British Naval Weapons of World War Two, Volume III: Coastal Forces Weapons

By Norman Friedman

“Lambert was a drafter of no mean skill . . . his drawings are concise, clear, and invaluable to scratchbuilders and super-detailers. Very highly recommended!” —Nautical Research Journal

John Lambert was a renowned naval draftsman whose plans were highly valued for their accuracy and detail by modelmakers and enthusiasts. By the time of his death in 2016 he had produced over 850 sheets of drawings, many of which had never been published. Now they have become available in these remarkable collections, with expert commentary and captioning included.

The initial volumes concentrate on British naval weaponry used in the Second World War, thus completing the project Lambert was working on when he died. His interest was always focused on smaller warships and his weapons drawings tend to be of open mountings—the kind that present a real challenge to modelmakers—rather than enclosed turret guns, but he also produced drawings of torpedo tubes, underwater weapons, fire-control directors, and even some specific armament-related deck fittings. Following the earlier volumes on destroyer and escort armament, this one covers the multitude of weapons carried by Coastal Forces, many of which were improvised, ad hoc, or obsolescent, but eventually led to powerful purpose-designed weaponry. An appendix covering the main deck guns carried by British submarines of this era is included, along with an introductory essay by naval ordnance authority Norman Friedman and a selection of photos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781526777119

Book preview

BRITISH NAVAL

WEAPONS

OF WORLD WAR TWO

BRITISH NAVAL

WEAPONS OF

WORLD WAR TWO

THE JOHN LAMBERT COLLECTION

Volume III: Coastal Forces Weapons

Edited and

introduced by

NORMAN FRIEDMAN

Frontispiece: Twin Vickers Mk Vs in their barbettes on board MTBs. The outermost vessel, MTB 281, was a US-built Vosper boat. Note the depth charges, which were standard.

(All photographs John Lambert Collection unless otherwise credited)

Title page illustration: Vickers 0.303in GO machine gun on Mk VI mounting.

Copyright © Seaforth Publishing 2020

Introduction © Norman Friedman 2020

First published in Great Britain in 2020 by

Seaforth Publishing

An imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd

47 Church Street, Barnsley

S Yorkshire S70 2AS

www.seaforthpublishing.com

Email [e-mail]

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP data record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-5267-7710-2 (Hardback)

ISBN 978-1-5267-7711-9 (ePub)

ISBN 978-1-5267-7712-6 (Kindle)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing of both the copyright owner and the above publisher.

The right of Norman Friedman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Pen & Sword Books Limited incorporates the imprints of Atlas, Archaeology, Aviation, Discovery, Family History, Fiction, History, Maritime, Military, Military Classics, Politics, Select, Transport, True Crime, Air World, Frontline Publishing, Leo Cooper, Remember When, Seaforth Publishing, The Praetorian Press, Wharncliffe Local History, Wharncliffe Transport, Wharncliffe True Crime and White Owl.

Contents

Hugh John Lambert (1937–2016)

Publishers’ Note

INTRODUCTION by Norman Friedman

THE PLANS

Boats: B Series

B 1 70ft Coastal Motor Boat for minelaying, 1921

B 2 British Power Boat 60ft MTB 4 , 1937

B 3 Thornycroft 71ft 9in MTB 24 and 25 , 1938

B 4 Vosper 70ft MTB 57–66 , 1940

B 5 Vosper 60 ft MTB (for export); two became MTB 71 and 72 , 1940

B 6 Vosper 72ft 6in MTB 347–362 , 1942

B 7 Vosper 73ft Type I MTB 379–395 , 1942

B 8 Vosper 73ft Type II MTB 523–530 , 532 and 533 , 1943

B 9 British Power Boat 70ft MASB 50–67 , 1940

B 10 Camper & Nicholson 117ft MGB 502–509 , early 1943

B 11 Motor Vessels Gay Viking , Gay Corsair , Hopewell , Nonsuch and Master Standfast converted 1943 (later MGB 504–508 )

B 12 Steam Gun Boat SGB 9 (later Grey Goose ), 1941

B 13 Fairmile Type C Motor Gun Boat, 1940

B 14 Fairmile Type D MGB/MTB, 1941

B 15 British Power Boat 71ft 6in MGB 74–81 , 1940

B 16 British Power Boat 71ft 6in MGB 109 , as completed September 1942

B 17 British Power Boat 71ft 6in Motor Gun Boat, 1943 – as MTB 467 in April 1944

B 18 Fairmile Type B Motor Launch, 1939

B 19 Harbour Defence Motor Launch, 1940

Weapons: W series

Torpedoes

W 1 Torpedo discharge gear for Coastal Motor Boats of 40ft and 55ft, 1918

W 2 Coastal Forces 21in and 18in torpedoes and tubes, 1939–45

W 3 Installation of 18in tubes in 71ft 6in British Power Boat MGBs on conversion to MTB, 1944

W 4 Selection of British Power Boat torpedo tubes for various contracts

Guns

W 5 Vickers 0.303in GO No 5 Mk I gun, 1940

W 6 Boulton-Paul quadruple power-operated turret with 0.303in Browning machine guns

