The story of the American battleship commissioned in 1941 and its career during World War II.

This new edition of a classic work on British battleships is the most sought after book on the subject. Containing many new photographs from the author's exhaustive collection this superb reference book presents the complete technical history of British capital ship design and construction during the dreadnought era. Beginning with Dreadnought, all of the fifty dreadnoughts, 'super-dreadnoughts' and battlecruisers that served the Royal Navy during this era are described and superbly illustrated with photographs and line drawings.

Vigorous and highly readable, this portrait of the enlisted man's life aboard the U.S. battleship California depicts the devastation at Pearl Harbor from the hazardous vantage point of the open "birdbath" atop the mainmast.

From the moment when the launching of HMS Dreadnought made every capital ship in the world obsolete overnight, we have been fascinated with these powerful surface combatants. Here Robert M. Farley looks at the history and folklore that makes these ships enduring symbols of national power—and sometimes national futility. From Arizona to Yamato, here are more than sixty lavishly illustrated accounts of battleships from the most well-known to the most unusual, including at least one ship from every nation that ever owned a modern battleship. Separate essays and sidebars look at events and lore that greatly affected battleships.

An illustrated history of the wartime career of the USS Missouri from World War II to the Gulf War. On September 2, 1945, surrender ceremonies officially ending World War II were broadcast worldwide from the deck of the USS Missouri. The ceremony also marked the end of one of the most eventful years for any vessel in the history of warfare. USS Missouri at War chronicles the career of this mighty warship, the last battleship built by the United States. Veteran naval historian Kit Bonner describes “Mighty Mo’s” powerful strikes against Japan, its support of the Iwo Jima landings and bombardment of Okinawa, and its decisive role in the destruction of key Japanese industrial targets. That war was over, but the Missouri was not done yet; and Bonner follows her service in the Korean War, her modernization and reactivation for the 1991 Gulf War, and her final decommissioning in 1992, with eleven battle stars to her credit. For its authoritative and close-up look at the life and work of a world-class battleship, and for its insight into the history of twentieth-century naval warfare, this strikingly illustrated book is one that no naval enthusiast or military history buff will want to be without.

This authoritative reference book charts the development and history of the battleship from the end of World War I, through World War II and up to the present day. This period saw a dramatic change in the role of the battleship as a result of the vastly