Every now and then a very special book comes along, and this ranks highly among them. It is extremely well researched in order to provide the reader with a total account of the design, building, service, refits, and fates of the big gun monitors built for WW1 and WW2. The text is full of interesting information and written well. The photographic cover is excellent and provides the reader with a range of previously unseen images that certainly impressed me. The reader will be delighted by the descriptions of actions these ships took part in, including the comments from senior officers. I loved the quip about one of them managing to land some shells in various places on the same continent. Apparently none too accurate for what the Admiral required! The battle of Imross in which the Goeben and Breslau broke out is well described and in a detail I have not previously read. The author covers the ships during the between the wars period and then their service along with the new monitors build for WW2. I am extremely impressed with this book. I give it *****+ five plus stars. A great bit of research and some excellent presentation from the author.

Malcolm Wright, Australian Maritime Artist & Author

Monitors have been described as little more than a huge gun mountings fitted on a simple, self-propelled rafts. They were conceived in World War 1 to fulfil an urgent need for heavy shore bombardment, and played a significant role in many campaigns. This book looks in detail at the technical and economic aspects of the 42 monitors built, and is, without a doubt, the definitive work on the subject.

Ships Monthly

In the first half of the twentieth century the Royal Navy built and operated specialised gun-equipped, land-attack warships; it was the only Navy to do so. They were designed to be cheap, quickly built, almost disposable warships made use of 'spare' weapons from other projects and were manned, largely, by 'hostilities-only' men serving in the naval reserves. These ships were known in service as 'monitors' and this book tells their fascinating story in well-written detail.

This is an affordable edition of a classic book which should form part of every naval collection and is highly recommended. It s not only a fascinating read in its own right but will, hopefully, simulate discussions on how best to achieve similar effects in future.

Journal of the Australian Naval Institute

Ian Buxton's work has set the standard in celebrating these big gun ships. It is richly embellished with pictures and diagrams and is of special interest because of the photographs included. There are maps of the monitor operations and 'Big Gun Monitors' is also published at an affordable price. It makes an invaluable contribution to the study of naval and land operations.

Warships International