Jane's Fighting Ships of World War 1 [Hardcover]

John Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 1990

Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I is an one-volume encyclopedia of World War I warships of eight fleets of 1914: Great Britain, Germany, the United States, Japan, France, Italy, Austro-Hungary, and Russia, including photographs, and line drawings and data tables, giving this large and accurate reference over 1,000 illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Crescent (May 29, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517033755
• ISBN-13: 978-0517033753
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 10.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #558,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for what it is, but perhaps not what you really want, January 22, 2001

By 

A. M. Lovell "regular guy" (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jane's Fighting Ships of World War 1 (Hardcover)

These books are valuable in giving you a slice of Jane's work, but as a source for information on the ships themselves, there are better alternatives. Foremost among the faults I'd cite in these Janes compilations are that they are contemporary accounts from a single national source-- meaning that the particulars for the speeds, armor, and capabilities of a good many ships are foggy or incorrect owing to the lack of proper information from potential enemies who did not care to advertise the precise specifications of their ships. Another issue is that the content comes not from a single edition of Janes annual catalog, but from a smattering of editions that spanned the era. The edition from which each ship's section is culled is not spelled out, so you are denied the ability to understand perhaps how reliable you may wish to regard each profile. However, owning Janes material has its own value, in that this is the Farmers' Almanac of the subject, and sometimes the weather forecast in an old Almanac is not as valuable as possession of the edition.

For a better source for this information, I would recommend Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921. You will probably have to use a bookfinding service for this, but you will not be dissatisfied if you can procure a copy. It features much more information on each ship, and in many cases provides valuable context that cannot readily be seen through endless tables of horsepower, armor, and the like. For instance, in many cases the specifications may not be false per se, but carry with them a host of caveats that defy a tabular form, and Conway's gives these to you. to paraphrase, e.g.: "This class was intended to be much the same as the preceding class, aiming solely to reduce per unit cost and fatten the fleet." or "The new Mark XI guns these ships carried had a longer range than the preceding Mark X weapons, but their higher velocity came at a cost of greatly reduced accuracy at common ranges and was seen in retrospect as a failed design." That type of contextual overview is what any source like this needs to be a truly reliable document. While it cannot thereby tell you EVERYTHING, it creates in each reader a sense that numbers lie, and that sometimes looking to sources for comparative analysis is an essential companion to having a table of figures that purports to capture the ship.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An authoritative review of the Navies of 49 countries., February 3, 2005

By 

Ned Middleton (British professional underwater photo-journalist & author) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Jane's Fighting Ships of World War 1 (Hardcover)

"Jane's" is probably the world's leading byword when it comes to information about ships especially, though not exclusively, ships of the world's navies. In this special edition of those warships which existed during WW1 we are treated to the full specifications of each vessel complete with the same information with regards to it's machinery and armament.

Each section (Navy) commences with waterline silhouette profiles of the entire fleet followed by individual classes of ships from biggest to smallest. For the vast majority of entries we have a detailed profile and deck view of each class of ship with all parts numbered and named. Additionally, in most cases the publishers have been able to include at least one photograph (often more than one) of each type of ship. However, the publishers do point out that some of these pictures are of an inferior quality but are included in the interests of completeness because no other pictures are available.

Various engineering and gunnery notes are also found in addition to more general information explaining the specific differences between various ships of the same class.

Altogether, typical 5 star material from an established publisher of high quality material.

NM

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good Book, August 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Jane's Fighting Ships of World War 1 (Hardcover)

I found Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I to be a great reference book that goes along with Jane's Fighting Ships of WWII. The book includes all navies that were in WWI (too many to list). All pictures are black & white. The only color picture is the dust jacket. For each Navy, the book lists or shows the ranks that are availible, the flags used, location of naval bases, etc. Usually, there is only one picture (if one is available)of each ship. If you are a WWII buff, you will need this book to go along with the Jane's Fighting Ships of World War Two.