Nile River Gunboats 1882–1918 (New Vanguard, 239)

A young Winston Churchill's "The River War" helped immortalize the British military thrust up the Nile River into Sudan, there to retake the city of Khartoum from Mahdi rebels. The part played by British gunboats on the Nile campaign has been rather underpublicized. That fault is remedied in this Osprey New Vanguard Series book, "Nile River Gunboats 1882-1918", by Angus Konstam, with illustrations by Peter Dennis.The first British gunboats on the upper Nile were actually improvised by General Gordon during the Siege of Khartoum in 1882. They were underpowered river steamers, outfitted with weapons and wooden timbers for protection. General Kitchener's deliberate campaign into the Sudan in 1896 drew on purpose-built and much more capable vessels. The narrative sets the strategic situation in the Sudan and spends the bulk of the book describing the gunboats and how they were modified and operated. The concluding chapters cover their actual combat operations.This is a fascinating book, a concise but very interesting look at the gunboats and their multi-national crews. The author provides some nice first person accounts to add detail to the photographs, illustrations, and diagrams which describe the various classes of gunboats. Well done, and highly recommended to students of the conflict and the era of British colonialism in northeast Africa.

An excellent survey, great illustrations. Despite its small size (which can't be helped with Osprey books and most readers should know what to expect), Konstam goes above and beyond to thoroughly research the topic and write as complete a book as most of us will need.

The existence of the Nile River Gunboats was unknown to me until I was reading about the conflict in the Sudan from 1880 to 1890. This shines a different light onto the difficulties experienced by the military machine to provide resources and support to the fighting troops. It also highlights the need of the opposing forces to destroy the Gunboats.....

A typical Osprey book that gives an excellent overview of the topic. I was pleased with this book because it includes an actual plan and side view of on of the gunboat classes not just artists renditions those there are a few renditions also

Lots of great info on these lesser-known warships,and Peter Dennis did an outstanding job of capturing what it was like to go up against such formidable vessels.

I have a dream of living on a houseboat and needed this book to research any design issues the Brits had with shallow draft Nile riverboats.

thank you

Yet another super thin and over priced niche book. A magazine would have more content. It covers only the most basic elements of the designs, does so in a fairly disorganized fashion, and spits out facts w/o much of a coherent narrative. The portion that covers the actual campaigns is less than that of a wikipedia article. The photos are the only really valuable element. At nearly $18 you'd hope for more. A couple of pages on Omdurman? It does cover all the basics, just in a very brief manner, leaving you wanting more. A book specifically on Nile River gunboats should leave the reader satisfied he knows all there is to know.

I found this to be an enjoyable book regarding a subject is not widely covered. It is a typical Osprey book which contains a good number of photos as well as many nice illustrations in both color and black & white. The artwork of Peter Dennis (longtime contributor to Osprey and many other works) is excellent. He has provided a number of colored illustrations of many different types of gunboats; one of which is of the Melik (Sultan-class) showing the different areas (interior and exterior) of the ship using a helpful key. Specifications tables are also provided for many of the gunboats/types. The histories of many of these Nile River gunboats are listed within (not in great depth/detail but enough to give the reader a basic idea). The chapters of this book are as follows: INTRODUCTION, THE RIVER (-British interests on the Nile), NILE GUNBOAT DEVELOPMENT (-General Gordon's "Penny Steamers", -Tamai-class gunboats, -El Zafir-class gunboats, -Sultan-class gunboats), THE NILE GUNBOATS (-The Penny Steamers, -Other Khartoum gunboats, -Later gunboats, -Protection, -Propulsion, Conditions on board, -Firepower), GUNBOATS IN ACTION (-The 1884-85 campaign, -The 1896-98 campaign), FURTHER READING, INDEX. This was a very pleasant read and was informative. I would recommend.

New subject to me well covered and opening a lot of wargaming scenarios

Comme d'habitude avec Osprey, le sujet est traité de manière complète, abondamment illustré et documenté. J'attendais un tel livre depuis longtemps. Jusqu'à présent, seules quelques photos étaient disponibles sur le Net et, à ma connaissance, seul un site dédié à la présentation du Malik à Khartoum permettait de se documenter. Je recommande vivement pour les amateurs de cette période.

本書はヴィクトリア時代の19世紀末に発生したスーダンの反乱（マフディの反乱）を鎮圧するのに重要な役割を果たしたナイル河の河用砲艦について纏めた本です。例によって48頁と言う制約の中で本文はナイル河の説明、（各級の説明を中心に）ナイル河用砲艦の発達史、各級の仕様説明、河用砲艦の防御・武装・推進機関の発達史、運用歴（1884年から85年にかけての戦いと1896年から98年のスーダン再侵攻戦）について説明しています。　本文には当時のイラスト、モノクロ写真多数の他、1頁2艦の（急造の砲艦から戦訓を反映した専用の河用砲艦）イラスト3頁、タマイ級砲艦のイラスト1頁、サルタン級砲艦の見開き2頁の内部透視図、インアクションイラスト（1頁は急造砲艦の船上でのシーン）2頁が文章の視覚的な補足を行ってくれます。　外輪船に応急の武装と（ボイラー材と木材、土嚢による）防御を施した砲艦から後の河用砲艦の姿が確立されてゆく様子がうかがえる点と帝国主義真っ盛りの英国人の現地人に対するコメントは興味深いです。

Intéret pour le sujet, très peu abordé par ailleurs, très bonne collection d'ouvrages