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Russian and Soviet Battleships Hardcover – November 1, 2003
| Stephen McLaughlin (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
- Print length496 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherNaval Inst Pr
- Publication dateNovember 1, 2003
- Dimensions9 x 2 x 11.75 inches
- ISBN-101557504814
- ISBN-13978-1557504814
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Product details
- Publisher : Naval Inst Pr (November 1, 2003)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 496 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1557504814
- ISBN-13 : 978-1557504814
- Item Weight : 3.3 pounds
- Dimensions : 9 x 2 x 11.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #5,555,927 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11,093 in Naval Military History
- Customer Reviews:
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Russian & Soviet Battleships consists of 49 chapters, beginning with the construction of the original Russian ironclad, the Petr Velikii in 1869 and stretching to the final uncompleted battleship projects under Stalin. The author also intersperses chapters on Russian naval policy; wartime service in the Russo-Japanese War, the First World War and the Second World War; lessons learned from each war; design developments and foreign assistance. Each class of Russian battleships is covered in an individual chapter, which include sub-sections on design and construction, general features, armament, protection, machinery and trials, modifications and career. These sections also include line drawings of each class and a data plate. The volume is packed with a large selection of quality B/W photos, including some rare ones drawn from Soviet archives. A large number of endnotes are also provided. This book is very well written and although pricey, is worth every dime.
The book also discusses the proposed 1914 and 1915 designs that were never constructed, mainly because of the outbreak of World War I and the 1917 revolutions.
Chapter 40 and onward describe the proposed redesigns and reconstructions of existing battleships and proposed designs for new battleships in the 1930s and the 1940s. Chapter 44 describes in detail the design evolution of the proposed Project 23 or “Sovetskii Soiuz” class. Chapter 45 describes the later Project 23bis and Project 23NU.
My only disappointment is that the book doesn’t describe the proposed battlecruiser designs of the 1930s and post-WW II such as the Project 82 (“Stalingrad” class).
Some other books on Soviet and Russian warships that I think are good are:
• “Soviet Warship Development: 1917 - 1937” by Breyer (1992);
• “Soviet Warships of the Second World War” by Meister (1977). This book is probably a bit out of date today but still offers a lot of information on warship dimensions, armament, and performance characteristics. (1997).
• “Warships of the USSR and Russia 1945 – 19995” by Pavlov.
Top reviews from other countries
Unfortunately the coverage of ships built prior to the Russo Japanese war is less comprehensive. To use his own words the author has 'reluctantly dispensed with most of the early ironclads' because, he says, they were not sea going or designed to fight other battleships. That, however, simply is not true, for example, of Pervenietz, Nie Tron Menya and Kreml of the 1860's- and what about the Paris, never built but an intriguing 'mystery ship' of the 1890's? That said, the text does provide a lot of information. We learn about the political intrigue and such interesting personalities such as Admiral Shestakov, whose thinking lay behind many of the more outlandish ships, several of which started with already dated foreign designs that were then modified out of all recognition. Constant modification whilst ships were already under construction nearly always resulted in them being very late and decidedly over- weight.
The real problem here concerns illustrations of the earlier Tsarist ships- or rather the lack of them. Some of the line drawings are quite good, others less so- and there are few deck plans. There are also no cross sections and not a single armour layout: even early editions of Janes provided tolerably accurate armour distribution plans. Its very difficult to appreciate armour layout from the text alone, even when this is quite detailed. The photographic content is also disappointing and many are reproduced to a very small size. Moreover reproduction standards on the poor quality paper used is often mediocre. Usually there is just a single picture of each ship and some are not pictured at all- which they certainly ought to be when there are 480 pages to cover just 40 completed battleships!
Many interesting photos of these Russian capital ships do exist, quite a few being of good quality. There are some better illustrations in Anthony Watts 'The Imperial Russian Navy' published in 1990 and especially in V. M Tomitch's book of the same name from 1968. The latter work has a somewhat bizarre text, but features numerous superb drawings and photos- including close up deck scenes of which there are none in Mr McLaughlin's book. Of course the modern 'benchmarks' for large format warship books are provided by Norman Friedman and R. A. Burt. it is true the laters superb trilogy on British Battleships extends to three volumes but they cover more than three times as many ships! Incidentally Mr Burt does not use 'notes' at all, but there are 23 pages of those here. I refuse to ferret through 'notes': I believe if its worth saying it should be in the text and 'notes' should be for references only.
It all depends on what your own interest really is. If it is the same as the authors then you will certainly enjoy this book, but if like me (and I declare my own passions!) you are fascinated by the so called 'pre- dreadnought' period, then you may be a little disappointed. It is neceasary to remember that a fortune is now being asked for this magnum opus- getting on for £300 or more- and before spending such a huge sum its rather important to know what you get for your money. However, all adverse criticism aside, a lot of research went into writing this book and a decade after publication it remains the 'standard work'.
Incidentally, as with man books printed in the USA, the paper used is thin and easily damaged, so it's important to ensure you buy a copy that has been well cared for.

