England Central South

With a Glimpse of Gosport – A Panorama of a Thousand Years – Edited by Nigel Peake, numerous illustrations from b&w photographs and line-drawings, maps, index, 160 pp, blue boards in d/w, presentation inscription on front free endpaper (see picture and note below), slight spotting to d/w, to endpapers and to closed edges of pages, otherwise in very good condition, Milestone Publications (Horndean, Hampshire) in association with Portsmouth Evening News 1987

25.9 x 19.3 cm, 710g, ISBN 1 85265 111 3

 A revised and updated edition of a book first published in 1946, with the entries from 1939 onwards compiled by the editor in the style of the original.  See the description (below) from the dustwrapper flap.

Long out of print.

The presentation inscription is an interesting piece of modern naval history.  The Sting Ray is a light torpedo capable of being dropped by a Merlin helicopter, or fired from a destroyer.  The first prototypes were unacceptable, so the Navy awarded the contract to Marconi (later to become BAE Systems).  The torpedoes were rushed into service during the Falklands War before all the defects had been ironed out, and it would appear BAE Systems set up a Defect Reporting Group, to which the previous owner of this book belonged.