Customer Reviews

Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems (Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World)

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I bought this book because the price of Jane's Fighting Ships is simply impossible for me and many defence workers. I was very satisfied with this alternative and happy to know that there's an alternative to Jane's at a much cheaper price.
The only aspects I didn't like so much is that these editions are not annual but cover two years instead, so some information is very outdated (example: new chinese destroyers and fast missile boats, Tikuna class submarine, portuguese building program-multiple classes - at least these are closer to my work) and some pictures could be replaced by real photos of ships already launched last year.
I'm sure the next edition will be even better and personnaly I wish Naval Institute decide to put a Combat fleets guide every year out.
You will not regret to buy this.

Sub-Title: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems (Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World) ==There are only two books like this published in the world, so it is inevitable that they have to be compared. Jane's Fighting Ships is now in its 107th edition. The Naval Institute's Guide to Combat Fleets has been published every couple of years since 1977. In any case that's enough for both of them to have become established and to have developed a solid background/format/procedure for gathering the information about ships and for publishing it in as accurate a maner as possible. They are both excellent works. Neither is perfect, because some information is difficult to get (The Naval Institute book says: "Data for North Korea are only marginally reliable."), and there is a time lag between freezing the writing and the delivery of the finished product. ==So what is left to compare. They are both huge books, 7+ pounds of paper. The Naval Institute book has about 150 more pages than Janes, and it is about one third the price. Yes, one third of the price, not one third less. ==This book has 1104 pages, 4450 photographs. I also find it easier to read, easier to find what I need to know.

This publication is an American equivalent of Janes Fighting Ships.I personally like the CD version as it has a good index facility and fairly good photos and illustrations with plenty of information about every navy particularly of the minor vessels. More illustrations would be useful but you cannot have every thing. Overall I like this product and keep it loaded on my laptop.

This is the title of Eric Wertheims 2005 World Navies in review article found in USNI's Proceedings Magazine.

It is also about the new edition of Combat Fleets. While with any type of offering of this type some inaccuracies, typos and out-dated info are inherent.

But this book provides an almost impossible amount of detailed info on World Navies that after careful review is as up-to-date, accurate and free of typos as can be practically, realistically and reasonably expected.

In particular it details the recently announced drawdowns to the UK's Royal Navy & the Royal Netherlands Navy. This is in addition to its comprehensive look at all of the other Worlds Navies.

This tome is an indispensable addition to either an amateur or professional naval watchers library.

I purchased this just last month from an Amazon affiliate. I had been holding out for a more recent edition, but The Naval Institute has not made either the follow-on edition (the 15th, put out in March 2007) or the latest not-even-published-as-of-this-writing edition (it should be the 2009/2010 edition) available in CD-ROM format. And at only about [...] it was well-worth purchasing this out-of-date version.

I prefer a digital format because it's a lot easier to carry and use. I give up the joy of flipping thru the pages and looking at the better photos unique to the printed version but the tradeoff is worth it to me.

A note on buying a used version: the S/N, attached to the shrink wrap when shipped, must be available to install the files onto your PC. W/o said S/N you can only install a "Demo" version, which is the database truncated to include only the countries from Albania thru Djibouti. I bought a "new" copy; thus, it still had the shrink wrap and S/N attached.

Combat Fleets convincingly beats its only real rival (Janes Fighting Ships) on price, but loses marks on the accuracy and currency of some of the information that it contains. I'm puzzled what was being done between the originally advertised publication date (May 2004?) and the actual February 2005 date. For much of this edition, it would appear that the entries were last reviewed and revised as long ago as 2003, or at best early 2004, and the opportunity to insert recent pictures or graphics for at least major classes and projects has not been taken.