I would like to thank Casemate for my advance copy of this book, and to the IPMS Reviewer Corps to be able to provide this review.

Foreword / Introduction

The book covers battleship development with emphasis on US battleships and their operations in World War (WW) II. Only one chapter deals specifically to the WWII period 1939-45 listed in the title, but the stage is set for US battleships in WWII. Each successive US battleship class contributes to the awesome battleship armada the US put to war 1939-45. The book also follows US battleships following WWII (the cold war). Each successive class battleship is described in terms of: gun armament, armor, protection, displacement, propulsion and significant operational history.

Chapter 1: Pre-dreadnought Era

These were considered ‘pre-dreadnought’ since they generally had a mix of larger gun sizes.

For example:

• HMS Majestic (launched 1895) had four (4) 12” guns
• USS Kearsarge (BB-5, launched 1898) had four (4) 13” guns and four (4) 8” guns
• IJN Mikasa (launched 1900) had four (4) 12” guns and fourteen (14) 6” guns;

Developments introduced in the ‘pre-dreadnought’ era included a ‘central citadel’ which created a tub of greater armor thickness (up to 18” thick) in the center of the hull to concentrate protection closely around critical systems such as the gun turrets and ammunition magazines. This meant that the armor would taper away toward the bow and the stern. Other developments followed with burning oil to avoid handling coal where the easily detected black smoke trailed from ship exhaust. With huge oil reserves the US was the first (in 1910) to standardize on oil vs coal burning plants. Steam turbines were also introduced during this era.

Chapter 2: Dreadnought - The All-big-gun Battleship (Florida and Wyoming Classes)

The advantages of the ‘all-big-gun’ battleship include: common caliber in guns making transfer of trained men and materiel seamless across the fleet, streamlined fire control with only one set of ballistic calculations for gun range adjustments, reduced confusion between shell splashes from bigger or lighter guns, and the likelihood of future engagements at greater ranges favoring standardization on the largest (12” vs 10”) caliber.

Chapter 3: The Next Step - The Super Dreadnoughts (New York, Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Tennessee and Colorado Classes)

The relevance of US Battleship development leading to operational experience between 1939 – 45 is explored here. The development, construction and launching of ships is described along with the operational experience and ultimate ship disposition. You needn’t wait until later in the book (the World War II chapter) to learn the fate of the USS Arizona, its all right here in one spot, from development to its sinking.

Chapter 4: The Interwar Period – A Dawn for New Battleships (North Carolina, South Dakota, Iowa and (the planned) Montana Class)

The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 established tonnage limits based on strength ratios as follows: for Great Britain and the US were limited to 525,000 tons total each, 315,000 tons for Japan, and 175,000 each for France and Italy.

This arrangement required Great Britain to accept parity with the US Navy and to abandon its ‘partnership” with Japan. Great Britain and Japan were not in a financial position to win an arms race.

During the 1930s most countries upgraded their World War I navies with stable optical range finders for fire control, armor on decks exposed to threat from the air, and anti-aircraft gun emplacements.

There’s not a lot of good color photos available to the WWII naval modeler. There are plenty of photos including over 70 color photos or illustrations. There aren’t explicit camouflage schemes illustrated here but paint schemes can be seen in many photos included here.

Chapter 5: Battlecruisers and Large Cruisers

A battlecruiser was intended to be similar to battleships but different. Namely the similarities were displacement, armament and cost; but they were faster with less armor, smaller guns and longer hulls.

The six original Lexington class cruisers were designed for 35 knots with ten (10) 14” guns. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 dictated that all but two Lexington class hulls would be scrapped and that two (2) be reclassed as aircraft carriers, becoming the USS Lexington (CV-2) and Saratoga (CV-3).

Chapter 6: World War II – The Fighting Battleships

This chapter is devoted to the major operational engagements of US battleships in World War II with special emphasis on Pearl Harbor Dec 7 1941, Guadalcanal (1942), Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 1944), Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct 1944), and Japanese surrender Sept 2, 1945 on the deck of the USS Missouri (BB-63). This is largely the short story of the US battleship fleet prevailing relatively unscathed while many Japanese battleships are sunk in 1943 – 45. The IJN Nagato was the only Japanese battleship to survive the war relatively intact and was thus available for the final insult in the Bikini Nuclear Tests in 1946 after the war.

Chapter 7: Battleships in the Cold War

The battleship continued with the US Navy after WWII but in roles more secondary to the dominant aircraft carriers that emerged from the war. With the introduction of missile technology large caliber guns became less relevant and the best armored surface ship wouldn’t survive in the nuclear age.

One of the earlier uses found for the aging fleet after the war was to blow them up at anchor in the Bikini Island nuclear tests. To best learn the effects of the blast on the ship’s crew, the ‘crew’ was replaced with 5600 living animals such as pigs, sheep, rats and mice. Lucky ships included the IJN Nagato, German Prinz Eugen, USS Arkansas, Nevada, New York, and Pennsylvania. Most were towed elsewhere for target practice and sinking after the nuclear tests were over.

Chapter 8: U.S.S. Missouri – A Guided Tour

All of the pictures in this chapter (USS Missouri – a Guided Tour) are in color, and show many details of ship features – enough to satisfy demanding modeling interests.

Bibliography

The bibliography is brief and includes the authors three prior publications including: Schlachtschiffe der US Navy (Dreadnoughts of the US Navy), Prinz Eugen, and the USS Arizona.

Index

The index is four (4) pages and includes enough information to usefully cross reference between ship hull numbers, ship names and classes.