10 FEBRUARY 1906, Page 28

The Fleet Annual and Naval Year - Book, 1906. By L. Yexley.

(Westminster Press. 2s. 6d.)—This little work is, as the author says in his preface, intended to supply at a small cost a manual of facts and figures concerned with the navies of the world in general, and the British Navy in particular. The articles on such subjects as torpedoes, gunnery, and submarines are excellent, and, not being written in too technical. a style, can be easily understood by the lay reader. The inclusion of the results of the gun-layers' tests for 1905 is a valuable feature. Indeed, the only criticism which can be applied to the book is that in the tabulated descriptions of the ships of all nations no mention is made of the armour, and except in the case of the ' Dreadnought,' to be launched by the King to-day, nothing is said as to whether the engines aro turbine or reciprocating. The photographs and drawings which illustrate the Fleet Annual are good.—With this we may also notice the Royal Navy List and Naval Recorder, January, 1906, Edited by Lieutenant- Colonel Lean, (Witherby and Co., 10s.) This com- prehensive work, which is officially supported, consists of a list of all officers in every branch of the Navy, active or retired, with their services, medals, and orders ; a list of all ships in the Royal Navy, with the names of all officers of their complements, and the fleets to which they belong ; and much more valuable information concerning the Royal Navy. To it has also been added, since the beginning of 1905, a very interesting and useful supplement, the "Naval Recorder," which has, among other ex- cellent features, a list of the services of all first- and second-class ships, and a bibliography of naval literature.