Rating: 
Summary: "Bath Built is Best Built"
Review: "Bath Built is Best Built". a saying among the workers at the historic Bath Iron Works (BIW), Bath Maine. This book analyzes a modern-day shipyard in Maine in a unique way. The Bath Iron Works shipyard has a long history that mirrors this nation's shipbuilding legacy. The author gives a brief history of the shipyard, with its economic ups and downs. The meat of the book explains how a U.S> Naval order for a new Arleigh-Burke class destroyer is fabricated. The components literally snake their way through the shipyard over months. The book weaves a little personal history of some individual workers and their duties and how it ties into the final end-product. BIW is a modern shipyard, using modular construction and a BIW pioneered upside down fabrication technique. The description of the launching
process is intriguing. This book is an easy read. A short book with a lot of information packed into it, that will reward the reader looking for a little information in a areas most people are excluded from.
Rating:
Summary: "Bath Built is Best Built"
Review: "Bath Built is Best Built". a saying among the workers at the historic Bath Iron Works (BIW), Bath Maine. This book analyzes a modern-day shipyard in Maine in a unique way. The Bath Iron Works shipyard has a long history that mirrors this nation's shipbuilding legacy. The author gives a brief history of the shipyard, with its economic ups and downs. The meat of the book explains how a U.S> Naval order for a new Arleigh-Burke class destroyer is fabricated. The components literally snake their way through the shipyard over months. The book weaves a little personal history of some individual workers and their duties and how it ties into the final end-product. BIW is a modern shipyard, using modular construction and a BIW pioneered upside down fabrication technique. The description of the launching
process is intriguing. This book is an easy read. A short book with a lot of information packed into it, that will reward the reader looking for a little information in a areas most people are excluded from.
Rating: 
Summary: The Story Is Told
Review: Every summer, thousands of people drive through Bath on their way to coastal Maine. If they are like this reviewer, many of them look at the Bath Iron Works as they pass by and wonder how those worthy ships get built. Well, wonder no longer. The Yard tells the story, and tells it very well.
Rating: 
Summary: out of step
Review: Everybody else seems to give this book high marks, but I was a little disappointed. The subtitle indicated that the book would be about building a ship. I didn't find that completely true. There are a few descriptions of the early stages of the construction and a wonderful description of the launch, but not much in between. Sanders spends a third of the book describing the Navy crew and some collateral issues that may have been intersting, but not really about building a ship. I wonder if any of my co-reviewers remember any discussion about installing the machinery or putting on the propellers. To be brief, I think the book lacks focus. According to the jacket, this is the author's first work. He has edited books previously. OK, so we give him some slack here, but maybe he should have spent some time in editing his own work.
Rating:
Summary: Superb! A well written and accurate portrait of "The Yard"
Review: Hard hats off to Michael Sanders for a magnificent book! He has presented a thoroughly researched and extremely well written account of life inside Bath Iron Works. In the space of only 236 pages, he manages to portray just how difficult and dangerous an occupation shipbuilding is.(I know; I currently work at Bath Iron Works and spent several months on the USS Donald Cook.) I found the book to contain just the right combination of the basics of ship design and construction, and a wonderful human interest story. I highly recommend this book to everyone!
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I could not put this book down. "The Yard" is without a doubt the best industrial/military history I have read in years. Sanders delivers a complete understanding of the incredible complexity in building a warship, the interactions of the many trades involved, the context of the community and the workers, and the military-industrial dialogue necessary to the realization of the Aegis program. In addition, Sanders , in the most dramatic and eloquent chapter, describes in detail the launching of the Donald S. Cooke, a process with technological antecedents to the beginnings of shipbuilding history. Because of competition from technically advanced shipbuilding yards, Bath Ironworks will launch its last vessel from the traditional ways this winter. A massive renovation of the yard with a floating drydock for launching vessels is currently underway . Sanders has done a superb job describing the entire process from the first steel bending to the menu served on the comissioning cruise. He deserves top honors for "The Yard".
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I could not put this book down. "The Yard" is without a doubt the best industrial/military history I have read in years. Sanders delivers a complete understanding of the incredible complexity in building a warship, the interactions of the many trades involved, the context of the community and the workers, and the military-industrial dialogue necessary to the realization of the Aegis program. In addition, Sanders , in the most dramatic and eloquent chapter, describes in detail the launching of the Donald S. Cooke, a process with technological antecedents to the beginnings of shipbuilding history. Because of competition from technically advanced shipbuilding yards, Bath Ironworks will launch its last vessel from the traditional ways this winter. A massive renovation of the yard with a floating drydock for launching vessels is currently underway . Sanders has done a superb job describing the entire process from the first steel bending to the menu served on the comissioning cruise. He deserves top honors for "The Yard".
Rating:
Summary: Very interesting and readable, somewhat Clancy-esque.
Review: I enjoyed this book tremendously. "The Yard" provides a very succinct description of how Bath Iron Works builds Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for the U.S. Navy. The details are interesting, but not overly technical. Sanders does a fine job of guiding the reader through the process of building a ship from start to finish, without letting the story drag. The reader learns a lot not only about ships, but also about the roles and contributions of the many different skilled workers involved, and the constant tension between management and labor."The Yard" really reads more like a human-interest story rather than a technical manual. The author's voice sounds a LOT like Tom Clancy, especially as we get to know the people who work on the "deckplates" of this shipyard. A fast, fun, worthwhile read for military buffs and management students alike! Awarded four stars for the half-dozen or so blatantly obvious errors in syntax that the editors should have picked up, as well as for the author's ever-so-slight "spin" that detracted from, rather than added to the story.
Rating:
Summary: Bath Built is Best Built
Review: I have not yet read the book, however I plan to on my upcoming Mediterranean deployment. I am compelled to read this book by virtue of having been at Bath during the construction of my ship, USS Mahan, DDG-72. I have the highest praise for the shipyard and the workers. They have the difficut task of assembling the most advanced, most powerful warships to ever sail the seas. If the author devoted a portion of the book to the crew of Donald Cook, it is because a ship is more than a collection of hardware, more than the steel plates welded to make her a ship. Without a crew, a ship is just a lifeless hulk. From the moment the commissioning crew moves aboard ship a few months prior to sail-away until the final days during decommissioning, the crew's spirit is manifest in the ship's daily operation. Maybe this will give the general public a glimpse of what we, the commissioning crews, do on a daily basis. I invite Thomas Black, or anyone else interested, to spend a day aboard my ship, learning about not just how the propellers are attached to the shaft or how the hardware associated with our AEGIS Combat Suite was installed, but learning about our ships and crews and the roles we perform protecting the liberties and freedoms our nation enjoys. I'm sure I will post a new review as soon as possible after I have read the book, so stand-by for further comments.
Rating:
Summary: 5 blows of the hammer for the troll, 10 for Michael Sanders
Review: I haven't thought of Bath since a brief lodging in the town jail in the 50's. Readers should not be put off by the ship building subject matter, which by the way is fascinating. This is a rich rendering of a town like no other and a wonderful depiction of a way of life that will soon be no more.
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