''Ships of the Royal Navy'' is a naval history reference work by J. J. Colledge (1908–1997); it provides brief entries on all recorded ships in commission in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

from the 15th century, giving location of constructions, date of launch, tonnage, specification and fate. It was published in two volumes by Greenhill Books. Volume 1, first published in 1969, covers major ships; Volume 2, first published in 1970, covers Navy-built

trawlers Trawler may refer to: Boats * Fishing trawler, used for commercial fishing * Naval trawler, a converted trawler, or a boat built in that style, used for naval purposes ** Trawlers of the Royal Navy * Recreational trawler, a pleasure boat built tra ...

, drifters,

tugs A tugboat or tug is a marine vessel that manoeuvres other vessels by pushing or pulling them, with direct contact or a tow line. These boats typically tug ships in circumstances where they cannot or should not move under their own power, suc ...

and requisitioned ships including Armed Merchant Cruisers. The book is the standard single-volume reference work on ships of the Royal Navy, and Colledge's conventions and spellings of names are used by museums, libraries and archives. For more data on ships of the pre-1863 Royal Navy, see ''

British Warships in the Age of Sail ''British Warships in the Age of Sail'' is a series of four books by maritime historian Rif Winfield comprising a historical reference work providing details of all recorded ships that served or were intended to serve in the (British) Royal Navy ...

''. A revised third version of the Volume 1 work was published in 2003 which added the ships of the late 20th century. The revision was conducted by

Ben Warlow Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he ...

. A fourth edition was published in 2006, reinstating some of the smaller vessels that the third edition had omitted. A further revised fourth edition was published in 2010 to include requisitioned ships, e.g. Armed merchant cruisers,

Merchant aircraft carrier A merchant aircraft carrier (also known as a MAC ship, the Admiralty's official 'short name') was a limited-purpose aircraft carrier operated under British and Dutch civilian registry during World War II. MAC ships were adapted by adding a flig ...

s, as well as small craft, e.g.

landing craft Landing craft are small and medium seagoing watercraft, such as boats and barges, used to convey a landing force ( infantry and vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an amphibious assault. The term excludes landing ships, which are large ...

and

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

-built trawlers.

References

* * {{cite book , last1 = Colledge , first1 = J. J. , author-link1 = J. J. Colledge , last2 = Warlow , first2 = Ben , year = 2010 , orig-year = 1969 , title = Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy , edition = 4th Rev. , location = London , publisher = Chatham , isbn = 978-1-935149-07-1 1969 non-fiction books 1970 non-fiction books Books about the Royal Navy Nautical reference works 20th-century history books