A. D. BAKER III is a highly regarded naval authority known for his work as an illustrator and writer. His line drawings appear in several books, including others in this series. He was the long-time editor of The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World and a contributing editor to the journals Warship International and U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings.

Articles by Arthur Baker

Historic Fleets

By A. D. Baker III, Editor, Combat Fleets of the World
October 1998
The U.S. Navy has operated only three designated evacuation transports, the Tryon (APH-1), Pinkney (APH-2), and Rixey (APH-3). The trio originally were begun as the Alcoa Courier, Alcoa Corsair, and ...

Fraternal Sisters

By A. D. Baker III
October 2007
In 1919, Skinner and Eddy Shipyard, Seattle, launched the destroyer tenders Altair (AD-11) and Denebola (AD-12) as the cargo ships Edista and Edgewood , respectively, for the U.S. Shipping Board ...

A Pearl Harbor Phoenix

By A. D. Baker III
August 2007
The Nevada (BB-36) and her ill-fated sister ship Oklahoma (BB-37) were the first U.S. Navy battleships designed to the “all or nothing” theory of armoring, wherein the vital portions of ...

Jeeps for the Fleet

By A. D. Baker III
April 2007
An escort or “jeep” carrier acquisition program was first recommended to the U.S. Navy by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. The Navy initially typed the projected ships as APV ...

The Navy’s Fire God is No More

By A. D. Baker III
February 2007
With the expansion of its area of operations after the Spanish- American War and the introduction of submarines and destroyers in significant numbers, the U.S. Navy began to include specialized ...

A Big-Gun Cruiser Obituary

By A. D. Baker III
December 2006
Shortly after 0800 on 21 August 2006, nearly 58 years after her commissioning, the heavy cruiser Des Moines (CA-134) departed Philadelphia under tow by a Military Sealift Command tug, bound ...

Historic Fleets

By A.D. Baker III
October 2006
The Battle of Lissa in July 1866 was effectively won when the Austrian flagship Erzherzog Ferdinand Max rammed and sank the Italian Re d’ltalia. Admiral Wilhelm Freiherr von Tegetthoff’s feat ...

Historic Fleets

By A.D. Baker III
August 2006
By the mid-1950s, the U.S. Navy had worldwide Cold War operational requirements, but its surface fleet suffered from a lack of endurance. The Navy’s leadership had become convinced of the ...

Historic Fleets

By A.D. Baker III
June 2006
The recent configuration of Arleigh Burke (DDG-51)-class guided-missile destroyers, DDG-91 through DDG-96 to handle the AN/WLD-1A remotely- operated mine countermeasures system, marks the return to a practice instituted at the ...

Historic Fleets

By A. D. Baker III
April 2006
The U.S. Navy has a long history of purchasing foreign designs after it has fallen behind in various areas of warship technology. During the rapid renaissance of the then thoroughly ...

Books by Arthur Baker