W 7 0.5in Vickers machine gun on twin Mk V (powered) mounting

W 8 Fitting twin 0.5in Mk V power-operated mounting on Vosper 70ft MTBs

W 9 Hydraulic power operation for Coastal Forces gun turrets

W 10 Armoured gun pump system in 71ft 6in British Power Boat MGBs

W 11 US Navy twin 0.50in calibre water cooled machine guns

W 12 Type BD Mk III 40mm (2pdr) Rolls-Royce gun on the Naval Mk XIV mounting, 1941–43

W 13 Twin 20mm Oerlikon guns on Mk IX lightweight and Mk 12A manual mountings

W 14 Lightweight twin 20mm mounting Mk ‘T’

W 15 General arrangement of the power-operated sight training turret, 1944

W 16 2pdr QF Mk IIC gun on Mk XV(P) power-operated mounting, 1942

W 17 2pdr Mk VIII gun on Mk XVI (powered) mounting, 1943

W 18 2pdr Mk XI and XII guns on Mk IX mounting, 1941

W 19 3pdr Hotchkiss gun on Mk I, I*, 50 o conversion, Mk V, VI and VI* mountings, 1942

W 20 6pdr Hotchkiss QF pedestal mounting Mk M of 1890

W 21 6pdr Hotchkiss QF gun on HA/LA Mk VI mounting, 1942

W 22 6pdr 7 cwt Mk II gun on Mk VII mounting, with auto-loader

W 23 4.5in 8 cwt gun on Mk I mounting, with rocket flare launcher

ASW and mine warfare weapons

W 24 ML, MGB and MTB arrangement of depth charge Teleflex control gear, 1943

W 25 Coastal Forces anti-submarine equipment and fittings

W 26 Depth charge thrower Mk III (USN ‘Y’ gun)

W 27 Coastal Forces minelaying equipment

Electronics and miscellaneous weapons

W 28 Coastal Forces Radar and IFF aerials

W 29 Armament and electronics detail of MGB 510

W 30 Miscellaneous Coastal Forces weapons

W 31 0.303in Hotchkiss light machine gun Mk I and I*, 1914–1945

W 32 9mm Lanchester machine carbine, 1941

Equipment: E Series

E 1 Underwater fittings, etc of British Power Boat craft, 1939

E 2 Steering gear and main fuel tanks in 71ft 6in British Power Boat MGBs, 1942

Appendix: S Series (submarine weapons)

S 1 4.7in QFSA 40-calibre gun on CP Mk XV (submarine) mounting, 1930

S 2 QF 4in Mk XII, XII* or XXII gun on 4in S1 (submarine) mounting

S 3 3in 20 cwt Mk I gun on CP Mk V (submarine) mounting, 1943

S 4 4in QF Mk XXIII gun on S2 (submarine) mounting

S 5 Mk VIII** 21in submarine torpedo, 1939–1983

Hugh John Lambert

(22 August 1937 – 11 January 2016)

Hugh John Lambert – Hugh to his family, but John to the world at large – was one of a generation of naval writers who were, in the strictest sense, amateurs, but who brought a new level of technical interest, deep personal enthusiasm, and, in John’s case, hands-on experience, that radically changed the way warships were described and understood.

John was trained as a technical draughtsman but showed an early interest in the sea, joining the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in order to ensure that his National Service would be in the Royal Navy. Called up in 1956, his engineering background made him a natural candidate for Stoker branch, and he enjoyed naval life so much he signed up for nine years’ service, during which time he became familiar with most of the machinery to be found in the warships of that era. Much of his time was spent in aircraft carriers – Theseus, Ocean, Albion and Bulwark – which took him around the world and into action at Suez and in the Far East.

He left the Navy as a Petty Officer in 1965 and joined the Metropolitan Police, but in his spare time slowly began a career as a writer on warship topics. Initially, these were short magazine pieces, usually accompanied by one of his own plans, but he soon acquired a following among ship modellers looking for detailed and reliable reference material. As evidence of this demand built up, he began to sell copies of his plans separately and from about 1976 started producing more elaborate drawings specifically for his plans service. By now his Police career was of secondary importance to him, and he regularly turned down promotion in order to have enough freedom to pursue his real interests. Nevertheless, he remained in the force for nearly twenty-five years before taking early retirement.

In the meantime, he continued to write regularly for magazines and periodicals like Model Boats, Airfix Magazine, Scale Models, Warship, Model Shipwright and Marine Modelling International, his output eventually totalling at least 350 articles. His particular obsession was always the smaller types, from destroyers downwards, and especially Coastal Forces, on which he became uniquely expert. Because of his interest in these largely ignored craft, he was forced to become an immensely diligent researcher, seeking out copies of plans, technical manuals, photos and data from obscure archives and any of the wartime builders and suppliers who remained in business at the time. He also tracked down individuals with first-hand knowledge, quizzing them about any and every elusive detail of the ship or weapons system he was working on. A combination of this painstaking research and highly professional draughtsmanship made his plans uniquely valuable.

It was inevitable that his expertise would attract publishing interest, and in 1984 he was commissioned to provide the line illustration for John Campbell’s Naval Weapons of World War Two. This began a fruitful partnership with Conway Maritime Press that led to John’s first book, The Fairmile D Motor Torpedo Boat in the publishers’ ‘Anatomy of the Ship’ series. This was released in 1985, followed in 1986 by another in the same series on The Submarine Alliance which he co-wrote with David Hill. He then launched into a broader and more ambitious multi-volume work, Allied Coastal Forces of World War II, with the US Navy material being supplied by Al Ross, a long-time