The Naval Annual


The Naval Annual was a periodical that provided considerable text and graphic information which had previously been obtainable only by consulting a wide range of often foreign language publications. It was started by Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey in 1886. Though often compared with Jane's Fighting Ships, the two British annuals were, in fact quite different. The Brassey series began a dozen years earlier, and its special strength was the dozen or more detailed articles on naval matters, authored by experts. They covered British and other nations' naval developments ranging from the latest ships to overall policy. The first five or six Brassey volumes used a second printing color to highlight armored portions of naval vessels' hulls. Through 1949, the series was also known for its extensive tabular presentations of individual ship details. But unlike Jane's, the Brassey series was not designed for use in identifying ships at sea. Starting with the 1950 volume, content broadened to cover air force and army topics in addition to naval material, with a continued emphasis on British forces. Long runs of the Brassey volumes are relatively uncommon in American libraries.
During its life it underwent a number of title changes.

Editors of Brassey's Annuals 1886–1992Editors from 1886–1986 from''Ironclad to Trident'', p. v–vi.

''Naval Annual''