Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia

Rating:
Summary: A Pretty Good Effort
Review: Battleships of World War Two : An International Encyclopedia by Whitley is actually pretty good, especially compared to some of his other efforts. There seem to be fewer editorial errors compared to his book on cruisers and all in all the historical information is useful. Modelers should note that the drawings are pretty useless, which is consistent with the books in this series.

Fortunately, this book seems to be complete, especially if you have Whitley's cruiser book, which is missing the combat history of the British cruiser HMS Bermuda (and not HMS Jamaica, as was mentioned in my Amazon review of Cruisers of World War Two). A pretty good effort, but if you want completeness and better illustrations, go for the Garzke and Dulin series on battleships.

Rating:
Summary: Whitley being Whitley
Review: I love the way Whitley compresses it all into one volume that won't chew a hole in your wallet. This is not the last word in battleship references, but it's among the best first words you can find. The one weakness is in its illustrations. Modelers can pass this one by. The line drawings look like the author did them himself, out of necessity--which is actually the case. And there are no armor schematics. However, Whitley goes beyond where other references (like Conway's) grind to a halt, and he goes to the trouble of describing the armor layout rather than simply slapping statistics onto the page. What it lacks in detail, it makes up for with its handiness and broad scope. I'm aware of its limitations, especially where the author was trying to pry information out of Russian and Japanese sources, but I find myself getting plenty of use out of it.

Rating:
Summary: Awfully brief for an Encylcopedia
Review: M. J. Whitley does his best to describe the world's capital ships of the WWII era but just does not devote enough material to adequately cover the rebuilt ships from the WWI era, the new designs laid down and completed in the 1930's and 1940's, and the designs planned but not laid down or completed. As with his book on Aircraft Carrier Development, the line drawings are crude and not particuarly accurate. Mr. Whitley includes descriptions of the Soviet dreadnoughts laid down in 1938-39-40 (Sovietskii Soyuz class) but indicates nothing about the U. S. Montana class, which were the first US design to be wider than the locks of the Panama Canal. Overall, the material contained here can be found to much better effect in other references.

Rating:
Summary: Best book on Battleships
Review: This is clearly the best book I have seen on battleships. The content level compared to cost was good enough that I ordered the authors books on cruisers and destroyers without seeing them.

Rating:
Summary: Best book on Battleships
Review: This is clearly the best book I have seen on battleships. The content level compared to cost was good enough that I ordered the authors books on cruisers and destroyers without seeing them.