Battleships: United States Battleships, 1935-1992

by William H. Garzke Jr., Robert O. Dulin Jr.

Part of a three-volume set on the world's battleships, this book provides a comprehensive history of all U.S. Navy battleships and battlecruisers built, designed, or projected built since the early 1930s. It covers their design and construction, operational careers, and eventual disposition. Complete plans are presented for many classes as well as extensive technical data covering their characteristics and performance, information that is sometimes hard to find and often contradictory. The operational careers of the ships are chronicled in detail. Incidents that challenged a ship's design adequacy, particularly from the standpoint of damage resistance, are discussed. Originally published in 1976 with the subtitle U.S. Battleships in World War II, the book has undergone significant revision. Not only has it been brought up to date with the addition of a new chapter covering the Iowa-class reactivation through 1992, but the book now includes revelations uncovered in newly accessible material. The authors offer a complete description and analysis of the tragic turret explosion aboard the USS Iowa in April 1989, with conclusions that differ from those widely reported by the media and from those officially presented by the Navy. In an appendix, they bring to light for the first time the full extent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's involvement in the shaping of the U.S. fleet and credit him with influencing the design, construction, and deployment of battleships and battlecruisers built during his administration. For example, they cite Roosevelt as the individual responsible for the speed and endurance of the Alaska-class battleships and the design and construction of the Alaska-classbattlecruisers and for controlling the number, general characteristics, gunnery, and anti-aircraft armament of other classes as well. In addition, this massive work now offers information about the secret development of accurate long-range major-caliber gunfire control in the period

386 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1995

Reviews

[Dr. George H. Elder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hate the drawings in this book because one has to consult a chart to see the armor thicknesses. This book is dated, and sometimes misses new findings related to armor plate quality, gunnery results, and other areas of interest, but taking on a subject like this is no easy tast. In that this was done early on, many tehcnical details regarding design choices had to be gathered from scratch. Indeed, folks are still scrounging through the archives, as well they should, in an effort to go beyond D&G. That is not an easy job, and many books on US BBs are mere rehashes of what appears here. I can hardly agree with some of the concusions, such as the Iowa class representing the epitomy of battleship evolution. Serious questions could be raised regarding the ship's passive protection, especially as it relates to armor quality. Moreover, no inkling is provided of the powder temperature assessment error that led to faulty range table data, etc.. There are numerous details like this that are not presented in the text, but one can hardly fault the authors for this. Some of this info wasn't dug out until relatively recently. I have communicated with the authors in the past, and they are/were the real deal when it comes to sharing knowledge. Their work set the stage for much of what was to follow, and I consider it as a classic in many ways.