THE DISCOVERY OF THE BISMARCK.**

UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.VG+/VG.No owner inscrptn,and no price-clip to dw/dj.Glossy laminated,colour photographic illustrated dw/dj with minimal shelf-wear and creasing to edges - no nicks or tears or loss - minisculely bumped to both head+foot spine/backstrip and corners.Slight indentations to both wraps.Clean,blue paper-covered boards with bright, crisp,stamped gilt ship's name to upper bd,and letters to spine/ backstrip,with blue+white illustrated eps.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight and clean also.UK,Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn, 8-231pp [paginated] includes b/w+colour photographic half-title+title pages,contents list,intro by Ludovic Kennedy,12 chapters including prologue+epilogue,profuse b/w+colour contemporary photographs throughout the text,an appendix and an index. "Titanic team finds Bismarck" ran the headlines on June 14,1989, announcing Robert Ballard's discovery of Hitler's biggest battleship.Using the same underwater camera vehicle that had discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985,Ballard and his team photographed the Bismarck sitting proudly upright three miles below the surface of the Atlantic off the coast of France.It had taken two years,two separate expeditions and a painstaking survey of over 100 square miles of sea-floor before the legendary German warship was finally spotted.Ballard's remote-controlled cameras captured the scene with brilliant,clear images for all time.Standing on the side of an underwater mountain,surrounded by an enormous landslide that occurred almost fifty years ago when the 50,000 ton battleship collided with the ocean bottom,the Bismarck's huge guns point eerily upward and giant swastikas still defiantly emblazon her bow and stern decks.The story of the Bismarck is one of the most compelling sea sagas of WWII.In May 1941,a shell fired from this sleek new German ship struck the battlecruiser HOOD and within minutes the pride of the British navy was utterly destroyed.An enraged Winston Churchill gave the memorable command to "sink the Bismarck!" - mobilising the British navy into the greatest sea-chase of the war. Recreating the unforgettable story of this great sea battle with historic photographs and the words of the men who fought it,Ballard then gives a dramatic first-person account of the high-tech hunt for the Bismarck that culminated in its thrilling discovery - forty-eight years after it was sent to the bottom. With over 400 illustrations,this book has all the pictorial richness that helped make his previous book,'The Discovery of the Titanic',an international bestseller. Fascinating "then and now" features pair photographs of the Bismarck in 1989 with accurate pictures from 1941; two spectacular full-page fold-outs show the Nazi warship in all her fearsome glory and as she looks today (then 1989).Full-colour maps,charts and diagrams throughout plus a host of specially commissioned paintings by marine artist Ken Marschall,recreate a remarkable chapter in the history of WWII and illuminate the fascinating world of modern deep-sea exploration. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices, weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the weight of this item,for correct,insured shipping/ P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!