in the hope that he can calm her, he told her that he is from the future and what had happened. Elandra protested, and wanted to call the guards to protect her, but Bumble told her that they were useless. Eventually he persuaded he returned to the ship’s Great Hall.

Munch planned to go to the kitchen to get hold of the recipe for the forthcoming special meal that Thinkertop had planned, but before he did so, he told everyone about the potion that will disable the bracelets and that he had used an ability he has to enter Nordian’s mind to ‘see’ an important event from his life … and disclosed that Nordian once led a mission to kill an enemy force and was the only survivor, and that he had feelings of guilt that he led his men to their deaths.

Nordian remembers.

The group decided that:

1. Munch and Johnny-Baptiste (the Cheat) should visit Nordian to tell him about what was going to happen so that everyone could get their weapons back and the bracelets removed.
2. Callistra, Mankare, and Vale should accompany the twins to see Thinkertop.
3. Ragnar would help Bumble to protect Elandra.
4. Everyone would meet up in Bumble’s room in an hour’s time.

Munch and Johnny-Baptiste went to see Nordian, and after passing through the guarded door into the barracks, they told him that there was a group of hooded cultists aboard who were going to try to animate a dormant titanic demon. When they were asked how they knew this, they explained what had happened previously, but Nordian did not believe them and kept them in one of the cells. He did – however – ask to see Ragnar, who he knew would be truthful.

Callistra, Mankare, Vale, and the twins waited in the ship’s Great Hall for Thinkertop, and when he appeared to announce the special dinner he had planned, they managed to speak to him … and after Thinkertop spotted the amulet Vale had, he agreed to see them in his room in fifteen minutes.

Ragnar was accompanying Bumble to Elandra’s room when a guard asked him to go to see Nordian at the barracks. He reluctantly agreed, and when he got there, Nordian asked him what he knew … and upon hearing Ragnar’s version of events, Nordian seized one of the guards and commanded him to open his tunic and show his chest. Another guard attempted to avoid being asked to do the same, but Ragnar grabbed him and restrained him.

Ragnar tells Nordian that Vale and Johnny-Baptiste are telling the truth about what is going to happen if the group don't stop it.

On his own, Bumble arrived outside Elandra’s room, only to find four Hooded Men outside, attempting to get in. Hearing screams from inside, Bumble summoned servants to help him …

Bumble confronts four Hooded Men outside Elandra's room.

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Unfortunately, I am going to miss next week's session ... but I look forward to finding out what happens!

Warship Annual ... and other naval books in my collection

As can be seen from this photograph ...

... I have been buying WARSHIP ever since it was first published nearly fifty years ago!

For the first twelve years, it was published as a quarterly in softback format but then moved over to being produced as a hardback annual. Luckily, I was able to buy bound copies of the first twelve year's issues, so I now have a shelf and a third full of these invaluable reference books.

I am guess that several sure sighted blog readers will also have noticed that I have well-thumbed copies of the reprints of JANE'S FIGHTING SHIPS for 1898, 1905-06, 1906-07, 1919, 1924, and 1931 as well as a reprint of JANE'S ALL THE WORLD'S AIRCRAFT for 1913. There are also several other books by Fred Jane (THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN NAVY, THE IMPERIAL JAPANESE NAVY, and THE BRITISH BATTLE-FLEET) as well as a copy of his biography.

These books represent about a third of my naval book collection ... which probably gives you some idea about how strong my interest in the subject is!

Warship 2026

Every May I look forward to receiving my annual copy of WARSHIP … and this year's issue was delivered on Sunday.

This issue was edited by John Jordan, and contains the following articles:

• Editorial
• The High-Speed Destroyers of the Novik Type: Part I by Przemyslaw Budzbon
• Royal Navy Fleet Carriers: Second World War Damage by Robert Brown
• The Reconstruction of the Battlefleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy between the wars: Part II by Hans Lengerer
• The development of Torpedo Boats in the Imperial German Navy (Part II) by Dirk Nottelmann
• The Allies' Emergency Escort Programmes of Summer 1942 by Nigel Whybrow
• The French 450-tonne Destroyers by John Jordan
• Royal Danish Navy Vig Class Inshore Minesweepers by Lars Jordt
• 'Sea-Stained Priceless Documents': The Capture of Magdeburg's Codebooks by Stephen McLaughlin
• The Cadet Training Ships of the Royal Navy by Aidan Dodson
• The Italian Aircraft Carrier Falco/Sparviero 1942-43: The Real Story by Enrico Cernuschi
• Warship Notes
• The French Navy's Twin 203mm Turrets Mle 1924 and 1931 by John Jordan
• The Paknam Forts by Ian Sturton
• Russians on the Clyde by Kenneth Fraser and Stephen McLaughlin
• A's and A's
• Naval Books of the Year
• Warship Gallery
• The Danish Coastal Defence Ship Skjold by Tom Wismann

Wow! There's not a single article that doesn't have something to interest me. The ones that stand out for me are:

• Hans Lengerer's article about the reconstruction of the Japanese battlefleet ... because it covers the Fuso, my favourite Japanese battleship.
• Enrico Cernuschi's article about the Italian aircraft carrier Falco/Sparviero ... because I once saw a model of what she might have looked like.
• Ian Sturton's article about the French attack on the Paknam Forts that were situated on the Chao Phraya river in Siam ... a little-known colonial battle.
• Tom Wismann's illustrated article about the Danish Coastal Defence Ship Skjold.

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WARSHIP 2026 was edited by John Jordan, assisted by Stephen Dent, and published in 2026 by Osprey Publishing (ISBN 978 1 4728 7259 3).