It would be about right to state that the US ended WWII with the most modern battleship fleet in the world. One would not have guessed at the beginning of the war that what was the premier naval weapon would end up being eclipsed by a ship type that carried only anti-aircraft guns;  the aircraft carrier. Indeed it was this conflict that showed the general supremacy of air power or the big guns of the fleet. Not to say that there was no role for the battleship. There very much was and that was in shore bombardment. Thanks to the size of modern naval rifles, battleships were able to stand off-shore and pummel enemy defenses in preparation for an amphibious landing. In fact, there was no major Allied landing that was not accompanied by naval bombardment. This trait even resulted in the newest of the Navy's battleships being overhauled for wars later in the 20th century.

This particular book is a special edition of their Illustrated series. It is considerably enlarged over the usual fare and it needs to be, thanks to the vast amount of information and the photos selected.

The book covers more than just those ships commissioned during the war. It provides a background to US battleship development from the beginning of the 20th century. It also provides information on every class of ship that was actually in the Navy's inventory at the start of the war. Each class provides information on its armament, propulsion and it protection. Also included is every ship's war record. It is probably telling that other than Pearl Harbor, no US battleship was lost to enemy action.

In addition to their wartime record, there is coverage of the later refurbishment of the Iowa class battleships for service in Vietnam and in Gulf War I. While the US never really built a battlecruiser (though several were started), it did build a small series of large cruisers of the Alaska class. Two were comissioned near the end of the war and had very brief service until decommissioned and finally scrapped. Probably surprising to many is that there are still eight US battleships extant as museum ships. This includes all four of the Iowa class ships. In all, this is really a superb book on the subject and one that I can provide my highest recommendation.

August 2024

Copyright ModelingMadness.com. All rights reserved.

Review book courtesy of  Casemate Publishers. Get yours at this link. 

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.