Customer Reviews

U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book for those who are interested in the technical information about the US Navy battleships. In great detail the book covers the evolution of the battleships from the early monitors of the post Civil War period to the cancelled Montana Class during WWII. Although a bit outdated since it was printed during the period when the Iowa Class was being reactivated, the seventeen chapters greatly explain each class of battleships as well as differences among the sister ships. Technical information regarding design, design proposals, dimensions, types of guns/calibers, machinery, armor, internal hull arraignment, etc. are included. This book is not for the novice, but for those naval historian/architectures or those who simply enjoy reading/studying the technical aspects of the book is a must have.

I both scratch build models and study US Naval history. This book gives excellent reasons why the US rebuilt its seapower after the 20 suspension of Naval building following the American Civil War.

One of the best parts of this book is Dr. Friedman includes are the "post civil war" monitors in the design history. Monitors are not battleships in a proper sense. However, Dr. Friedman's giving them a seperate chapter does show that he concluded, correctly, that the Monitors were considered capital ships up until the time of the Spanish-American war.

Furthermore, Dr. Friedman pulls no punches regarding the short comings of American ships. In words, American ships are slow and were often 2rd class in design. But, he defends the reasons why the US Navy kept the old triple expansion steam engine rather than going over to the HMS Dreadnought type steam turbines. American ships had severe design limitations imposed by the US Congress and the operational requirements of having to steam far distances to the Southern Pacific area. So, American ships were designed for long distances and economy, not speed. No other navy in the world had such different design requirements forced upon them. The fact of the matter is a small battleship, such as the c. 1910 era USS Michigan, had a greater range than most Royal Navy ships of the same era on much less tonnage. But, the cost of this is the USS Michigan could only steam at 18 knots rather than the 22 knots the typical post Dreadnought Class British Battleship.

Dr. Friedman goes into detail about the problems of the last ten America battleships. The North Carolina class had a bad vibration problem. On paper they looked better than the British KGV class. However, the NC class had vibration problems and powder handling would have been deemed unacceptable by the Royal Navy. Indeed, the powder problems come to haunt America in 1989. The Alabama class was excessively crampted by any standard and that class was seen merely as a war expedient. The Iowa nearly failed as a design because the turret design was not reconciled with the hull design. Bluntly, the turret almost didn't fit on the Iowa and this nearly led to the failure of the class. Also, a torpedo hit on the North Carolina led the US Navy to nearly "blister" the Iowa class. However, the fast battleship's speed would have fallen to 30 knots: the US navy was unwilling to give up the speed for protection.

From a ship scratch building point-of-view, there are few other better publicans than this one. Presently, this writer is working on the USS Kearsarge, launched c. 1900 and modeling fit will be from 1912. Dr. Friedman give reasons for the Kearsarge's ununusual design (and why no other nation followed it) and then why the ship was rebuilt in the 1912 era.

This reviewer didn't mind the lact of follow-up to the end-of-the-battleships. The battleships in 1980 were seen as an inexpensive way to bring back massive firepower into the US Navy. However, the 1989 explosion in the US Iowa was caused by poor powder handling techniques. Also, American logistics could not afford the maintenance costs of the battleships. In addition, technology had passed the guns of the battleships. Modular type warships using evolved US Army MRLS rocket systems may be the future of ship-to-shore attack (litorial conflict). The US Naval Institute publication, "Proceedings" had an extensive article on the demise of return of the Battleship in 2000. Dr. Friedman could only follow up the rebuilding battleships in the 1980s era with the nearly as quick exit of the battleship in the post Gulf War era.

This reviewer is not a US Navy Veteran. However, I have done a fair amount of study of American sea power. Dr. Friedman sets the standard for writing on American Naval Ship design. This review owns four of Dr. Friedmans "Illustrated" series and has read every one of them.

No reader of Dr. Friedman will come away disappointed. Dr. Friedman is an excellent writer.

My only wish to to meet the man in real life. It would be a great honor.

The only reason I did not give this book a 10 rating is that its publication pre-dates the inactivation of the IOWA Class Battleships. A later revision to include all the modernizations of the 1980's will boost this book up that last notch. Norman Friedman is generally considered the last word in technical publications. The only work of his that I have read that dealt a little more with the human aspect was his excellent treatise on Desert Storm. But we're talking Battleships here. About the only technical detail the author left out was precisely how many rivets were driven in each ship. But then, only an ex-riveter like me would really want to know that. If you want to know what kind of bureacratic requirements were involved along with the technical requirements and the state-of-the-art capabilities at the times of conception, design and construction of U.S. Battleships, then this is the book for you. No serious student of Naval Architecture or Naval history should be without this book on their shelf within easy reach. Richard A. Landgraff DREADNAUGHT CONSULTING

This is a comprehensive, large volume, with extensive text, line drawings (by Alan Raven) and photos. The prospective purchaser should be aware that a generous portion of the book is given to detailing large numbers of alternative designs - if you are interested only in ships actually built then you might skip over these sections.

