Customer Reviews

U.S. Amphibious Ships and Craft: An Illustrated Design History

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A pretty good book. Battleships, submarines, and aircraft carriers usually take the limelight, but amphibious warfare becomes even more important in this chaotic world of multiple hot spots. I'd always wondered what the difference between a transport and an attack transport was. If you ever wondered why there are different types of ships in an Amphibious Ready Group, this is the book to read. Looks like it even covers amphibious tractors (LVT, LVTP) a bit. Not much on the latest LPD-17, but then LPD-17 is not in operational service yet.

A bit confusing in Chapter 2 as the author refers to attack cargo ships as "transports" when they aren't. Transports are primarily for people, while cargo ships are primarily for equipment/supplies. A few pages were double printed (looking like I'm not wearing my glasses) but they are in the back amongst the Notes and Bibliography. The book could have used more editing as there are several places where the author mentions something in one paragraph, then again two paragraphs later. Some picture captions are not correct. Still, these are small nit-picks compared to the light that this book sheds.

If you are an historian or a scale modeller and if you are searching references about US Amphibious Ships and Craft, this book is what you are searching for. It may looks expensive at a first sight, but when you will receive it, you will got a weighty complete analyse about the subject. It include photos and plans of ALL the ships, boats and crafts used by the US Navy since she start amphibious operations. The books is very well organised and easy to use, and even include the detailled list (log book) of each of the ships and craft, flag numbers by flag numbers. I get so amazed by it that I plan to buy ll the other titles of the series. Well, I can not be more enthusiast, even if my own library is yet full of reference books and I am myself a professionnal author, historian, scale modeller and illustrator having yet work on this subject since years, now.

This is truly a goldmine of information about amphibious vessels. It covers their development from pre-WWII until the present day, and includes text, photos, and drawings that make this history come alive. As a former naval officer in the amphibious forces, I've seen many of the vessels described here, and wondered about many, many more of them. This great book shows them all, in glorious detail.

This is one, if not the best, technical book I have ever purchased on this type of subject. Great information, pictures and illustrations. Historically accurate and current, highly recommended to any Naval, Marine, civilian who requires an understanding of these very unique and important vessels.