Shipbucket

The picture below is of the illustration on the cover of the 1975 edition of J. E. MacDonnell's 1963 novel 'Abandon and Destroy' the ship in the foreground is a 2000 ton 'German Destroyer' of which the only information (aside from tonnage) given by the author is that it's main armament is 6 x 5 inch guns in twin turrets.

The cover artist appears to have started with a picture of either a Bismark Class Battleship or a Hipper Class Cruiser and then improvised from there, it might be fun to work out just what the rest of the ship (eg the bits that were not included in the image) might have looked like. I have no artistic skill whatsoever, so I leave it to anyone who is interested.

Abandon and Destroy: 1975 Cover Closeup

Edit: Link broken by the recent change to Photobucket has been replaced with a link to the same image on Dropbox.

Hi Graham:
I don`t remember a german 5 inch twin gun turret of that era. The most similar forward part of a destroyer was of a Narvik type ( Zerstörer 1936A (Mob)) which had a twin 150 mm turret (but only one) in the forward Albert (A) position, and 3 single shielded 150 mm guns after. Cheers.

Looks very nice indeed. Was this image freshly made, or is it from an existing thread?

The original had two twin turrets, I extended it to fit the 3rd turret in.

The turrets in the MacDonnell cover are a bit thin to actually let anybody stand up in them.

I remember reading a lot of MacDonnell's novels 40 odd years ago. He had the series with the 4 Aussie N class destroyers (though not with N names) and had a cruiser Tempest (Colony type 12x6") as the 'ship of force' taking on all comers from Battleships on down to air attacks. Ripping yarns for young teens.

I was aware of them through remaindered book racks in newsagents when I was growing up, I had read a few back then (about 30 years ago.) and I'd agree with the 'Ripping yarns' assessment.

Still they have proved very handy in expanding the Australian contingent on Hoods fictional ships list. I'm slowly putting together a data sheet on the 'Experimental Destroyer' HMAS Pelican that features in the 'Dutchy Holland' sequence.

Here is another weirdie from the front cover of a J. E. MacDonnell novel. Both ships are in Hood's List of Ships in Fiction, Part I: Fictional Warships 1890-1945 post. The one in the background is a modified Deutschland Class cruiser named Wolfe (Her stats are on Hoods list.) and what you can see in the cover does 'more or less' match the profile you would expect.

The ship in the foreground on the other hand, well I have no idea what the artist used as a model. It's supposed to be a Battle Class destroyer (1943 batch) named HMAS Jackal (ex-HMAS Fane(*), ex-HMS Jutland). To my eye it looks like someone started with a Tribal class destroyer and reversed the gun layout. There is a high degree of foreshortening, but I'd say this one is much easier than the last.

The Shadow: 1977 Front Cover

*. I have not yet found a novel that confirms that linkage, but given the novels I have looked at this is highly likely.

Edit: Link broken by the recent change to Photobucket has been replaced with a link to the same image on Dropbox.

Here is another oddity from the cover of a J. E. MacDonnell novel, what it looks to be is a V & W class destroyer with 2 x 5 21-inch TT.

The Glory Hunter (Full Cover)

Fhe Glory Hunter: Full (c. 1980s) Cover

This image combines the front back and spine of the paperback edition I have into the best possible representation of the original wraparound image. I wish the artist had been identified.

The ship that is ramming the V & W class destroyer, seems like a Tribal class or maybe J, K, and N class destroyer, at least judging from the gun mountings and bridge layout.

_________________
Thank you Kim for the crest

"Never fear to try on something new. Remember that the Titanic was built by professionals, and the Ark by an amateur"

It will most likely be what I like to term one of the authors 'J, K & N' class destroyers, it's very rare that he identifies a ship as a specific class.