While gigantic warships stalk the open oceans, engaging enemies over the horizon with their titanic weapons, much smaller craft hug the coastal waters, protecting the land against raids and invasi...
By 1941 there were 29 total PT’s total in the US Navy, by December ’43 there were 29 squadrons. Indeed, by the end of the war the small ships, PT’s LCI etc. numbered 7,000 craft of 80 types. Many ...
The R-boat, also known as Räumboote in German, was a class of naval vessels originally designed as minesweepers, but their role evolved under fire. Prized for their manoeuvrability and shallow dra...
Tasked with the ferry of supplies such as food, fuel, steel, clothing to munitions and weaponry. Many nations were heavily reliant on such ships completing the journey and securing their goods. As...
The Cruel Seas Starter Set contains everything you need to command your flotilla in this fast-paced 1/300th scale tabletop game.
The Cruel Seas boxed game, ‘Strike Fast, Strike Hard!’, contains:
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Dubbed the Kleine fähre (small ferry) the Siebel ferry would prove it's self a highly useful and adaptable vessel.
Aircraft designer Fritz Siebel (A commissioned a colonel in the Luftwaffe) had be...
A perfect harbour for any fleet, return from action to your safe harbour and a hot mug of tea before re-fueling and arming and on to your next mission.
This product has the following dimensions:
J...
The Fairmile company produced a mass production vessel, which had good seagoing qualities and was used also for mine laying. The Fairmile B followed this, 398 being built in the UK, and 180 more i...
In Cruel Seas, you take on the role of a naval crew manning their fragile coastal craft as they head out day and night to take on both the sea and the enemy.
Command your flotilla of small ships a...
MO-4 was the most common of the MO class of small Soviet ships during World War II. Approximately 250 examples were produced. The vessels were incredibly cheap, being unarmoured and with a wooden ...
The IJN Subchaser was developed to counter the increased threat to Japanese shipping posed by a growing number of submarines in the Soviet Pacific Ocean Fleet. Though three sub classes were produc...
The F-lighter was originally a converted tank landing craft that was being developed for the Kriegsmarine. Up armoured, shallow drafted and equipped with 88mm guns and flak guns, the F-lighter wer...
Submarine chasers were used for destroying German U-boats that were stationed off the coast of the United States (some 67 German U-boats were sunk). In the Pacific Theatre, submarine chasers were ...
On December 7th, 1941, the US Navy could only boast 3 squadrons of motor torpedo boats, or PT boats (patrol torpedo) as they were named. PT squadron 1 was based on Pearl Harbor and the 12 boats op...
Between the wars Japan reassessed its position with its navy, building the world’s first purpose-built aircraft carrier, the Hosho in 1921 and inventing its deadly fast and powerful type 93 24’’ o...
This model represents motor gun boat 660 in its final configuration, including an automatic 6pdr on the foredeck, a 20mm on either side of the bridge, a twin 20mm amidships and a quick firing 3pdr...
Built by several different manufacturers in different designs the landing craft mechanized (LCM) bore the brunt of transport duties in some of the most famous landings in history.
The LCM (3) Higg...
The Regia Marina was confident, had indisputably the most handsome ships in the world and referred to the troubled waters of the Mediterranean as Mare nostrum(our sea). By the start of the war, as...
Voyenno-morskoy flot SSSR (VMF) – i.e. The Military Maritime Fleet of the USSR, or the ‘Red Fleet’ for short.
The Russian Armed forces of WWII are an interesting blend of extraordinary innovation ...
The Schnellboat or ‘E Boat’ as the British Admiralty called them, E for enemy, was a truly formidable beast, in many ways incomparable in detail to the other nation’s boats.
In sheer size alone, t...
Known as KFKs, these vessels were mostly wooden fishing boats intended for use by the Kriegsmarine as patrol boats and sub chasers. Their design dates back to 1920. A huge building programme was l...
The Motosilurante CRDA 60 t (also known as MS boat) was an MTB built for the Italian Regia Marina. Modelled after German E-Boats, they were used in conjunction with the faster, although less seawo...
The Fairmile B class Motor Launch weighed in at 85 tonnes and 112 feet long. Crewed by 16 men it could make in the region of 20 knots through its 1200 hp petrol engines. The coastal forces were ab...
Devised in the last years of the war, the Linse boats were one of the Kriegsmarine's last gasps - designed for special operations against Allied shipping in harbour. These 6ft plywood boats operat...
The Fairmile B class Motor Launch weighed in at 85 tonnes and 112 feet long. Crewed by 16 men it could make in the region of 20 knots through its 1200 hp petrol engines. The coastal forces were ab...
In Cruel Seas, the focus may be on the fast MTB's but these boats were also ably supported by many hundreds of other craft, from purpose-built landing ships, sloops and corvettes to converted traw...
The Soviets used many captured craft and received British and American MTBs that were used in their light flotillas. Their home-grown efforts, however, produced the peculiar looking G-5 light torp...
A most peculiar type of riverine and estuary craft was also developed by the Russians. This was the 1124 and 1125 class of armoured rivercraft or Bronekater. These shallow draught craft, drawing o...
Capable of carrying 120 men or a medium tank, the LCM III used by the Royal Navy was the largest craft carried by attack transports. It was able to make up to 10 knots When loaded and had anchors ...
Great Britain never built a vessel as fast or as deadly as the E-boats, instead, fielding many types of MTB and motor gunboats. After a slow start, the Royal Navy helped by construction in the USA...
At the outbreak of war, Britain had 3 formed MTB flotillas, precious few to cover the world’s largest empire. But with judicious use of what were pre-war civilian boatyards and the huge resources ...
Kaiser Wilhelm’s vision, indeed obsession, with building a vast fleet of dreadnoughts came to nought during the Great War. He knew that his excellent fleet could not risk significant battles with ...
