Customer Reviews

American Battleships: A Pictorial History of BB-1 to BB-71

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Max Newhart has created an excellent overview of Amercian Battleships. His work provides the reader with basic technical and historical information on each American Battleship from the Maine to the Montana class. This work enables students of naval warfare to follow the advancements in Battleship construction by simply turning the pages in chronological order. If you are seeking detailed information on individual ships you will need to look elsewhere. However, if you have a general interest in naval ships and you want to improve your knowlege of American Battleships this is a terrific book.

I got this book from Amazon.com on discount. So, it was a good value. For less than $10 (including shipping) I got a book with lots of good information. This book gives a complete break down of Battleship classes. Example: The USS Michigan is of the South Carolina Class. The USS New Jersey is of the Iowa class.

Also, this book has a wonderful break down of the number of battleships in service by a decade breakdown from 1900 to 2000. The USA had 30 Battleships in service during 1910. We only had 23 in service in 1945. It was 0 in 1960.

This is a good value for the money. I build Battleshps. So, I needed a quick reference. I have been happy with the purchase.

So, fellow Battleship fan, this book is worth your money.

This book was great. I liked it because it included all the battleships built by the U.S. and those that were scheduled to be built, but never were. It gave a a good history on each of them and also a decade by decade insight of the political circumstances surrounding the building of battleships. Again, a very good book.

This book contains detailed info on every battleship that sailed under the american flag. One good thing about this book is that it includes at least one photo of each ship. Considering that some of these ships were built a long time ago, this is quite an accomplishment. A must have for fans of capital ships.

IN A NUTSHELL: A BASEBALL CARD LIKE TREATMENT FOR EVERY BATTLESHIP

Every American Battleship BB-1 to BB-71, which includes ships that were designed and never built or laid down but never completed, has its page along with a picture or illustration and some important stats, characteristics and highlights.

Owing to the concise structure of the book, there is a repeating format making ship to ship comparisons easy and quick, but this is not a reader, and so everything presented is in point form. Think of each page as a baseball card and the picture is the player or in this case, the ship. The stats and everything you would have to know is there for every ship in exactly the same way and there are pictures to.

SPECIFICS: THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL FIND FOR EACH SHIP + PHOTO or DIAGRAM

* THE FIRST COMMANDING OFFICER
* AUTHORIZED DATE
* KEEL LAID - LAUNCHED - COMMISSIONED - SPONSORED
* DISPLACEMENT STD. TONS - DISPLACEMENT FULL LOAD TONS
* DESIGN CREW COMPLEMENT
* MAIN GUNS - SECONDARY GUNS
* CONSTRUCTION COSTS
* ARMOR
* LENGTH OVERALL - MAIN DRAUGHT
* EXTREME BEAM
* TORPEDO TUBES
* CATAPULT
* BUILDER - ORIGINAL ENGINE MFG. - ORIGINAL BOILER MFG.
* ORIGINAL FUEL - DRIVE
* SISTERS
* DESIGNED SPEED - DESIGNED HORSEPOWER
* DESIGN COMMENTS
* HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS [this is most expanded comment depending on war record
* DATE DECOMMISSIONED
* COMMENDATIONS [battle stars]
* FINAL DISPOSITION

Before the stat-sheets outlined above, there are three interesting chapters titled, "CONSTRUCTION HISTORY", OPERATIONAL HISTORY", and "EPILOGUE". The Epilogue ends with a full page table titled,"UNITED STATES NAVAL ORDNANCE - 1895-1994" About these three chapters, all I'll say is that they are concise and full of usefully organized info, but I wish there was more.

BONUS HERE: INCLUDES MANY INTERESTING SHIPS THAT WERE NEVER COMPLETED

The South Dakota class of 1917 [BB49-54] which was designed and never built is included here as is the Montana Class [BB67-71]. Other ships and prototypes that were never completed are also included.

BOTTOM LINE: PERFECT FOR FAST HANDY REFERENCE

I pull this reference out frequently while I am reading other books when I want to know something quick about a ship. What size main guns and how many the ship had. What kind of propulsion system. What battles the ship might have been in, etc..

