Fictional Warships - Novels

There's been a small update to Post #864 to identify in which Dale Brown novel the retconning needed to link the novel 'Silver Tower' (1988) to the main line of the authors fiction took place.

Graham1973 said:

Did [Herbert's Under Pressure] contain any specifications for the ship contained within?

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Dive depth on the order of 8,000ft (boat dives to ~7900ft in story, though that may exceed test depth), oddly enough the reactor compartment is in the bow.
All torpedoes stored externally.
I believe only one hull penetration, the bridge access trunk. The propeller is powered inductively.
A crew of 4.

Less an attack sub than an armed towboat.

A small update, Post #950 covering the J. E. MacDonnell novel 'Eagles Over Taranto' has been updated with a recently discovered cover to the 1963 reprinting of the novel.

Anon., No Quarter, published as War Picture Library, Nº. 15, 1959

United Kingdom

HMS Culverley
Hunt Class (Type IV (Modified)) Destroyer
Details as per the real ships.
Armament has been fictionally modified. Main battery is 6 x 4.7inch guns in twin mounts rather than 6 x 4inch guns in twin mounts.
Note: Class identity determined with the help of Hood, based on the illustrations. The Type IV Hunt Class Destroyers were a pair of ships built to a private venture design by Thornycroft, pictures of those ships were presumably used by the artist to create the ship. Hood has confirmed that the name does fit the overall Hunt Class Destroyer naming scheme.

Japan

Various unnamed warships including a Hosho Class Aircraft Carrier.

Plot summary: The year is 1941 A team of specialists, sent to Hong Kong to oversee the setting up of a radar installation find themselves caught up in the Japanese offensive that started after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Chased from pillar to post they and their escort find themselves trapped on a small island along with the crews of two crippled ships. As a small boat heads off to arrange a rescue those left behind hurriedly improvise fortifications in the hope that they can hold off the Japanese until help can arrive or at the very least give them a bloody nose before the end.

Note: The stories climactic action was probably inspired by either the US defence of Wake Island, or possibly something that happened during the Napoleonic Wars. Between 1803 and 1805 the Royal Navy occupied Rocher du Diamant, a small basalt island off the coast of Martinique, commissioned as HMS Diamond Rock. This position was a thorn in the side of the French on Martinique until it was recaptured by Admiral Villeneuve in his only successful combat action and the artwork used for the island the characters find themselves on has a slight resemblance to Rocher du Diamant.

Mary Chapman, Danger Money, 2007

Admiral (ex-Victoria)
Q-Ship (Armed Fishing Smack)
Armament: (As Admiral) 1 x 13pdr gun (Concealed), other armament not specified. Armament: (As Victoria) 1 x 5pdr gun (Concealed), other armament not specified.
No other specifics given.

Summary: For Bob Thompson, taking a position on an armed fishing boat was 'easy money', but when push came to shove, would he prove worthy of earning it.

Note: This was published as part of a Young Adult fiction series entitled 'Shades 2.0', the authors note indicate that during the WW1 the RN fitted concealed armament to a number of fishing boats, what she does not make clear in the story is if they were commissioned into the RN, she also has a character claim that the names of these fishing boats were changed from time to time to confuse the Germans.

Tim Chant, Vengeance In The Falklands (Marcus Baxter: 5), 2025

United Kingdom

HMS Astute
Active Class Scout Cruiser
Details as per the real ships
Note: Author refers to the ship as a member of the 'Fearless Class' in the endpapers. HMS Fearless was the third member of the Active Class.

Germany (WWI)

SMS Kassel
Koenigsberg (WWI) Class Cruiser
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Explicitly identified as being of this class by the author in the novels endpapers. The ship is sunk by HMS Astute during the Battle of the Falkland Islands.

SMS Ludovic (ex-SS Ludovic aka SS San Francisco)
Armed Merchant Cruiser
Engines: Quadruple Expansion Steam.
Speed: 22knots (Max)
No other specific details provided.
Note: Conversion is incomplete. The crew has been sworn into naval service but the armament has not been fitted. Currently acting as a covert supply ship for the East Asia Squadron for it's anticipated breakout into the Atlantic. The ship is captured by members of the Astute's crew while coaling in Montevideo.

Plote summary: The year is 1914, the Battle of Coronel was the RNs first defeat in over a century, this cannot be allowed to stand. As a powerful squadron heads into the South Atlantic, a newly comissioned light cruiser is sent across the Atlantic carrying important messages for Britains representatives in South America

Notes: This is the fifth in a currently five book series featuring an RN officer who's path has been entwined with Naval Intelligence since the Russo-Japanese war. The author does a nice job slotting his plotline into the 'gaps' in the 1914 Falklands Naval campaign.

An update has been made to the entry for the J. E. MacDonnell novel 'Escort Ship' (1960) (Post #1200). A better quality version of the footage shot of the sinking of the USS Edsall (DD-219) has been added to the entry.

