Book Reviews
Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer, 1905-1970
Siegfried Breyer. Munich, Germany: J. F. Lehmanns, 1970. 508 pp. Illus. About $35.00.
Reviewed by Arthur D. Baker, III
(Mr. Baker graduated in 1963 from Harvard University magna cum laude in history, specializing in maritime history. He then served on active duty in the Navy from 1963 to 1968, and is now employed in the Defense Department. He is a contributor to Jane's Fighting Ships and Weyer's Warships of the World.)
Curiously, while detailed studies of the technology of aircraft and armored vehicle design are legion, and a single warplane may be represented by a half-dozen profusely-illustrated and minutely-detailed monographs, there are few knowledgeable, thorough, and wholly satisfactory studies of warship design. Those available fall either into the coffee-table-picture-book-who-reads-the-text-anyway class or into country studies which generally list only the most basic of a ship’s characteristics for lack of space. Among the very few exceptions would be the monumental English studies British Destroyers by Basil March, and British Battleships by Oscar Parkes, and the admirable multi-volume series on Italian warships published by Ufficio Storico della Marine Militare. Erich Gröner’s two-volume Die Deutschen Kriegs[s]chiffe, 1815-1945 is the only other fully-comprehensive and satisfactory treatment of the entire fleet of a single nation, and it tends to become bogged down in endless lists of naval-appropriated fishing trawlers and the like. A great deal of material, now declassified, is available on warship characteristics, but most of it must be mined from government archives in its raw form and refined by historians of naval architecture. For the most part this has not been done.
Battleships being the most conspicuous implements of naval technology, the most impressive in appearance, and possessing the most interesting design histories, it is not surprising that a fair number of works about them are available. Until now, however, no author has attempted to assemble a complete data listing for all the battleships built.
Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer, 1905-1970 by Siegfried Breyer, West Germany’s best known expert on naval affairs, follows the tabular format employed so effectively in Erich Gröner’s two-volume set, Die Deutschen Kriegsschiffe. The layout is similar to that offered in the U. S. Naval Institute’s English translation of the naval annual Weyer’s Warships of the World. The book is a compilation of the general characteristics of all of the battleships and battlecruisers built or begun from 1905 on; also included are some—but not all—designs which remained merely projects. Excluded are coastal defense battleships of the type once common in Scandinavian navies, monitors, and armored cruisers, the last a type which had nearly had its day by the opening date of the book. The first half-century of battleship design is largely ignored.
A compilation of this sort—tailored to the wants of the “ship-lover”—must of needs leave out much technical information of interest primarily to naval architects and engineers. The individual operational histories of the ships are quite condensed, but the tabular format and notes sections allow for a great deal of information about the ships and the external changes they underwent. The text is in German and the data in the metric system, but the German is straightforward and the nautical vocabulary fairly simple.
A 90-page history of battleship development precedes the country-by-country, chronological listing of ships characteristics. This introductory section contains nothing not found in other treatments of battleship design, and relies very heavily on other sources. Indeed, the reader of English would be far better advised to consult some of the sources footnoted in the book, rather than struggle with the German version. A great many of the ships cited as milestones of design technique coincide with those found in Parkes’s British Battleships, or the Ufficio Storico della Marine Militare’s Le Navi de Linea Italiane, 1861-1961.
Each of the national chapters begins with a family tree showing design evolution, a year-by-year order of battle, a very useful listing of armament characteristics, and paragraphs on such items as aircraft carried, ships’ coloring, torpedo defenses, and radars (the last somewhat incomplete). A 13-column chronological table follows listing displacements, dimensions, speeds, endurance, and crew complements. Finally comes a class-by-class discussion, listing in uniform paragraph format, details of armor plating, engineering plants, armament, and configurational changes undergone during a ship’s career.
