Weapons of War Battleships & Aircraft Carriers 1900-Present

The "Weapons of War" series seems to be a compact counterpart to Amber's "Essential Guide" series, presenting less information at a quite reasonable price, especially for a hardcover.An introductory chapter gives a brief history of capital ships from the dawn of the ironclad era around 1860 to the present day, mainly from a British point of view. It seems reasonably accurate, aside from identifying the ship sunk by the Washington at Guadalcanal as the Haruna, rather than the Kirishima. (All three ships appear in the subsequent listings, with correct information.)The 150-or-so ships that follow are presented alphabetically, generally one to a page, though the handful of ships given two pages are rather puzzling and do not merit that honor. Each ship has a color side-view, a specification table and a brief history.The choice of ships included is also puzzling at times. In some cases, multiple ships in a class are each given treatment, whereas other notable classes are omitted entirely. As is occasionally the case with books originating in the U.K., there seem to be, relatively speaking, a few too many British ships, though just about all navies that had ships of these types are represented at least once. The ships of the minor navies are probably the most interesting ones in the book! But there are also seaplane tenders and even some destroyers and cruisers, which hardly fit the title of the book.One glaring error has to do with the Clemenceau; the narrative and specification are for the WW2 battleship, but the illustration is of the postwar carrier!My main problem with the book is the alphabetical listing, which makes the index in the back entirely superfluous. The book would have been more useful if the ships had been arranged in chapters, by ship type and chronological period, which would have made it easier to compare ships.This is a nice, introductory book to its subject at a good price, but should not be relied upon as a primary reference.

My son likes it very much.

Love this book. I love the history of the modern battleship. From First Sea Lord Jackie Fisher and the development of H.M.S. Dreadnought to the demise with the Iowa class. Aircraft Carriers too are interesting since they, in many ways, took the place of the battleship as the most powerful weapons platform on the sea..

THE BOOK ARRIVED WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT. IT DOES GIVE A GOOD TECHNICAL-HISTORICAL DESCRIPION OF THE SHIPS. THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS EXCELLENT. THE COLOR GRAPHICS GIVES A GOOD INTRO BUT IS NOT DETAILED ENOUGH. A GREAT REDEEMING FACT OF THIS BOOK IS THAT IT FEATURES SOME SHIPS IN WW1 CONFIGURATION. ALSO, SOME LESSER KNOWN SHIPS ARE INCLUDED. THE RATING SHOULD BE 3.5 STARS.

I bought this book as a basic and enjoyable reference book on naval ships from all parts of the world. Also, I enjoy going back and forth turning the pages and staying up to date without having to constantly run to the computer to look up information. Not everything that you find is on the internet. This book is well worth having in your collection.

My son LOVES this book. It has great pictures and nice information and plenty of different ships. He was bummed that it didn't have the Mighty Mo' but I showed him that it has the Iowa class battleships in it with the USS Iowa.

My eight year old grandson has developed an interest in battleships, but he needs general information and illustrations--a good blend--a good reference book. Structural details that are more for engineers, designers, or experts would frustrate him. Perfect fit for what readers looking for this type of overview.

This material is just a repeat of other quick reference books put out years ago. The book is not complete and misses some ship variants. You can get the same information on the internet. Also could have been done with a soft cover

The good thing about this book is the variety of ships included from all around the world and from different time period. I like how all the ships share similar side-view picture. (One ship's picture violate this commodity across the book which I found a bit annoying).However the way the ships are listed in this book is flawed. They are purely listed alphabetically by their name not by class, and sometimes it is not obvious what class each ship is from. They are not separated by the era they are from at all. So you can have an Ironclad Warrior followed by a WWII Battleship Washington in the next page.Also the choice of ships is a bit random, sometimes you have three ships from the same class. While some class only have one ship being chosen seemly randomly.

On the whole, they are perfect for my needsAswell as all the specialist equipments. Plus the history regarding 17th Century

What can I say, this series of books is well set out, good diagrams/photos of each ship, Very Informative indeed

A handy little book for the general reader. Each page gives details of a particular Battleship or Aircraft Carrier together with a brief history and a colour drawing. Ideal as a guide to the modeller or wargamer.

Ce n'est pas un ouvrage détaillé sur les navires, plutôt un ensemble de fiches signalétiques pour chaque classe de navire. En un coup d’œil, on peut voir les caractéristiques principales et quelques informations historiques, ni plus ni moins. Illustrations de qualité.