Entering service between 1937 and 1939, the ten British “Town” class cruisers were the most modern vessels of their type in the Royal Navy when World War II began. Built in response to large 6-inch gunned cruisers in the U.S. and Japanese navies and primarily designed for the defense of trade, they saw arduous service in a wide range of ...
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British Town Class Cruisers
"Southampton and Belfast Classes: Design, Development and Performance"
Available Formats: Hardcover
Cruiser Birmingham
Detailed in the Original Builders' Plans
The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the “as fitted” general arrangements, these drawings documented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service.
Today these plans form part of the incomparable collection of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
German Battleship Helgoland
Detailed in the Original Builders' Plans
This book is the latest in a series based entirely on original draughts which depict famous warships in an unprecedented degree of detail. Using the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality, it reproduces complete sets in full color, with many close-ups and enlargements that make every aspect clear and comprehensible. The result is a novel ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Utmost Savagery
The Three Days of Tarawa
Marine combat veteran and award-winning military historian Joseph Alexander takes a fresh look at one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. His gripping narrative, first published in 1995, has won him many prizes, with critics lauding his use of Japanese documents and his interpretation of the significance of what happened. The first trial by fire of America's fledgling ...
Available Formats: Softcover
The Supercarriers
The Forrestal and Kitty Hawk Class
The Supercarriers is a comprehensive historical overview with extensive photos, maps, drawings, and operational detail, including all air-wing deployments. It covers all of the Forrestal class supercarriers and the follow-on ships, which are basically of the same design. The book is heavily illustrated with over one hundred illustrations and maps covering the Western Pacific, Vietnam, Mediterranean, Middle East, Indian Ocean ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
British Fiji Class Cruisers and their Derivatives
The Fiji-class, often called the “Colony” class, cruisers were a class of eleven light cruisers of the Royal Navy that saw extensive service throughout World War II. They were an attempt to incorporate the characteristics of the preceding “Town” class within the reduced 8,000-ton limit agreed under the 1936 London Treaty. In general layout, Colony class resembled the earlier ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
Aircraft Carrier Intrepid
Naval History Special Edition
The USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), one of the 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II, was commissioned in August 1943, and participated in several campaigns in the Pacific, where she was torpedoed once and hit by four different kamikaze suicide aircraft, earning her the unfortunate nicknames “Evil I” and “Decrepid.”
Decommissioned shortly after the war, she was modernized and ...
Available Formats: Softcover
The U.S. Naval Institute on Naval Strategy
In the U.S. Navy, “Wheel Books” were once found in the uniform pockets of every junior and many senior petty officers. Each small notebook was unique to the Sailor carrying it, but all had in common a collection of data and wisdom that the individual deemed useful in the effective execution of his or her duties. Often used as a ...
Available Formats: Softcover
Before the Battlecruiser
"The Big Cruiser in the World’s Navies, 1865-1910"
The battlecruiser is perceived by many as the most glamorous of warships, remembered for its triumphs and tragedies in both world wars. Often forgotten are its lineal ancestors, the big cruisers that were constructed as capital ships for distant waters, as commerce raiders, and as fast scouts for the battle fleet during the last decades of the nineteenth century and ...
Available Formats: Hardcover
The Battle of Leyte Gulf at 75
A Retrospective
Often appropriately described as the “greatest naval battle in history,” the battle of Leyte Gulf (23–26 October 1944) was actually a series of battles in which both sides exhibited courage and resourcefulness yet suffered from confusion born of poorly conceived command relationships and ineffective communications. Marked by awe-inspiring heroism, failed intelligence, brilliant deception, flawed strategy, effective tactical planning, great controversies ...
Available Formats: Softcover