This major section of the book is illustrated (as is the opening treatise) by the over 900 line drawings, which are at once the book’s most attractive feature and weakest point. Faultless in execution, and at first appearance plausible, they vary widely in accuracy and suggest that the author’s graphic research may have been largely limited to studying photographs when readily reproducible official plans were not at hand. This is borne out by the curious fact that the side views (elevations) are more accurate than the plan views, which often appear quite distorted when compared with official general arrangement drawings. A comparison between the drawings in the wartime ONI 54 (U. S. Naval Vessels) and ONI 201 (Warships of the British Commonwealth), (which were prepared from much more detailed general arrangement plans), and the drawings in the Breyer book reveal many inconsistencies which cannot be accounted for by differences in the date represented. One particularly glaring example would be the missing of the one-half deck depression at the extreme stern of the Alaska (CB-1) class large cruisers in both plan view and elevation. In some drawings of the older U. S. battleships, 5-inch, 51-caliber gun casemate sponsons, which overhung the hull contours, are shown meeting them only, and the waterlines (indicated by dotted lines) are too full almost everywhere. The fact that the drawings are unreliable is most unfortunate, as they are the only form of illustration employed, and their overall concept is admirable. Uniformly printed for the convenience of waterline modelers to the international scale of 1:1250, they show many stages in the development of a ship through her career. Each major class is represented by a simplified cross-section and centerline elevation showing compartmentation and armor. Considering the amount of painstaking labor which must have gone into their preparation, it is a pity that they were not better researched. A cutaway of one of the unbuilt 1939 German battleships is the only really detailed drawing in the book, and it is reproduced only in part, as the forward endpaper.
Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer occupies a peculiar position. It is almost alone in its field and for that reason important. On the other hand, it is by no means entirely satisfactory or complete. Its author, for instance, has cooperated on an entire volume covering only the unbuilt German battleships designed during World War I (Deutsche Grosskampschiffe, 1915-1918, by Friedrich Forstmeier) and almost none of this material is included in Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer. More information is also available on Soviet battleship designs of the World War II period than what appears in the book. What information is given, is presented in an extremely organized manner and appears generally correct as far as it goes—and it does go much further than, say, a Jane’s Fighting Ships of the battleship era.
The period of battleship design can be fairly and safely stated to have begun with the French armored ship Gloire of 1859 and to have ended during World War II with the ascendency of air power (aside from possible postwar Soviet efforts which never reached fruition). Thus, battleship design represents a graspable period of less than a century. That a satisfactory history of this noble era can be written from sources now available is well within possibility. Schlachtschiffe und Schlachtkreuzer, which brings together a vast amount of material previously available only separately, is a beginning, but it is far from being definitive. The data may be of use to battle historians or to naval wargamers, and the drawings will be of great interest (for better or for worse) to the many waterline ship modelers, but, in the balance, the book is something of a disappointment.
At Random
Adm. Cato D. Glover, U.S.N. (Ret.). Columbia, S.C.: Wing Publications, Inc., 1970. 132 pp. Illus. $5.00.
(Reviewed by Vice Admiral Alexander S. Heyward, Jr., U. S. Navy (Retired)
(Admiral Heyward was attached to and in command of various air squadrons and ships following his graduation from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1950. He also served on various sea and shore staffs, and was Chief of Naval Air Training at the time of his retirement from the Navy in 1968.)
Here is the autobiography of a happy man. A man who is happy with his background, his family, his associates, his career, and his country. Of course, it is not an autobiography in the usual sense—long and boring, with a myriad of details—it is simply a collection of short stories in which the author personally involves himself. He thereby paints a word picture of himself that is interesting, entertaining, and at times inspiring.
The reader first is introduced to Cato as a boy, getting a solid lesson in honesty from his father; then one sees him as student; as husband and father in a close and devoted family consisting of wife and three daughters, and as a naval officer who loves the Navy. His family stories of their adventures, their maids, their dog, and their cat will bring chuckles from family members of all ages.
Admiral Glover is indeed an excellent story teller, and his tales of life as a young ensign, U. S. Navy, in the flagship USS Pittsburgh of the European Squadron, are vivid descriptions of life in Europe in the early 1920s.
Fate always managed to put the author in places of interest at strategic times, and several of his most interesting stories revolve around his tours of duty in France during the German invasion and later with the Vichy government, while he was assigned to France as U. S. Naval Attaché; after World War II in the Mediterranean, when he was Commander Carrier Division Four; and during the Suez Crisis of 1957, when he was acting Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Mediterranean, with headquarters at Malta.
For my money, however. Admiral Glover is at his best when telling of his hunting and fishing. Anyone who enjoys sports will feel right at home with the author as he tells of these experiences.
His book is not a long one and it proves to be a very pleasant way to spend a few hours with a fine story teller, who also shows himself a dedicated and patriotic American. His stories show a deep love for the Navy, a justifiable pride in his successful career, and great happiness with life as he has lived it.
Professional Reading
Compiled by Robert A. Lambert, Associate Editor
Almanacco Navale 1970-71
Giorgio Giorgerini and Augusto Nani. Rome: Rivista Marittima, 1970. 769 pp. Illus. L. 8.000.
A thorough knowledge of Italian will be needed for the preface, introduction, and the longer photograph captions, but the data tables are easily handled. The photographs, some in color, and line drawings are very fine.