Friedman is a fine author, deeply studied in naval affairs and an entertaining read.

FIRST THOUGHTS: SIMILAR TO "BRITISH BATTLESHIPS OF WW2", by RAVEN & ROBERTS

Very similar in scope and organizational structure to Alan Raven's and John Robert's, "British Battleships of World War 2". Incidentally, Alan Raven is co-credited with supplying the 'ship plans' for this book. Naturally, this book covers an entirely different fleet, so the two volumes are ideal companions on my bookshelf.

IN A NUTSHELL: CONCISE + DETAILED + INTERESTING + ILLUSTRATED = HIGH UTILITY

This interesting design history includes 'all' U.S. Battleship designs [as well as proposed designs and proposed classes]. This history begins [actually begins on page 405 - appendix 1] with the civil war and post civil war monitors. From chapter 1, "THE PRE-DREADNOUGHTS", through chapter 15, "THE MONTANA CLASS", the book proceeds in linear fashion, with new chapter introducing and examing a new and improved [hopefully] class of Battleships.

NOT JUST THE FINISHED GOODS -

In each chapter's discussion, many alternative designs, as well as, the reasons for choicing one design over another is lucidly explored. Some people may feel this is extraneous, however, this excercise gives the reader a better grasp of what determines how well a Battleship will function according to both its anticipated roles, and reality. For instance, the requirement for air-defences was something that was indeed planned for on an ongoing and increasing basis since world war 1. However, until the second world war demonstrated the actual requirements, air-defense system designs were inadequate, having designs based on earlier assumptions that continuously underestimated the effectiveness of aircraft against heavy ships.

BOTTOM LINE: NORMAN FRIEDMAN & THE NAVAL INSTITUTE PRESS = CLASSIC MUST HAVE VOLUME

"U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History", by Norman Friedman skillfully and palatably provide the reader with the insight to grasp, 'WHAT THE BATTLESHIPS' PURPOSE IS', 'HOW BATTLESHIPS FUNCTION', and 'THE COMPONENTS THAT PRODUCE THAT FUNCTION'. In essence, after reading this book carefully, the reader armed with an enhanced grasp of the topics, may find an interest in designing ships and reading a lot more on the subject.





ALSO RECOMMENDED:

-* "BRITISH BATTLESHIPS OF WORLD WAR 2", by Alan Raven and John Roberts, 1976

-* "U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, AN ILLUSTRATED DESIGN HISTORY", NORMAN FRIEDMAN, 1983

I will disagree with others that say this is not for the novice. I will agree that it is not for the casual reader but an interested novice would do well to start with this book. Although very detailed it is very well written and the illustrations are superb. While not cheap this book is an excellent value. This is not an Operational History and does not cover the employment of these ships in naval operations. It does cover the design evolution and the modernizations and changes that were performed to them as well as some that were just considered. The coverage of alternative designs and the tradeoffs that went into each iteration of the American Battleship is superb.

This is the most comprehensive volume on the history of the American Battleship I have ever read. The plates are very descriptive and informative and the subject matter is covered in depth with detail I had never read before.

I would say this is best volume on the subject.

Les Williamson

Fascinating book covering the compromises involved in design and fabrication of armored ships. Well written, logically organized. Minor coverage of machinery and armament; only how these topics relate to the overall handling of design tradeoffs.
I purchased the book to augment my marine technology library, and it fills that requirement well. I intend to purchase other books by the same author (Carrier, Cruiser design) also.

An excellent book to the normal highstands of this author. It complements the other books on US Carriers, US Cruisers and US Destroyers. Well illustrated and packed with facts.

This is the best single volume history (463 pages) of the development of US Battleships.
Information is detailed and the text easy to follow. Foot or endnotes are not included, nor bibliography, just a four page `Notes on sources', but an index is provided, as well as a list of US battleships and a battleship data list.

Photos are not abundant, but suffice to illustrate the text. However photos and some diagrams poor quality is this book worst flaw and what make for the 4 star rating. This is perhaps due to the poor quality paper this book was printed on. A work of such importance clearly deserves a much better edition.