Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905.

by Robert Gardiner (Editor), Roger Chesneau (Editor), Eugene M. Kolesnik (Editor)

Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905 is the first complete listing of all major warships built in the period between the first ironclad and the Dreadnought. The book is organized by country, sub-divided chronologically by ship type and class, with detailed tabular data and design history.

Roger Chesneau & Eugene M Kolesnik, eds
Contributors: N J M Campbell, Aldo Fraccaroli, David Lyon, Hugh Lyon, John Roberts, Erwin Sieche, H C Timewell, & A J Watts
Line drawing by John Roberts
Conway Maritime Press Ltd, London, 1979.
Hardback; 230 x 315 mm; blue boards with gold titles on spine; 440 pages plus unpaginated front matter including Contents, Foreword by Robert Gardiner, Editorial Director, and Abbreviations. .
The period 1860-1905 witnessed the introduction of armour plate, breech-loading guns, the turbine, and the modern torpedo; it saw the victory of steam over sail, and iron and steel over wood; and by its close there were signs that the submarine and the aeroplane would change the face of naval warfare still further.
At the time this book was published, there was very little information in print, no standard reference work, and not even an accessible class list before the advent of Jane’s in 1898. Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860-1905 presents in quite exceptional detail information on the ships of all classes of all the navies of the period, including the Confederate Navy, even down to the island of Zanzibar. Over 400 photographs are included with 500 constant scale (1/1000) drawings commissioned specially for this book.
This book will therefore appeal to all those with an interest in naval history especially of this period, and the technical developments that took place.

Genres: History

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Camilo Peña · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fácilmente una de las enciclopedias de buques de guerra pre-dreadnought más completas que se pueden encontrar. Si bien conseguirlo físico es imposible (se puede importar desde USA a 29 euros en Amazon), se puede encontrar su versión completa y en perfecta calidad en varias webs de libros digitales gratis. Tiene información útil y completa, y ayuda a comprender la evolución de las marinas de las potencias grandes, menores, y en desarrollo, de finales de siglo XIX hasta el final de los acorazados pre-dreadnought.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first in a series of four books by Conways on the world’s navies from 1860 through to 1995. It’s a reference rather than a narrative work, with ships grouped together by nation (and then by broad type within each nation), with an introduction to each national section.

Each class of ships for which there is sufficient data (for which there are many) has a table of specifications and a short (one or two paragraphs) discussion underneath it, while each national section provides an overview of the navy in question in the period.

The writing is good and while there are some typos and inconsistencies, the number of these given the size of the work is very minor, and it’s a hugely impressive effort. It’s a very useful reference source for a quick overview of a class of ships, and the national overviews are well-written and are interesting in and of themselves.

It’s not, of course, for everyone – for someone not looking for a reference book on naval ships between 1860 and 1905 I’d recommend steering clear – but for people looking for this, as far as I’m aware it’s the best there is, and is excellent in its own right.

[Bobble Hat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conway is the best researched and most comprehensive series on the world’s warships. This volume on the ironclad and pre-dreadnought era has very little competition and is to my knowledge the best initial source available across the great powers where detailed type books are very limited.

[Walt O'Hara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Paul Silverstone's Warships of the Civil War Navies, this might be one of the most valuable source of technical specifications on the American Civil War naval era. Gun armaments, caliber, armor thickness, etc. are all specified. I would give it to Silverstone for focusing on the specific ACW era and providing more information on each hull, but also give credit to this book for the period directly after the war through the pre-dreadnought era, on which precious little has been written. Strongly recommend this one if you are interested in the technical side of the Civil War and afterwards.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conway's "Fighting Ships 1860-1905" is a book that covers the slow steady march towards the ironclads and steel warhorses of the 20th Century. From the old galleons, frigates, and cruisers of the 19th century, through the transitional ironclads on to the Dreadnaught, this book covers them all.
The information is detailed, the historical significance of each vessel well defined, and the images are quite good considering the period being covered.
A must for any naval library.

[Florent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Référentiel assez impressionnant de tout ce qui a flotté sous pavillon militaire durant la période. C'est l'époque des changements majeurs voiles -> vapeur, bois -> acier, boulet -> obus, et des essais plus ou moins fructueux d'innovations techniques et de doctrine. Le livre n'est pas une étude en soi, mais un bon référentiel technique pour approfondir la période.