Customer Reviews

The World's Merchant Fleets, 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships

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This comprehensive listing of the world's ocean- going merchant ship fleet of 1939 is surely destined to become a standard reference work for it not only fills a long outstanding gap in marine literature,but it is also researched and compiled by a former Lloyd's editor and acknowledged expert on twentieth-century merchant shipping.

It is not too difficult to research ships and shipowning companies of this era, if you know where to look and have plenty of time to spare and so to find so much under one cover will be of great benefit to any user of this book.The entries contain an enormous amount of information, not only on individual ships,but also their owners and services operated.Two appendices covering ships lost during the Second World War and changes that occurred during the same period add to this splendid work,which also has a selection of over 300 photographs.

This book is a must have for any ship enthusiast of the period.
The great merchant fleets of Europe and America are of a by gone age and but for this book, would be lost to history.
It compliments the books I have from the Conway's World Navies series very nicely.
The only recommendation I have for future editions would be to cover the period 1939 thru 1946 so this would then be the one ultimate source for all the merchant ships of the Second World War including the likes of the British "Empire" war built ships, the prodigious U.S. Liberty ship program, the Italian Citta class fast transports to North Africa and many, many more of note lost in the passage of time.
Indicating which ships were part of a class / sister ships or derivatives of earlier types would also be a very nice touch.
A World's Merchant Ships 1914 -1919 would then complete the set.

Very detailed book on ships histories of 1939 and WW2. An excellent buy. For tracing vessels of this era probably the best book I have seen.

It is a regrettable fact that almost none of the ships from the early to mid 20th Century have been preserved. Apart from a few notable exceptions, from the mightiest Cruise Liners to the lowliest Tramp Steamers, they are all gone forever. Roger Jordan's work is, therefore, a valuable source of reference into those ships that were operating as part of the world's merchant fleets at the outbreak of WW2 and it is fascinating to see how each vessel fared. A scholarly piece of work, this book will become the definitive work on this subject.

This is a hardback book measuring approx. 12" x 8½" containing some 630 pages of detail and information. Beginning with notes explaining the many abbreviations used - including 6½ pages dedicated to the shipbuilders, we then find individual ships listed by country and shipping company in alphabetical order.

Over 6,000 ships are described with brief details of; Name, type of machinery, number of screws, passenger-carrying capability, year built, name of builder(s), tonnage and dimensions. Then we come to the section marked "Losses" - with separate lists for losses through; Marine hazard, war causes, Spanish civil war, vessels scuttled, vessels scuttled post-war with surplus war materials, vessels lost post-war due to mines and those that underwent name-changes. Finally, there is the ever-important index - a straightforward list of all the ships within the book and a reference to the pages where each may be found.

With every second or third page containing a small selection of good quality b&w photographs of some of these historic vessels - and in many cases a particularly interesting biography of the ship in question, it is easy to see why this book should be regarded as a comprehensive and definitive work by Roger Jordan and Chatham Publishing. I congratulate them on a job well done.

Whilst I did find one small error (picky, picky) - again the Rosalie Moller (my favourite Red Sea dive) is listed as raised and broken up after the war, this I can forgive because this error has already appeared in previous authoritative books. Does make me wonder which ship was actually raised though (Sarah H?).

NM

Any book in this price range has got to be very good. This one is a bargain! One can hardly imagine the countless hours of painstaking research that went into this work, to say nothing of the subsequent proofreading. The Internet has uncovered entire generations of sons, daughters and grandchildren eagerly seeking the details of ships that their fathers, grandfathers and other relatives sailed in during WWII. Through the wealth of information contained in this superb work I have been privileged to supply such details to a great many of these people, and continue to do so.