An update has been made to the entry for the 'J. E. MacDonnell' novel 'Repel Boarders' (1963) (Post #158) to incorporate the rather odd cover created for it as part of the Piccadilly Publishing 'Blue Cover' reprint series.

It lived On, Comics as Nautilus
Aquaman Vol 8.

Irving A. Greenfield, Rush To Judgement, 1995

United States ('Present Day' (e.g. 1995))

USS Utah (BB-64)
Iowa Class Battleship
Details as per the real ships
Note: The pennant is that of the fourth member of the Iowa Class USS Wisconsin. The name given to the ship is that of a Florida Class Dreadnought that was converted to a target ship and sunk at Pearl Harbor and not subsequently salvaged. The name was not revived until it was used for a Virginia Class submarine in the 2000's. The novel is inconsistent with the pennant number giving it as BB-64 initially and then changing it to BB-46 later.

USS Normandy
'Heavy Cruiser', class not specified
No other details provided.
Note: Name clash with the Ticonderoga Class Cruiser of the same name. Mentioned in a characters backstory so it is unlikely to be that ship.

Japan (WWII)

HIJMS Yamamoto
Yamato Class Battleship
Details as per the real ships
Note: Given the context in which it's mentioned (A collection of warship models.) it's probably meant to be Yamato herself. In any case the Japanese named their battleships after historic provinces, not naval personalities.

Plot summary: An explosion has occurred on a re-activated US Battleship, the inquiry into the event starts to lead in disturbing directions.

Note: This novel is very loosely based on the USS Iowa explosion and subsequent inquiry and the controversial conclusions it came to, the story adds drug smuggling into the mix, it's also very poorly edited.

Vincent Formosa, No Way Back, 2023

Norway

HNoMS Drammen
'Destroyer' class not specified.
No other details provided

United Kingdom

HMS Achillia
Flower Class Corvette
Built: 1940 (Author does not make it clear if this was launched in that year or commissioned in that year)
Details as per the real ships
Note: Explicitly identified as a Flower Class Corvette by the author. The name is the feminine form of Achilles and would thus not fit the class naming scheme.

HMS Eucharis
Flower Class Corvette
Details as per the real ships
Note: Class determined by name only. The name in question was that given to the family of Amazonian Lilies now known as Urceolina.

HMS Quince
Flower Class Corvette
Details as per the real ships
Note: Class determined by name only.

HMS Narcissus (K74)
Flower Class Corvette
Real ship, details as in service 1941 - 1946.

HMS Saint Oak
'Destroyer', class not specified.
No other details provided.

HMS Sea Holly
'Warship', class/type unspecified
No other details provided.

HMS Magi
'Warship', class/type unspecified
No other details provided.

HMS Saint Kitts
Armed Merchant Cruiser
Displacement: 15,000 tons.
Details as per typical ships of this type.
Note: Post WWII the name HMS St Kitts was used for a Battle Class Destroyer in service 1946 - 1957.

HMS Longbow
Long Island Class Escort Carrier
Details as per the real ships.
Note: Author stated he based her details on those of HMS Archer (D78) a Long Island Class Escort Carrier in service 1943 - 1946.

SS Empire Constellation
CAM Ship
Displacement: 7000 tons.
Details as per typical ships of this type.
Note: At the time the novel was set this name was not in use. In 1945 it was applied to a captured 1925 built German freighter formerly named Memel (ex-Reval). The ship was in British hands until 1946 when it was transferred to the Russians as the Ivan Sechenov.

SS Empire Jocasta
CAM Ship
Displacement: 10,000 tons.
Details as per typical ships of this type.
Note: This name was not used by the Ministry of War Transport for an Empire ship.

SS Empire Emerald
CAM Ship
Details as per typical ships of this type.
Note: Name clashes with an 8,000 ton Oil Tanker that was operated by the Ministry of War Transport 1941 - 1946. It was never used as a CAM Ship.

SS Empire Pella
CAM Ship
Displacement: 10,000 tons.
Details as per typical ships of this type.
Note: This name was not used by the Ministry of War Transport for an Empire ship.

Plot summary: It is the early phases of WWII, the combined air/sea threat to the trans-Atlantic convoys is growing, the solution Escort Carriers are a way off, so other more desperate methods are used to provide air cover over the convoys.

Re: HMS Achillia , while this is indeed not a flower name , there is a flower known as AchillEa , aka the common yarrow . . .

cheers ,
Robin .

robunos said:

Re: HMS Achillia , while this is indeed not a flower name , there is a flower known as AchillEa , aka the common yarrow . . .

cheers ,
Robin .

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Thanks for the tip, but you often have to go by the names the author uses.

Graham1973 said:

Thanks for the tip, but you often have to go by the names the author uses.

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My thought was that it was a typo that got through the editing process . . .

cheers ,
Robin .

There's been an update to Post #491 covering the novel 'North Star Crusade' (1976) by William Katz. The artwork for a Japanese edition has surfaced online and been added to the entry.