Cornish Shipwrecks, Volume 3: The Isles of Scilly
Richard Lam. New York: Taplinger, 1971. 183 pp. Illus. $8.50.
In this book, a selection of stories of the several hundred shipwrecks and strandings are recorded; many photographs and charts support the narrative.
Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine im Kampf 1939-1945
Bodo Herzog. Dorheim, Germany: Podzen-Verlag, 1969. 247 pp. Illus. $10.00.
Photographs are the feature of this volume—many pictures of ships, officers, and crews; daily life and combat, including sketches of the Hood's sinking made by a combat artist on board the Prinz Eugen. A limited knowledge of German will get the reader through the captions, even though many are quite long and detailed.
The Emerging Japanese Superstate
Herman Kahn. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970. 274 pp. $7.95.
The famed futurist who is now, ". . . one of 'he foremost authorities on Japan . . . ,” according to the dust jacket, sees that country accepting the challenge of America and responding by overtaking and passing the United States in all areas of industrial, political, scientific, and military endeavors. Some of this future may be valid, but, on the whole, the conclusions seem to be hung on too tenuous a frame. There are too many longshot assumptions.
The Escape Room
Airey Neave. New York: Doubleday, 1970. 319 pp. Illus. $7.95.
Headquarters for the network of underground escape routes across Nazi-occupied Europe, the workings of the British War Office’s Room 900 are described by a man who was himself an escapee and became a member of the room’s small staff.
Falconer’s Marine Dictionary (1780)
William Falconer. New York: Augustus M. Kelley, 1969. 412 pp. Illus. $32.50.
First published in 1769 as An Universal Dictionary of the Marine, it was revised and a new edition published in 1780. This is an excellent reprint of that maritime classic covering, with fine style and detail, the shipbuilding, seamanship, warfare, and discipline in the Royal Navy.
48 Hours to Hammelburg
Charles Whiting. New York: Ballantine, 1970. 199 pp. Illus. $.95 (paper).
Patton’s raid to free American POWs at Hammelburg—the general’s son-in-law was held there—is reconstructed in an interesting account that too often wanders from the point.
Great Ship Disasters
A. A. Hoehling. New York: Cowles, 1971. 250 pp. Illus. $6.95.
Ranging across collisions, fires, torpedoings, storms, and explosions, this is a documentary of the many well known and a few of the lesser known tragedies. The human element is always foremost in this quite readable book.
Great Tank Battles of World War II
George Bradford. New York: Arco, 1970. 104 pp. Illus. $3.50 (paper).
With more than 100 photographs of tanks in action, this book presents thumbnail sketches of the development and outcome of 40 major armor battles.
The Heartland
Stuart Legg. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971. 350 pp. Illus. $8.95.
Sweeping from the deep interior of Central Asia, nomadic tribes ravaged Europe and the Far East for 2,000 years, affecting history at every turn, even to the present. This is a chronicle of those surgings; the leaders, famous and little known; and the strategy and tactics that destroyed and created empires.
Hitler’s Last Offensive
Peter Elstob. New York: Macmillan, 1971. 413 pp. Illus. $9.95.
The Battle of the Bulge is the subject of this detailed survey; nothing new is uncovered, but the book is well-organized and well-written. It was first published in England, but in the printing for this country, a minor section, “Note on the Opposing Weapons,” has been dropped.
How to Navigate Today
M. R. Hart. Cambridge, Md.: Cornell Maritime Press, 1970. Ill pp. Illus. $2.50 (paper).
Essential principles of navigation are reduced to simple terms in a fifth edition of this standard handbook.
Invisible Residents
Ivan T. Sanderson. New York: World, 1970. 248 pp. Illus. $7.50.
In a very breezy style, reports of historical and recent sightings of lighted objects that have risen from, descended into, and maneuvered over bodies of water are gathered and explained as operations of other intelligent life forms. Under its pre-publication title, Unidentified Aquatic Objects, it would never have sold; with the present title, the book is more sensational and over-priced.
Iron Afloat
William N. Still, Jr. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 1971. 260 pp. Illus. $10.00.
The South managed to complete 22 ironclads that operated as units in harbor and river defense squadrons which, as fleets in-being, formed an amazingly effective weapon against the Union fleet—a fact that has only recently come into historical perspective. In this solid, scholarly Civil War account, the naval contributions of Confederate ironclads, as well as their faults, are fully explored.
The Lexington Goes Down
A. A. Hoehling. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971. 208 pp. Illus. $6.95.
Unfortunately the considerable research that has gone into this telling of this famous carrier’s last hours during the battle of the Coral Sea is wasted in the author’s juvenile approach.
