The greatest arms race in history began in the first years of the 20th century as World Powers expanded their fleets. Germany challenged the Royal Navy's global dominance; the U.S. and Japan established themselves as major naval powers. The revolutionary "HMS Dreadnought" was succeeded by even larger and more powerful warships that clashed spectacularly at the battle of Jutland in 1916. Plans for a new generation of 'super dreadnoughts' were delayed by international treaties; but Japanese ambitions eventually led to a new arms race with the U.S.. This naval race produced the world's largest and most heavily-armed battleships; like the "Yamoto" and "Owa." Combat experience in World War II soon revealed that submarines and aircraft posed a lethal threat to even the greatest battleship. Only the U.S. Navy had the resources to maintain a battleship force after 1945; and these mighty warships have attached enemy coasts from Vietnam and the Lebanon to the 1991 Gulf War. Acclaimed naval illustrator Tony Gibbons has painted all classes of twentieth century battleship for "Jane's Battleships of the 20th Century." Every major battleship is shown in profile; with the 25 greatest battleships illustrated across the full width of the page; with accompanying plan and bow views. Naval historian Bernard Ireland reveals the fascinating background to each class of battleship. Each entry includes comprehensive technical data. Special features investigate what happened when battleships opened fire: Why British battle cruisers were so vulnerable to German shellfire; how American radar helped "USS Washington" sink the "Kirishiman" off Guadalcanal and when was the "Bismarck" doomed to die.
#895501 in Books 1996-11Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 .81 x 9.52 x 10.83l; #File Name: 0004709977192 pages
Review
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Concise information; but errors aboundBy J. SlavittThis is a book that you want to like because it is a nice concise country-by-country review of battleships and battlecruisers from approximately 1900 to the present. The book also includes a number of nice anecdotes in an attempt to bring the ships to life by connecting them to the men who fought them and the events that they were involved in. All this aside; however; there are some unconscionable errors. The author completely misses an entire series of British battlecruisers represented by the New Zealand; Australia and Indomitable. These were pivotal ships; yet to the author of this book it appears they never existed. There are also several notable omissions of ships that belonged to certain British and American battleship classes -- how do you lose or forget about a ship? And the author gives pretty short shrift to a series of very important American battleships from the late teens and early 1920's that shaped the Japanese response to America's naval strategic doctrine -- the author just sort of compresses these ships onto one page; which is a real pitty. There are other contradictions in terms of describing one ship being "well-armored" but another ship with equivalent specs not being well-armored (you really can't have this both ways). And while; nice at the end of the day the anecdotes are so short as to be a historical tease rather than a substantial benefit. The author has the right idea; but he needs to apply further research and perhaps convince his editor to give him about a hundred more pages to work with.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Could have been much better. I would like more scale side and top ...By David T.Could have been much better. I would like more scale side and top views of each ship. Also only shows pretty much one of each class. But the book was in excellent condition; and was shipped fast. Therefore I can not fault the vender at all they did a super job. For General information or reference this is a good book. I wanted it for scale modeling reference..0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. good bookBy MPageGood book for anyone who is into learning about these awesome ships.
