Customer Reviews

Record Breakers of the North Atlantic: Blue Riband Liners 1838-1952

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Well illustrated with many seldom seen photographs, paintings and drawings, "Record Breakers" is a excellent account of the quest for speed on the North Atlantic. Kludas' text is informative and at times technical without being dry or difficult to read. Each Atlantic record breaker since the SS Great Western of 1838 is described in detail and depicted with an original profile drawing, most of which are in color. Some notable ships are covered in less detail even though they were never record breakers. A small section tiled "Super-liners that never were" covers several shipbuilding projects which were never completed.

Liners of all eras (Kludas identifies three distinct periods of Atlantic steam travel) are covered more or less equally, and thus the ten 20th century liners have fewer pages devoted to them than the 26 19th century ships. Just the same, the coverage of the newer ships is excellent and includes little known facts and aspects of each. Strongly Recommended.

Kludas worked for 18 years in a Hamburg shipyard: his background lends to Record Breakers Of The North Atlantic, a beautifully illustrated history of blue riband liners from 1938-1952. Chapters blend a history of specific liners with black and white and color photos and illustration, providing a colorful examination highly recommended for any fan of nautical history.

This 1999 German book, translated into English in 2000, is well balanced between informative text and wonderful art. It is illustrated with very nice black and white photographs and color drawings. Each ship covered is illustated with a side profile - I'm not certain, but each of these profiles looks like it is drawn to scale with all the others in the book, which visually shows how the shipbuilder's art has progressed over the years. Accompanying each profile for each ship is a specification of the ship and a brief career history.

Note however, that the book is MUCH more than these little profiles - I just found them to be a nice added touch, just like I found the photographs of each man responsible for each ship's construction. The chapters are broken into into intelligent historical periods and the text and illustration captions are informative and smart.

The book conveys the pride that the people (and governments!) associated with these vessels had for their ships. As the author states, the Blue Riband was never a formal competition. As a consequence, there never was an official history kept about it. However, this book does an excellent job of filling that void.

This 1999 German book, translated into English in 2000, is well balanced between informative text and wonderful art. It is illustrated with very nice black and white photographs and color drawings. Each ship covered is illustated with a side profile - I'm not certain, but each of these profiles looks like it is drawn to scale with all the others in the book, which visually shows how the shipbuilder's art has progressed over the years. Accompanying each profile for each ship is a specification of the ship and a brief career history.

Note however, that the book is MUCH more than these little profiles - I just found them to be a nice added touch, just like I found the photographs of each man responsible for each ship's construction. The chapters are broken into into intelligent historical periods and the text and illustration captions are informative and smart.

The book conveys the pride that the people (and governments!) associated with these vessels had for their ships. As the author states, the Blue Riband was never a formal competition. As a consequence, there never was an official history kept about it. However, this book does an excellent job of filling that void.

This is one of those standards that ocean liner enthusiasts must have. The information is great, the photos and layout are well done, it's a great book all the way around. I highly recommend this one.