There is also a picture from the Bikini Atomic test on "Baker day", July 25 1946, just a moment after the detonation. The sight of the Arkansas [BB-33] frozen in a VERTICAL POSITION, perpendicular to the ocean, is a rather sobering sight and quickly tells the story of what happened to the Battleship era.

What "American Battleships" does best is to simply keep a huge topic within a manageable scope and in a highly useful format. Most people will find most of what they want in this edition and they'll find it fast and in a format that makes comparison very easy. Best of all, this book is available at a very affordable price for a well illustrated text of this kind, and on glossy paper as well.


ALSO RECOMMENDED U.S. BATTLESHIPS [an illustrated design history, Norman Friedman, 1985]

As a naval aviator attuned to aircraft carriers and naval aircraft, I found this book on battlships most impressive. I have always secretly admired the battleship as one of America's finest vessels, even more so than the aircraft carrier, and the information contained in this book adds even more emphasis on just how magnificent they were. It does my heart good to see the surviving Iowa's preserved as museums rather than seeing them await the scrappers torch as so many aircraft carriers have succumbed to. Great book, easy to read and understand, and I heartily recommend it.

I am an artist and I am currently painting the USS Texas. I found this book very useful, as one of my references... and also the very interesting details about all the battleships... even the ones that were not built.

"American Battleships" (2001) is a well-researched and informative 110-page paperback. This text, destined to become a classic for naval research, offers at least one black and white photo and a list of vital statistics for every US battleship from the late 19th century prototypes (USS Maine and USS Texas), to BB-71 USS Louisiana (cancelled in 1943). Actually, author Max Newhart explains, BB-64 USS Wisconsin is the final US battlewagon launched (seven additional ships where commissioned but later canceled due to Cold War expenses and constraints).

Newhart begins the book with an informative chapter about the battleship's construction history. He explains that these floating cities grew in size with the commission of each new battleship class (crew compliments grew from 380 in 1889 to 1943's 2700!). He speaks to the US Navy's battleship presence in every ocean and every major port. He describes each World War II Reserve Fleet's composition (naming each battleship in those groups). Of particular interest are the latest battleships' post-war service across the globe (BB-62 USS New Jersey served in the 1983 Beirut Crisis, BB-63 USS Missouri and BB-64 USS Wisconsin saw action in 1991's Desert Storm).

The best portion of this book is each battleship's statistical explanation. Newhart lists each ship's facts and figures (launch date, displacement tons, crew compliment, gun calibers, construction costs, etc.) from naval records. This data is fascinating. The main guns on these war ships went from 4-10' 35 calibers in 1889 to the 1980s 8-MK 143 Tomahawks and ABL's 40 MK! (These powerful ships make one reappreciate "shock and awe".) Is it any wonder that history's mightiest navy has sailed under the Stars and Stripes?

The original photos show these big ships in harbor, at war, and after battle. They alone are worth the cost of this book. Newhart's writing style is easy and instructive. He will teach you about American battleships. This is a remarkable book and recommended to everyone.

I first heard about Mr. Newhart's book through other Battleship historians. Subsequently the author and I got together on the phone and discussed an apparent discrepancy in the width of the (never built) MONTANA class BB's. The author was kind enough to send me an autographed copy of his book. The only problem I found with his data was the (probably inadvertent) omission of the only fatal combat casualty suffered aboard the USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62). I provided the author with the details and documentation of the missing information and as I understand it, the corrections will appear in the next printing. Besides those almost insignificant slips, I found the book to be an excellent reference text and includes each and every Battleship not only built in America but intended to be built. The general layout is similar to Jane's Fighting Ships but deals only with American Battleships. For quick reference as to launching and commissioning dates and final disposition, a researcher could find nothing better. I have already used the book in addressing exactly how many Battleships we actually had in service on active duty at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and how many of the newer "Fast" Battleships were already on the building ways, which was virtually all of them. Photos are properly descriptive and the most important historical and technical data is quite accurate with the two minor items mentioned above. As a matter of fact, the worst thing I could find with the book is it is published in SOFT cover vs. a more durable hard cover. I highly recommend that any Naval or Battleship history buff have this book in his collection. Richard A. Landgraff DREADNAUGHT CONSULTING Long Beach, California