The World’s Most Powerful Battleships features 52 of the greatest warships to have sailed and fought in the last 500 years. Beginning with King Henry VIII’s flagship, the book covers all the main periods of battleship development, including the great sail ships, steam-driven warships, and the great battleships of the two world wars. Each entry includes a brief description of the battleship’s development and history, a profile view, key features, and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, The World’s Most Powerful Battleships is a colorful guide for the military historian and naval warfare enthusiast.

An extraordinary—and strikingly illustrated—reflection on the meaning of war from one of our greatest living writers. The battleship Yamato, of the Imperial Japanese Navy, was the most powerful warship of World War II and represented the climax, as it were, of the Japanese warrior traditions of the samurai—the ideals of honor, discipline, and self-sacrifice that had immemorially ennobled the Japanese national consciousness. Stoically poised for battle in the spring of 1945—when even Japan’s last desperate technique of arms, the kamikaze, was running short—Yamato arose as the last magnificent arrow in the imperial quiver of Emperor Hirohito. Here, Jan Morris not only tells the dramatic story of the magnificent ship itself—from secret wartime launch to futile sacrifice at Okinawa—but, more fundamentally, interprets the ship as an allegorical figure of war itself, in its splendor and its squalor, its heroism and its waste. Drawing on rich naval history and rhapsodic metaphors from international music and art, Battleship Yamato is a work of grand ironic elegy.

In this readable and informative book, John Ballard tells the story of ten of the most significant ships in the Royal Navy.

The World’s Most Powerful Tanks is an expert examination of the most successful tanks of the past hundred years. Beginning with the prototype Mark V Male in 1917, the book features 52 of the best armored fighting vehicles from World War I, World War II, through the Cold War to today. Each entry is examined over two spreads and includes a brief description of the tank’s development and history, a color profile artwork, photographs, key features, and specifications tables. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, The World’s Most Powerful Tanks is a colorful guide for the military historian and military technology enthusiast.

Ever since man first took to the air, combat aircraft have been at the cutting edge of aviation technology, resulting in some of the greatest and most complex designs ever built. The World’s Greatest Military Aircraft features 52 of the most important military aircraft of the last hundred years, including everything from biplane fighters and carrier aircraft to tactical bombers, transport aircraft, multirole fighters, strategic strike aircraft, and stealth bombers. Each entry includes a brief description of the model’s development and history, a profile view, key features, and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, this is a colorful guide for the military aviation enthusiast.

The World's Most Powerful Civilian Aircraft profiles many types, from cargo transports and freighters, through flying boats, passenger airliners, and business jets. Featured aircraft include the Ford Trimotor “Tin Goose,” one of the great workhorses of early aviation history; the supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 “Charger” and Concorde, Cold War competitors in aviation excellence; and the most popular passenger aircraft of the present, including the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. Each entry includes a brief description of the model’s development and history, a profile view, key features, and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, this is a colorful guide for the aviation enthusiast.

The World’s Most Powerful Submarines features 52 of the most significant submarines built, from the German U-9 through the USS Ray and huge Japanese I-400 class of World War II, to the great nuclear-powered submarines of the Cold War. Also included are the latest attack and ballistic missile submarines. Each entry includes a brief description of the submarine’s development and history, a color profile view or cutaway, key features, and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, The World’s Most Powerful Submarines is a colorful guide for the military and naval history enthusiasts.