Luke R. Bucci, PhD
Reviews By Author
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Fighting Ships of the U.S. Navy 1883-2019, Aircraft Carriers, Escort Carriers, Volume One Part TwoPublished:
Venner Milewski, Jr., a longtime naval sailor and shipbuilder, decided to catalog all the ships used by the US Navy since 1883. This ambitious program has borne fruit in his first Volume of aircraft carriers. This review looks into the 2nd Part of Volume One – Escort Carriers. If you ever wanted a comprehensive who’s who of US Escort Carriers, with loads of photographs and camouflage patterns, this encyclopedic reference is it!
Chief Milewski, now retired, enjoyed a 32-year career in the US Navy with combat service in Vietnam, and as Chief Fire Controlman for the Tartar Missile System, Aegis SPY-1 radar and Weapons Systems. He also spent 16 years in the shipbuilding industry. Ably assisted by his son, Venner Milewski… more |
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Operation Meghdoot: India’s War in Siachen, 1984-2020. Asia @ War SeriesPublished:
“It all started with few maps and an innocent German rafting expedition.” (Chapter 4, page 20). The war for the Siachen glacier sounds like something from a historical fiction book. One pundit called it two bald men fighting over a comb, but Operation Meghdoot was a 36-year-long shooting war fought at the highest elevations ever (up to 22,000 feet or ~6700 meters) between two bitter, next-door neighbors with nukes fighting over the largest ice mass on Earth outside of the polar regions. Where the weather killed many times more men than the enemy, and where China was ever a threat to intervene at the top of the world. Warfare rules were rewritten for constant cold weather and elevation, and helicopters were absolutely essential. This “operation” was mostly ignored by the rest of the… more |
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British Sloops and Frigates of the Second World WarPublished:
Casemate Publishers presents ShipCraft 27, British Sloops and Frigates of WW2 by Les Brown from Seaforth Publishing. This long-awaited book is a ship modeler’s dream come true as a reference work on the large numbers obscure but important Royal Navy antisubmarine warships that helped turn the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic. This easy-to-digest book details each of the 17 classes of sloops and frigates used by the Royal Navy in WW2. These mostly forgotten, smaller warships focused on convoy escort duties and helped revolutionize antisubmarine warfare tactics. This book lists class history, available model kits, model accessories, many photographs, camouflage examples, line drawings and color plates of finished models – a superb reference for these plentiful ships with many… more |
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Cruisers of the Third Reich, Vol. 1Published:
The author, Wikold Koszela, has written 24 books on warships, mostly British, United States and German battleships and modern Polish and Soviet Navy warships. Twelve of his publications are in the Kagero Top Drawing series. For this and other books, Witold also supplied the line and color drawings, and they are top quality and very helpful for modelers. I could not find additional information on Witold. Casemate Publishing is offering the latest Maritime Series installment from the Polish publisher Stratus. You get a hardbound book, 11.875 X 8.5 inches, 144 pages. CIIIR is loaded with photographs (149 B&W of course), along with one map, 10 tables and 23 line drawings. The last five pages of the book have eight color plates, showing each ship. Volume 1 covers the first five… more |
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Pacific Adversaries. Volume Four. Imperial Japanese Navy vs The Allies. The Solomons 1943-1944.Published:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! The author, Michael John Claringbould, developed an acute interest in documenting WW2 South Pacific wrecks after getting no answers about the WW2 plane wreck on the hill next to his grade school in Port Moresby, PNG (Papua New Guinea). He carried a wingtip home and from his photos it was identified as a P40E Kittyhawk A29-109. His life afterwards has been devoted to bringing to light the largely forgotten South Pacific theatre airplane wrecks. This includes documenting the Japanese side too, something most Anglocentric writings have little to no details about. That is a key difference between his books and others of WW2 South Pacific history. Michael has long been searching… more |
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French Battleships 1922-1956Published:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! Battleship lovers – break out your drool cups! Everything you always wanted to know about French WW2 battleships is here! This heavy book is the ultimate – last of the FMN battleships. You now have the sine qua non of French battleship books. You could stop reading this review right here because you have all you really need to know about this book, but your battleship addiction means you want more details. Let’s chase that dragon! The authors are the world authorities on French naval history and have been and still are publishing fact-filled, adventure-packed books on Marine Nationale Francais (FMN) topics. John Jordan is a prolific writer and has become an expert on the interwar naval period (that’s… more |
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The Japanese Battleship Kongo 1944 - Top DrawingsPublished:
Kagero Publishing, from Poland, is one of the major military history publishing houses. Since 1998, when Kagero started publishing in English, over 600 titles have been produced at a pace of 60 per year or more. Topics focus on specific planes, armor and ships, along with a bevy of focused topics, such as a class of warships or an armor type. Kagero caters to ship modelers by turning out books filled with line and 3D computer-generated illustrations, with incomparable accuracy to details. For warships, Kagero has two series: 1) Super 3D Drawings and 2) Top Drawings, focusing on a single ship per book. The topic of this book review is one of the Top Drawings series, which are designed for modelers to have a reference for detailed appearances of individual ships. Top Drawings consist of… more |
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Dettingen 1743 - Miracle on the MainPublished:
Thanks to Osprey Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! Michael (Mike) McNally, a native Londoner, has authored ten books for Osprey – this is his latest. Mike has written about the battles of Aughrim, Boyne and the Irish Brigade in French service. He is working on German colonial campaigns during WWI, Irish military history and the Marlborough campaign. Sean O’Brogain is a well-worked artist and illustrator for a wide variety of clients, including the National Museum of Ireland. He resides in Donegal, Ireland. You get a 9.75 X 7.25 inch size paperback book that follows the usual pattern of Osprey Campaign books – well illustrated in color, chock full of images and maps, easy to digest, and thorough enough to understand the conflict. Mike McNally follows… more |
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The Naval War of the Pacific. 1879-1884 Saltpeter War. No. 3111Published:
Thanks to Casemate Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy! Piotr Olender is a Polish naval historian who lives in Gdansk, Poland. He has authored a series of books via MMP Books and Casemate that delve into the little-known, predominantly naval wars around the world in the last half of the 1800s and early 1900s. This particular offering gives an operational history of the so-called Saltpeter War, or The War of the Pacific, that ultimately defined the geographic borders of three western countries of South American – Bolivia, Chile and Peru. This book is one of the Maritime Series published by Stratus s.j. in Sandomierz, Poland. What You GetA 11.8 X 8.2 inch paperback book 3/8 inches thick. Lavishly illustrated, although after the front cover,… more |
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Wars and Soldiers in the Early Reign of Louis XIV. Volume 3 – The Armies of the Ottoman Empire 1645-1718Published:
Bruno Mugnai is a prolific author and illustrator who has specialized in history of eastern Europe in the 16th-18th centuries, ancient Italian states and South America after Spanish conquest. He has previously published titles for the Italian Army and Helion & Company (UK), including five volumes on Wars and Soldiers in the early Reign of Louis XIV, and the Cretan War (1645-1671). He also an illustrator for his books. This book is No 55 of the Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 series by Helion, and is an update in English of the original title published in Italian in 1997. This time period saw warfare escalate into serious national business, fostering a steady stream of advances, changing rulers, nations and history. Pike to musket era. This book focuses on the Ottoman… more |