Fighting Ships of the US Navy 1883-2019 - Vol 2

The word battleship still creates a singular visceral feeling in those people knowledgeable enough to know what a battleship is rather than the sloppy lazy modern media definition of what a battleship is. The sheer raw human-created firepower of a battleship, during the brief reign of the type as the capital ship of most naval powers, was enough to create stability, or conversely, to destabilise governments. Battleship construction led to conflict, and arguably the three nations that developed battleships to their fullest were Great Britain, Japan and the United States. This 229 page hardback book is part of an ongoing series of generally similarly laid out books that have been thoroughly researched, but having said that there are some notable omissions in some of the details. Each class of ship (25 classes of Battleships and 4 classes of Monitors) starting with the Maine Class of 1888 through to the still-born Montana Class, receive a fairly well-detailed and tabulated form of each classes characteristics, together with a brief overview of each ship’s career from construction, refits, war service (where applicable) and disposal. There are at least four images for each ship with usually well-researched captions. For this reviewer, the brevity of the history of the ships is somewhat of a drawback but if you view this book as a reference work detailing the history and lineage of American battleship construction, then other books elsewhere can fill in the service history details one seeks. Where this book excels is in the number of images in what is a relatively small book. 369 photos have been assembled, some of which are stated as being rarely seen. As is to be expected, some of the earliest images are not like modern day hi-resolution images, photography in 1888 was in its infancy so don’t expect pin sharp images from the earliest classes of battleships. Another strength of this book for me is that it focuses light on the American “New Navy” monitors, something that doesn’t receive the attention it deserves.