Dictionary of American Naval (V.2) Fighting Ships, Volume II Review

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(More customer reviews)I was researching the heroic story of the loss of the USS Aaron Ward (sunk off the Solomon Islands towards the end of WW2) when I came across this item advertised on one of the Amazon websites. Unaware I was looking at an eight-volume set of books, I baulked at the price and decided to search on. Nevertheless, I kept coming back to this item and decided to take a closer look. I am so glad I did.
Set out in alphabetical order and written without fear or favour, the United States Department of Defence have provided one of the most important research tools of modern years and I congratulate them for an excellent job of work. The entry for each ship commences with a note about the origin of the name. For example, the USS Missouri is named after an American state - enough said. The Aaron Ward, however, was named after Admiral Aaron Ward and that particular section commences with a most reasonable biography of the man.
Each ship to bear a particular name is covered in varying degrees of detail - largely dependant on what historical information was available to the compilers. Famous ships and, naturally, more recent vessels, get excellent coverage although it must be said that if the information was available on those much older vessels, then their full story is told here.
Watch out for single volumes being sold separately - when you are either looking for a complete set or perhaps a different volume.
Altogether, one of the best additions to my library for a very long time.
NM

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