In the final volume of his bestselling series on British warship development, David K. Brown brings the knowledge and experience of a long career as a naval constructor to this account of the Royal Navy's response to the restrictions placed on it by the Washington Naval Treaties and the construction of the fleet in World War II. He focuses on such principal pre-war developments as the first purpose-built aircraft carriers and the growing perception of the threat of air attack to warships. The book covers all the wartime construction programs, such as the massive expansion in escort ships to counter the U-boat menace and the development of the amphibious warfare fleet for the D-Day landings in 1944. Full analysis is also provided of the experience of wartime damage, as well as the once top-secret pre- and post-war damage trials. Some two hundred contemporary photographs are displayed throughout the text.