In two world wars, some of the largest and most magnificent passenger ships were commandeered by the military and converted to hospital ships, armed merchant cruisers or troopships. Some were converted into dummy battleships, pretending to be something they never could be. Some of the world's largest shipwrecks are liners sunk in wartime, from Titanic's sister ship Britannic to Canadian Pacific's Empress of Britain, one sunk by a mine and the other a submarine. It was estimated that the huge troop-carrying capacity of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth shortened the Second World War by a year; inded a Cunard Queen still holds the record, at over 16,000, fo rthe most people ever moved in one vessel. In more recent times, both Canberra and Cunard's QE2 saw sterling service in the Falklands.

GREAT LINERS at WAR. Published in 2007. Softback. 236 pages (including a comprehensive ship index), has some 200 black and white photos and covers 22 ships, including Great Eastern, Lusitania, Kronprinz Wilhelm, George Washington, Vaterland, Aquitania, Empress of Britain, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Elizabeth 2, among others.

"this updated and revised volume is a must for your maritime library. An incredible 70 year span of maritime history focusing on when the great ships were called to do things for which they were never intended; War service. Well illustrated, Mr. Hardings' book is hard to put down as he describes the adventures and potentially lethal conflicts that took the Great Liners to obscure parts of the world" - Martin Cox - Jan 2008

Distributors:
Website: Tempus-Publishing

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