Customer Reviews

Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was searching for a reference book about ALL the warships involved in the Second World War and belonging to EVERY nation (a too ambitious demand?); I saw the title "Jane's...", read a customer's comment and decided to buy this book. When I received it I felt a little disappointed, because the book wasn't exactly what it seemed to be. Maybe it can have a value as an historical document, being the reprint of past Jane's editions (of wartime); but as such it cannot have what I instead expected to find, such as data about the war losses, the war construction (some navies are almost complete, some other expecially the Axis ones are not), and so on. It seems to be more an editorial operation than a true historical book about the argument; surely below the usual standard of the other Jane's books. BTW: about one year after I bought the "Conway's all the world's fighting ships 1922-1946", and there I found what I was looking for.

This was my 1st Jane's book purchase. I found the book full of information. It covers many countries including Britian, France, United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, & Russia. It also includes smaller countries like Brail, China, Sweeden, etc. There are several more. In my option it is a good reference. A word of warning; If you want all Ships that were in WWII you will have to purchase Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I also. One example of this is if you look for information on the USS Arizona; you'll need the WWI book since the battleship was built in June of 1915 (during WWI). There are no color pictures except for the dust jacket. Another aspect of the book that I enjoyed is the Recognition Silhouettes which show a side view of the ship which will be grouped by class and number of funnels. I would recommend this book and the Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I; since they go hand and hand.

I was searching for a reference book about ALL the warships involved in the Second World War and belonging to EVERY nation (a too ambitious demand?); I saw the title "Jane's...", read a customer's comment and decided to buy this book. When I received it I felt a little disappointed, because the book wasn't exactly what it seemed to be. It has a value as an historycal document, being the reprint of past Jane's edition (of wartime); as such it cannot have what I instead expected to find, such as data about the war losses, the war construction (some navies are almost complete, some other expecially the Axis ones are not), and so on. So my search for a definitive reference about the second world war's navies, is not concluded jet (by the way: if you have some title to suggest me...). To come to an end, this is not a bad book, as could seem from this review; but, surely, it's not the right book for me!

"Jane's" is possibly the world's leading authority on ships especially, though not exclusively, naval ships of the world. In this special edition of those warships which existed during WW2 we find the full specifications of each vessel, it's machinery and armament. Any changes to those specifications plus ant difference between ships of the same class are also included.

As the reader might expect, each chapter is a different country and we commence with a waterline profile of that country's entire fleet followed by individual classes of ships from more or less from the biggest ships to the 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

Perhaps I was expecting something different. While it is a comprehensive listing of a wide variety of ships from the era, it has some obvious informational gaps. For a relative neophyte like myself to notice omissions of certain ships is a little suprising. I had also hoped for some background history on some of the more significant types. However, the info contained in this book is very technical in nature. Also, being a modeler, I was disappointed by the small dark photos. Many are no better than silouettes. The illustrations are adequate. In short, if you are looking for more than a by the numbers listing of dimensions, armaments, and other statistics, look elsewhere.

Like Conway's Ships of the World (different war eras), Jane's Fighting Ships tries to cover much too much ground with obsolete data. Jane's was formerly published by the English Fred T. Jane on an annual basis and as an annual was only as accurate as its contributing editors from each nation could be, i. e. they depended on official data released by the individual countries which tried to cover up as much as possible. Even in 1947, little was published on YAMATO and accurate information on the Axis navies was still rare. The author fails in his attempt to produce a compendium of WWII naval strength. Subsequent naval writing with more current information has rendered his book worse than useless.

Originally I would have given this book a 5 stars & attacked the critics, but they have their point. This book is a Jane's circa. 1946 and has errors in it. Jane's are 'realtime' publications & of course have errors; it even says that in the Foreward of this book. However, the title is VERY misleading, lending one to think that it is the 'definitive' resource for all WW2 ships. You need a Conway's for that. Shame on the marketing department for that one. But for a period publication showing what was known at THAT time, it is excellent. The proper title of this book should be: "Jane's Fighting Ships, 1946 - 1947" end of story. Shame on Jane.

On one hand, this is THE book for shiplovers who want to know about each countrie's naval power in WWII. Not only the giant battleships and aircraft carriers are referred to, as usually, but also those additional craft like minelayers, PT boats, Coast Guard Cutters, small torpedo boats, training ships, and so on. On the other hand, information about some navies is incomplete, even partly wrong. This refers to the Imperial Japanese Navy, but also the Russian Navy. And you should better not look closely at what is written about German warships. I think one should not see the book as a complete compilation, but rather as a historical reflection of the insight the ALLIES had AT THE TIME. Although the pictures are fine, the drawings are not. As a model builder, I would have appreciated drawings of the quality presented by Breyer's "Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970" or Gröner's compilation of the German Navy.

This book covers many ships from around the world, but unfortunately it is neither complete nor accurate. The bulk of the data comes from information first published in 1947 or earlier, and few (if any) corrections have been made to eliminate errors that have been known for many years. The photographs are of poor quality, whilst the line drawings are very small and difficult to interpret. There is little accompanying text, and much of the information is presented in small type below a bad (very dark) photograph.

If your need is for correct information then this book is not for you. If you are looking for a book that will give you an impression for the ships of the time then again I would not recommend it is presented as a data book and not a descriptive work. If you are looking for a book that contains a photograph of almost every ship type that existed during the Second World War then it might suit you, although many details are obscured in the overly dark photos.

This is masterful account of the naval ships used during WWII. It is for, especially, the enthusiast who wants a detailed look into these amazing fighting machines. The authors provide a detailed examination of these ships. If you have ever read any of the other books put out by Janes-on the world's aircraft or battlefield equipment, for example-you will know what I'm talking about. This book gives the reader many pictures of WWII ships, from most of the navies involved in this conflict, including many statistics on the ships' capabilities. This is for the serious student of either naval vessels or the battles of WWII.