Customer Reviews

Iowa Class Battleships And Alaska Class Large Cruisers Conversion Projects 1942-1964: An Illustrated Technical Reference

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

 

 

With 24 pages of real content (not counting index, title page, colophon, blank pages at the end) and a large typesize at that, I was very disappointed in this book.

Each conversion project was given at most two paragraphs of attention, while every other one got a nice piece of lineart and a full color painting. The projects themselves were interesting and informative, but there is only so much you can learn in a single paragraph.

Were it not for the illustrations and artwork (which are all beautiful) I would have given this one star. Were it half the price I would have given it three.

I'm a big fan of the Alaska class cruisers and I've spent a lot of time researching them, so any time a new book appears about them I buy it!

However, I must say that I am not exactly impressed with these "Nimble Books", as they are extremely pricey for what you get. The book itself is 38 pages long, of which only 24 actually contain information about the subject at hand. Five pages after the content ends are filled with information about the publisher and then followed with seven blank filler pages. The entire publication just sort of seems like it was put together by a teenager for a history project; there are many typos and misspellings that are quite easy to catch. Perhaps a new editor is called for? One thing that grates on my nerves is the author's use of the abbreviation "MACK" in all capitals; "mack" is a combination of "mast" and "stack" and, therefore, does not need to be capitalized!

The data provided about the conversion projects is interesting enough and it does an alright job of explaining them in detail. The paintings are nice, and the line drawings are just sort of decent... they are shown at such a small size as to be almost irrelevant; no detail is visible and one only gets a basic idea of what's going on with each conversion project.

I would recommend a prospective buyer to just save their money, or wait until the book decreases in price.

This is unfortunately one of the most disappointing books I have read on these great warships. The text is very loosely spaced and occupies barely 21 pages, with very few illustrations. The only positive are the paintings of the possible look of the ships as modified in service.
The text does not even cover the Vietnam era updates or the other possible conversions considered in the 1970's and 1980's, which would have made it more worthwhile.
A very limited book and a great disappointment, and very poor value as well.
I returned it immediately.

This is pretty obscure subject matter, and because of that, I would expect to pay more. The book is essentially self-published. However, as numerous reviewers have already pointed out, the book has numerous problems. It is short, it contains relatively little information, and there are typos and editorial mistakes on virtually EVERY page. It reads badly.

I also disagree with some of the comments about the artwork. It is not that good. As much as I want to see color illustrations of these vessels, the quality is not that great. In particular, the lines are not straight and many of the vessels look almost like they were sketched. The end result is that they look blurry. Similarly, the line drawings are too small to be useful, and they also suffer from unsteady lines. Although the sketches were reduced to fit on the page, there were other solutions to this. For instance, the line drawings could have been printed horizontally in the center of the book, which would have added a few inches to each drawing and made it easier to see details. The Squadron/Signal books have a better format for line drawings of ships. Another problem that nobody has touched on is that the drawings provide only a single side view of each vessel--no top view or front or stern views. Considering that some of these vessels would have had missiles mounted on their sides, this would have been useful to see.

This book could have benefited from some additional information to flesh it out. For instance, some other Cold War conversions (like the Albany and Chicago) are mentioned, but not discussed in detail. Considering that those vessels were actually built, they could have been discussed here and provided better context for how the US Navy was trying to incorporate missiles into WWII era ships. The Navy converted a number of WWII cruisers to fire missiles like Talos and Terrier. This book could have discussed how come they were converted and the battleships and battlecruisers were not.

Finally, I would have been willing to overlook the price _if_ this book could have served as a gateway to more information on the subject. The author mentions these proposed warship conversions were studied, but includes no reference to more information. Is it possible to track down the original study or get more information from elsewhere? Obviously the author had references, so why didn't he tell us what they were instead of simply providing a list in the back of the book?

Having purchased this with the intent of using it as a guideline for constructing a plastic model conversion of an existing Missouri class battleship model kit, I was very disappointed with the size of the illustrations. Additionally, this book is far less informative or illustrated than a comparable Squadron In Action or Walk Around series book which typically costs far less. In my opinion, this book should be in the $12 price range. The only major redeeming quality this particular book has is the fact that it is a subject which has not gotten a lot of attention over the years.

As previous people have pointed out, the artwork is very well done, but is too small to actually be of much use, especially if you are looking for details to help construct a model. I won't bother to mention the poor editing in much detail as it has been documented in several previous reviews. The worst part with regard to the spelling errors is that it is too easy to run the text through a spell check in Microsoft Word or any of the various similar software programs available to people in this day and age.

It is unfortunate the errors and problems with this book, as the artwork and subject matter held such promise. Having acquired this book basically made up my mind to not purchase the Italian Battleships book which has recently been put out by the same author for fear of spending even more in purchase cost and getting much the same in terms of editing and illustration quality.

The decline of the battleship began on December 7, 1941 when carrier based aircraft attacked and sank the U.S. battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor. Three days later on December 10 Japanese
aircraft sank the British battleships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, this time the battleships were not sitting ducks like at Pearl, but were underway at full battle readiness. The reign of the battleship was over.

The Iowa class battleships of the U.S. Navy were under construction at this time, they would serve through the war, but after the guns fell silent what would become of them? The navy proposed several conversions to keep the battleship relevant, however none were carried out.
In his book, Iowa Class Battleships and Alaska Class Large Cruisers Conversion Projects, Wayne Scarpaci explores these conversions and illustrates them with his original artwork and line drawings of what the ships might have looked like. The 31 page book is a quick read and explores the proposed armament schemes and how the redesigned battleships would be employed. There has not been much written about this subject so this book should be of great interest to battleship fans around the world.

Michael W. Pocock

A totally must have item for modellers interested in making one of these ships. Very comprehesive material.

Anyone with an interest in Naval history would do themselves well to purchase this fine book. The artwork and line drawings are fantastic and the text is easy to understand, even for the lay person, who may not be totally versed in everything dealing with the subject. The artwork is as good as it gets... precise... crisp and the vessels are set in various scenes that depict a fantastic mood to each painting. Scarpaci has hit the nail on the head with this fine reference book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a very useful, consise book. In order to fully appreciate the full design processes behind the projects listed in the book it is best read in conjunction with Friedman's Illustrated Design History of US Battleships, which offers a 'fuller' design history and places the plans in context. The artwork and line drawings in Mr. Scarpaci's book are first rate and allow a very clear view as to what the ships may have looked like if ever built. One small critisim is the ommission of any plan views to accompany the excellent profile drawings. All in all, a very good work - I hope the first of many from this author on similar topics!

This is an excellent reference book as well as a good table top book for coffee or tea discussion periods with friends as sometimes happens. Obviously the author is highly knowledgeable in this area.