This superbly illustrated book tells the entire story of the 'J', 'K' and 'N' class destroyers and it is the first which has ever been attempted. Both their design and construction and their service histories were of considerable significance and they are always associated with Mountbatten's epic destroyer career at the beginning of the Second World War. These twenty-four ships were highly innovative and marked a considerable advance in British destroyer design. They were the first full class of ship to be given longitudinal framing and this became standard practice in British destroyer construction. They were also the first to be given single funnels since Fervent and Zephyr in 1895. It was perhaps their service history which singled them out from other classes. Kelly, for instance, under the command of Mountbatten, played an outstanding part in the evacuation of the Allied force from Namsos after the German invasion of Norway in 1940. Soon afterwards she was salvaged, under incessant air attack, off the Dutch coast after a German torpedo attack. Then in April 1941 she was thrown into the defence off Crete and there was sunk by dive-bombers on 23 April. Of the other twenty-three vessels in the class eleven were sunk in action during the War. The author deals in detail with every aspect of the conception, design, construction and armament and this part of the book is superbly illustrated with the technical drawings of the well-known draughtsman John Lambert. All the various camouflage schemes are depicted in colour by yet another distinguished naval historian and illustrator, John Roberts. The second part of the book covers their entire service careers in detail, and much of this is based on original accounts. Heavily illustrated with many previously unseen photographs this detailed work will be a 'must' for naval historians, enthusiasts and modelmakers. CHRIS LANGTREE'S interest in naval history was sparked by a visit to the aircraft carrier HMS Hermes as a four-year-old boy. He has since developed a particular interest in the warships of the Second World War, in particular the destroyers and the actions in which they took part. A trained historian, this is his first book.