Robert A. Darlington

An interesting sidelight to Allied naval history is explored by this effort. Canada's navy was expanded wonderfully by their WWII effort, and this account is an interesting read. The three ships were a class of general purpose ships built for Canada's second railway, the Canadian National Railway. This was an ambitious answer to the difficulties of competing with the Privately owned Canadian Pacific Railway. In retrospect, it was not successful, and the CPR 's Princess Class Ships continued to hold pride of place, and make money. The CNR's ships did not.
The end of the 1930's saw a demand for any kind of vessel that could be used for a naval purpose, and these three ships were soon bought and repurposed. They were on the small side for Armed Merchant Cruisers, but they did poss a good turn of speed, and were capable of carrying their outfits of four 6" guns apiece. In this guise they patrolled and even captured several German freighters before the ships could be returned to germany to aid that country's raiding or supply efforts.
But then what? The AMCs in the RN were being torpedoed regularly by the U-boat service, and the seas had been swept of Axis commerce. In line with Allied plans, these ships were repurposed again, The HMCS Prince Robert was refitted to be an AA ship. mounting 10 4"AA guns, and became a spine for convoys in the Eastern Atlantic, and Mediterranean Theatres. Her sisters Prince Henry and Prince David, became Landing Ships Infantry, carrying ten Landing Craft each and participated in Overlord, and Dragoon, as well as smaller, later landings in the Aegean.
Their returns to civilian life are also covered.
Sadly, the book has flaws. A deck plan of the Class as AMCs would have been nice, and similar illustrations of their other configurations would have been of great value to the modeller. They are absent. The prose is not of high quality and there seems to be several sections where one finds repetitions of whole sentences appearing in several spots in the text.
Interesting, and informative, but not truly competent work.… (altro)

I never feel comfortable giving any book five our of five stars but frankly, this author has gone through so much to research the information within the covers of this book that he certainly deserves it.

For anyone who follows Canadian naval history, this book is a must have. I can see my copy becoming as warn and frayed as my Jane’s Fighting Ships from referring to it over and over again.

The anecdotes peppered throughout the pages are priceless and the historical information equally so.

I have no problem recommending this tomb to the amateur or serious naval historian.… (altro)