Part of the Weapons of War series, this book features more than 150 color and black & white illustrations and photographs as well as detailed specifications of battleships and aircraft carriers from 1900 to the present. Battleships and Aircraft Carriers 1900–Present brings together the most important warships of the last 100 years in a single, handy volume arranged in alphabetical order. The book includes some of the great capital ships, such as the battleships Bismarck and Iowa, the carriers Enterprise and Formidable, and the missile destroyer Canberra. Features 150 entries of the most important weapons of the era Every weapon is illustrated with an accurate color artwork Each entry includes a specifications table with essential information such as armament, weight, speed, and range Concise text provides a summary of the design, development, service history, and performance of each weapon

An in-depth reference to the naval weapons used by Britain, Germany, the US, and the other combatants in the Great War, with photos: “Superb…invaluable.”—History of War Although the Great War might be regarded as the heyday of the big-gun at sea, it also saw the maturing of underwater weapons, the mine and torpedo, as well as the first signs of the future potency of air power. Between 1914 and 1918 weapons development was both rapid and complex, so this book has two functions: on the one hand it details all the guns, torpedoes, mines, aerial bombs and anti-submarine systems employed during that period; but it also seeks to explain the background to their evolution: how the weapons were perceived at the time and how they were actually used. This involves a discussion of tactics and emphasizes the key enabling technology of fire control and gun mountings. In this respect, the book treats the war as a transition from naval weapons which were essentially experimental at its outbreak to a state where they pointed directly to what would be used in World War II. Based largely on original research, this sophisticated book is more than a catalogue of the weapons, offering insight into some of the most important technical and operational factors influencing the war at sea.

Consulting editor David K. Brown. Chronicles the battleship from its reign as arbiter of sea power in the early twentieth century to its defeat at the hands of air power in World War II.

This book does for naval anti-aircraft defence what the author's Naval Firepower did for surface gunnery ‰ÛÒ it makes a highly complex but historically crucial subject accessible to the layman. It chronicles the growing aerial threat from its inception in the First World War and the response of each of the major navies down to the end of the Second, highlighting in particular the widely underestimated danger from dive-bombing. Central to this discussion is an analysis of what effective AA fire-control required, and how well each navy's systems actually worked. It also takes in the weapons themselves, how they were placed on ships, and how this reflected the tactical concepts of naval AA defence. As would be expected from any Friedman book, it offers striking insights ‰ÛÒ he argues, for example, that the Royal Navy, so often criticised for lack of 'air-mindedness', was actually the most alert to the threat, but that its systems were inadequate not because they were too primitive but because they tried to achieve too much.??The book summarises the experience of WW2, particularly in theatres where the aerial danger was greatest, and a concluding chapter looks at post-1945 developments that drew on wartime lessons. All important guns, directors and electronics are represented in close-up photos and drawings, and lengthy appendices detail their technical data. It is, simply, another superb contribution to naval technical history by its leading exponent.

The struggle between ships and aircraft for the control of the surface of the sea has been one of the most fascinating conflicts of the twentieth century. This book describes that struggle from its origins in the First World War, to the debates of the interwar years, the great battles of the Second World War and the development of missiles for attack and defence in the post-war years.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.