Thank you Osprey Publishing for providing a review copy of their new ship’s annual! I first thought that Osprey was publishing a new series, but in fact, Osprey is continuing the Conway imprint of naval and military books, which is excellent news. As always, I truly appreciate all those in the IPMS Reviewer Corps, whose work is critical to sharing new and exciting modeling and historical products with the world.

Overview

Warship 2018 is part of an annual series and follows historical event anniversaries, new analysis of naval engagements, intriguing operations, and more general ship topics. Each of the 11 chapters is a stand-alone study, accompanied by abundant images, drawings and data. All writing styles are slightly different, but each is appropriate and engaging for the chapter topic.

Content Coverage

Brief highlights of each chapter are included here. Short engaging descriptions of chapter content following chapter titles.

Niels Iuel: This is the story of a Danish coast guard patrol vessel. Her service history is unique, giving insights into the less known dynamics of interaction with an occupying force in a “neutral” protectorate country.

The Battle of the River Plate: The well-known German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee faced off with three British ships. Detailed track analyses are included. USN and British tactical protocols are used in post action analysis.

Under the Guns: This chapter analyzes the battle damage sustain by the Graf Spee. A wealth of detail showing all aspects of incoming shell flights allows effective determination of damage. Mapped impact locations on Graf Spee plans and profiles couple with images of the damage in many cases. This chapter is a thorough after-action analysis.

The Armoured Cruiser Jeanne D’Arc: This ship is an early French armored cruiser. The chapter describes her armament, propulsion, protections, and other aspects of design in excellent detail. Plans and profiles show overall ship configuration and many other details. This chapter will help detailing a model of this vessel.

Breaking ‘Ultra’: This chapter is a story of intelligence and counter-intelligence operations. The cat-and-mouse of cryptography described in fascinating terms makes for excellent reading.

The IJN Light Cruiser OYODO: The Oyodo was a surface flagship design for a submarine flotilla. She had an unusual mission, with much controversy. Many tables and illustrations cover the ship’s details. The last part of the chapter describes her sinking at the end of the war and subsequent salvage.

Coast Defence and Coast Offence: The Russo-Japanese War pressured the Russian Navy to address fleet requirements. Coastal defense needs gave rise to a series of monitor designs. This chapter summarizes Russian monitor designs with abundant design description, profile, plans, data tables, and excellent image.

Modern Naval Replenishment Vessels: Support vessels are forgotten many times. This chapter describes some European solutions to at-sea replenishment and includes historical context. I was pleased to see environmental consideration in sea transfers.

Lost in the Fog of War: The British focus on dreadnoughts and support vessels left a gap in intermediate-size vessels to protect trade routes in the early part of the 1900s. Many answers and resulting examples of this gap populate this chapter.

AMATSUKAZE: a Destroyer’s Struggle: CDR Tameiche Hara famously describes the exploits of the Amatsukaze in a well-known memoir. However, the author of this chapter noticed a gap in Hara’s otherwise complete history and chose to research the missing materials. This entire chapter provides an expanded look at the fate of this destroyer in the waning days of World War 2.

USS Huntington (Ex-West Virginia): The Huntington was one of ten armored cruised authorized by the US Navy shortly after the Spanish-America War. Characteristics of the ship are found in this chapter, with plans, profile, images, and data.

Warship Notes, Naval Books of the Year, Warship Gallery: The last section of the volume contains quite a bit of bonus information about IJN gunnery, submarine sinkings, and USN political nomenclature. A Naval Books of the Year bibliography is included, followed by a Warship Gallery highlighting Japanese submarines at Sasebo in 1921.

All articles are very well referenced with verifiable sources. I found this volume to be very well-written and engaging. The material is very easy to understand and will be a useful reference for those interested in the chapter topics.

Overall Recommendation

I absolutely recommend this volume, from both the scale-model and historical perspectives.

Thanks again to Osprey Publishing; your company’s work helps keep history alive. Thank you again to the stalwart Reviewer Corps for your hard work in making these review opportunities happen, Go Team!