Liberation of the Philippines
Stanley Falk. New York: Ballantine, 1971. 160 pp. Illus. $1.00 (paper).
The sea engagements, the amphibious landings, and the land and air battles that were part of America’s long road back to the Philippine Islands are narrated.
The Liberty Ships
L. A. Sawyer and W. H. Mitchell. Cambridge, Md.: Cornell Maritime Press, 1970. 224 pp. Illus. $10.95.
Built for the emergency needs of World War II, these homely cargo ships “built by the mile and chopped off by the yard” were not really expected to have long lives, as they were mass-produced, quite often by inexperienced builders, and subjected to the twin fates of combat and nature. Yet, today hundreds still exist, moving over every ocean or laid up in mothballs. This is an encyclopedic gathering of data on all the “Liberties” built in the United States, giving the history of their construction, their service, and their end.
The Master Diver and Underwater Sportsman
T. A. Hampton. New York: Arco, 1970. 192 pp. Illus. $5.95.
With some revision in text and up-dating in illustrations, this is a third edition of a standard work first published in 1955. The author is chief instructor at the British Underwater Center.
Navies of the Second World War: British Fleet and Escort Destroyers
H. T. Lenton. New York: Doubleday, 1970. Vol. 1—136 pp.; Vol. 2—136 pp. Illus. Both volumes $3 95 each.
Originally published in Britain, these volumes are now available from a domestic source.
The Rising Sun
John Toland. New York: Random House, 1970. 954 pp. Illus. $12.95.
The last ten years of an ancient empire, culminating in Tokyo Bay on the deck of the USS Missouri, are seen mainly through the eyes of the Japanese people.
Sea Careers
D. X. Fenren. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970. 162 pp. Illus. $4.95.
In addition to discussing careers in the Navy, Coast Guard, merchant marine, and commercial fishing, the author also describes opportunities in naval architecture, marine engineering, oceanography, deep-sea diving, and charter boating, among others.
The Steam Yachts
Erik Hofman. Tuckahoe, N.Y.: John De Graff, Inc., 1970. 272 pp. Illus. $18.50.
Floating palaces from another more elegant time are shown in 130 photographs and 107 drawings. Facts and figures on more than 100 yachts, all over 70 feet in length, are presented.
Steel Rails to Victory
Ron Ziel. New York: Hawthorne, 1970. 288 pp. Illus. $14.95.
The photographic history of railroad operations in almost every country involved in World War II is presented with an interesting emphasis on the Eastern Front. Despite a rather poor layout of pictures and text, this album is a must for the railroad buff.
T-34 Russian Armor
Douglas Orgill. New York: Ballantine, 1971- 160 pp. Illus. $1.00 (paper).
This pictorial describes the technical and battle-experience evolution of this crude, unsophisticated Russian tank that eventually beat the Germans at their own game.
Understanding Boat Design
Edward S. Brewer and Jim Betts. Camden, Maine: International Marine Publishing Co., 1971. 66 pp. Illus. $3.95 (paper).
Uncomplicated drawings complement equally uncomplicated text to present, with a dash of humor, the basics needed by the amateur builder, beginning designer, and novice buyer.
The United States Navy in the Pacific, 1909-1922
William Reynolds Braisted. Austin: University' of Texas Press, 1971. 741 pp. Illus. $15.00.
The complex interweaving of economic, political, and military considerations along with the personalities involved in the forging of naval and foreign policy during this turbulent period is the subject of this fine, scholarly work which opens with consideration of the Root-Takahira Agreement and closes with the Washington Naval Conference.
The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano 1524-1528
Lawrence C. Wroth. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970. 319 pp. Illus. $25.00.
Containing many clear reproductions of manuscripts and charts, this is both a new translation of Verrazzano’s report to the King of France, and a scholarly investigation of the details and historical implications concerning this exploration of the North American coast from Florida to Newfoundland.
RE-ISSUES
Ginger Lacey, Fighter Pilot
Richard Townshend Bickers. New York: Beagle [1962], 1970. 189 pp. $ 95 (paper).
The Golden Horseshoe
Terence Robertson. New York: Beagle [1955], 1971. 191 pp. Illus. $.95 (paper).
Original title: Night Raider of the Atlantic
The Greatest Aces
Edward H. Sims. New York: Ballantine [1967]. 1971. 307 pp. Illus. $.95 (paper).
Nine Lives
Alan C. Deere. New York: Beagle [1959], 1970. 255 pp. $.95 (paper).